Grass Seed Help
To seed or not to seed, that is the question.
Grass seed
The Process of Seeding a New Lawn
Step 1 – Prepare soil by tilling and leveling. Seed needs contact with dirt to grow and it’s much easier to level the ground before the turf grows.
Step 2 – Spread seed at approximately 4-5lbs per 1000 sq.ft. Perennial rye grass looks almost identical to Kentucky Bluegrass. So if you mix 10-20% perennial rye grass seed with Kentucky Bluegrass, it will germinate within a week protecting the bluegrass seed, which take 21-28 days to germinate. We don’t typically plant a full lawn of perennial rye grass because it really doesn’t like a lot of sun or heat. We like spreading seed in October because normally we get enough moisture and mild temperatures to germinate the seed prior to dormancy.
Step 3 – Cover seed. We prefer grass clippings because they don’t need to be raked up later and they allow the new grass to grow up through it. There are other methods such as straw which is messy.
Step 4 – Keep seed moist continually or it won’t germinate. During the season set sprinklers to come on every hour during the bulk of the day for 1-2 minutes. If you seeded in October, you won’t need to water until spring.
Step 5 – Wait for it to grow and hopefully you will be mowing within 6 weeks.
Here’s what happens next. Because billions of weed seed live dormant in the soil, everything you do to promote your grass seed will also promote the weed seed to germinate. You will start out with a lot of weeds within your new grass. We hate weeds but if we try to kill the weeds before the grass is mature, we risk damaging or even killing the new grass. Grass is similar to the human body in how it develops and processes “food”. So just like in our world, children can’t take the same “medicine” that adults can or the dosage, it’s the same with weed control on “baby” grass. It can and usually kills it.
So what do you do? Wait. I know it looks bad but it will continually look better as the grass matures. Once the grass has grown enough to be mowed 3 times, then it’s ready for a good dose of fertilizer and weed control.