[Mikey Palmice]

Hello. I am planning on putting down some new grass seed to fill in a ton of dead spots on my lawn. I had basement water proofing work done last year and my lawn was dug up. It was re-seeded last year, but it is very spotty. I wanted to put down new grass seed in the dead spots and over seed where I already have grass. I just had a few questions. thanks for reading

1. Correct me if I am wrong. I can not put down any fertillizer when I am seeding, before or after or it will kill the seeds, right?

2. I have a lot of pine trees in the front of the house. Can I dose my lawn with a ton of lime to neutralize the acidity? Will this affect my seeds?

3. My soil in front of the house where there is no grass looks very dry. How should I prepare this dry soil? Can I attach something to my riding mower and mix up the soil or treat it in any way? Maybe add some nice soil on top and mix it up? maybe just rake it up with a hard rake. What should I do?

4. If I can't put fertillizer down close to putting the seeds down, how long do I have to wait before adding it without killing my seeds?

Thanks for reading

 

[Grampa Bud]

Years ago I walked into one of our local hardware stores and noticed a rather prominent display of a new lawn sprinkler spraying water inside an enclosed clear dome so you could see how it worked. The store had even put a piece of astroturf in side the dome to show off green grass. What caught my eye though was that the astroturf was actually growing. It turned out that there was some spilled seed in the back room and a broken bag of Scotts starter fertilizer. When the stock boys had cleaned up the mess they didn't want the boss to find out so they threw the seed and fertilizer in the sprinkler dome on the astroturf. No dirt. The spraying water and the flourescent store lights had a 5" thick lawn in about 4 days. Still no dirt. After about 1 1/2 weeks the dome was solid grass and one of the stock boys was fired. Back to your problem. If you use a good seed for your area and Scotts Starter fertilizer you too can grow grass where no grass has grown before. My neighbors that only put down sod are always amazed when I hand throw seed and then cover the area with Scotts so it looks like snow. I have always gotten a nice green lawn in about two weeks as long I remember to water every day for an hour.Where the pines are and the dry soil is put down a good strong shade area grass with annual rye mixed 50/50 so the shady areas look like they are covered with a thin layer of mulch. Then cover all the seed with enough Scotts Starter to look like snow. Then take a thin tyned metal leaf rake and lightly drag it in straight passes through the area to just bury the seed and fertilizer. Then fill the gas tank on your mower, water every day, gently for 14 days for about one hour in the early morning or at sundown. I garotee you will HAVE to mow the lawn. Skip the lime for the first year.

 

[Mikey Palmice]

thanks for the reply. very informative.

 

[Dugger52]

Lime won't hurt anything, fertilizer will help but don't, get anything with weed control products thay will kill the new grass, water the front yard good and scratch up, a draf harrow with a couple of bags on sand on it would do, do fertilizer concurrent with seeding. These are the basics.

Now if you really want complete help we need to know where you live and if you know your USDA zone. If you don't know your zone where do you live with in the state?

 

[Mikey Palmice]

I live in Carmel, NY 10512.

I am planning on putting down this seed..........Scotts Turf Builder Sun and shade mix with water shield.

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/p...roId=prod10300003&itemId=cat50050&id=cat50016

so, you are saying I can put down fertillizer at the same time as the seed. Just as long as I don't put down any weed killer products, right?

I also wanted to add that I only have these dead spots because I dug up my yard last year to take care of some water proofing work in the basement.

So, basically, I will do the following...........

1. Put down lime everywhere. (I have a bunch of pine trees in the front where most of the new grass is needed)
2. using a hard rake loosen up all the soil where there is no grass.
3. apply tons of seed to the dead areas
4. overseed areas where I have grass
5. apply fertillizer (no weed/crab grass killer products)
6. lay hay down on the dead spot areas.
7. water everyday

sound good?

A. any recommendations for treating the areas that already have grass but where I would like to overseed?

B. should I add some new soil to the dead areas as well?

C. should I tamp the soil after I add the seed to get it down in there and safer from the birds and rain run off?

thanks for the help everybody