Regular maintenance is essential when you own a lawn; this also includes the process of reseeding lawn which can be rewarding and easy for you. Rather than killing a bad lawn and starting from scratch, it is better to reseed it and give it a new life. You know your lawn is in dire need of a reseeding when it’s thinning and starting to show brown and bare spots. Luckily, with these lawn seeding tips, a healthy, green yard is just around the corner.
Whether you are reseeding an entire expanse of lawn or just the worn patches, the process is the same. You can reseed you lawn at any time during the growing season but the ideal time to do so is in late fall or early spring because the weather conditions are moist and temperatures are mild. Just like when a lawn is laid down for the first time, the key factors are soil preparation, germination, water management and protection of the seeded area from any kinds of disturbances.
Here is how to reseed a lawn and make it green again:
Preparing The Soil
You need a sharp bladed dethatching rake or a garden rake, like the Ames True Temper 1914000 pictured to the left, for removing the excess thatch and the dead grass which has built up over time. In this manner, you can ensure that fertilizer nutrients, seed roots and water reach a greater depth in the soil and thus feed the lawn roots. Areas which have to be reseeded should be scattered with an even layer of top dressing. A garden rake should be used to work gently into the top inch of the soil. Compost, topsoil and peat moss should be present in the top dressing which you are using.
Sowing Seeds and Working Into The Soil
Either a seed spreading tool or your hand can be used for the purpose of scattering the seeds evenly over the area. To get a good crosshatched coverage of seeds, you should scatter them from a couple of different angles. The seeds have to be settled into the top dressing which can be done with the help of a garden rake. The reseeded areas should be watered well and people can use a spray nozzle head to give gentle rain. The flow is said to be too heavy if the soil starts to move around. It is essential that the seeded areas are not saturated but only kept moist at all times. This means that you might need to water more than once daily if you have a warm climate. Watering should be scaled back to only once a day when 1 inch long shoots start appearing. This should be done for 10 days. Once you get several inches of blade growth, deep watering should only be done every three or four days. Then, depending on your climate, you can carry out deep watering every six to ten days.
Mowing and Fertilizing
A water soluble and balanced fertilizer which contains potash, nitrogen and phosphorus amongst other nutrients should be applied when the height of the new seedlings reaches 1 inch. The best results that I’ve had have come from applying Miracle-Gro Lawn Food. Mowing the newly reseeded lawn should be avoided and delayed as much as possible. This is because the new roots and the gentle blades can be damaged because of your footsteps and the pressure applied by the mower. A strong lawn can be established if you choose to wait approximately six weeks before mowing. All of the blade length should not be mowed in one go, particularly when people are mowing after a long growth session. Instead, to reduce stress of the new roots and grass, the mower blade should be brought down to the desired height in different mowing sessions.
To give your lawn seeding a faster start and to avoid constant sprinkling, you can cover the reseeded areas with clear sheets of polyethylene plastic. The moisture will be kept in the soil in this manner. Nonetheless, this sheet should be removed as soon as seedlings appear or they will be killed.
Reseeding lawn is an inexpensive method of restoring your lawn to its true beauty by covering and eradicating all the spotty areas. You will be saved from the expense of starting over a new lawn.