When Is The Best Time To Overseed Your Lawn

How To Overseed Lawns

Preparation is an important part of the process. Rake and aerate the seedbed. Remove rocks and debris. Use the correct amount of seed in a seed spreader. Every species has a specific recommended seed rate.

Use a starter fertilizer to get the plants off to a healthy start. It is also a good idea to use a pre-emergent herbicide safe for young grass seedlings. Once you apply the seed, you may top dress lightly with soil but in most cases, the aeration holes will catch the seed and they will grow there without top dressing.

Keep the area evenly moist until you see the seeds sprout. Then you can reduce irrigation gradually to match normally watering schedules. Wait to mow the grass until the area has filled in and the blades are at least an inch high.

Should You Aerate Before Overseeding

After the turf has been aerated, you should run your irrigation system. Aeration will help ensure your soil is ready to absorb all of the seeds that come with topdressing. Its a good idea to aerate before you topdress or watch your turf. If youre not aerating your lawn, its time to start.

If you dont have a lawn mower, you can use a garden hoe to mow the lawn. You can also use an electric lawnmower to cut the grass, but be careful not to over-mow, as this can cause damage to the soil.

Return To Regular Maintenance

Keep your newly revived lawn looking its best with a regular, comprehensive maintenance plan that includes diligent watering, best mowing practices and proactive overseeding. A simple weekday lawn maintenance schedule can keep your lawn lush and your weekends free.

For a simple, all-in-one approach to a thicker lawn, you can put your lawn on the fast track with Pennington Lawn Booster. This easy-to-use product simplifies overseeding to give your lawn the boost it needs. In just one application, your lawn will grow quicker, thicker and greener than ordinary grassguaranteed.

Available in formulas for sun & shade or tall fescue lawns, Lawn Booster combines three essentials: seed, fertilizer and soil enhancer. Lime-enhanced, pure-bred Pennington Smart Seed, backed by years of breeding and research, adds beauty and sustainability. Once established, these water-conserving grasses require up to 30 percent less water than ordinary grasses. That’s year after year, for the life of your lawn. Plus, they stay green up to three weeks without watering. That means less work and more leisure time for you.

For the lawn of your dreams, don’t wait to overseed until your lawn looks less than its best. Give your lawn the boost it needs, step-by-step or all-in-one. Pennington’s here with premium grass seed and lawn care products to help you keep your lawn at its peak.

Pennington, One Step Complete, Smart Seed, and Ultragreen are trademarks of Pennington Seed, Inc.

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Why You Should Overseed Your Lawn

Overseeding has many substantial benefits for your lawn, with no downsides if you do it correctly.

Benefits of overseeding:

• Fills in thin and bare patches
• Makes grass grow thicker
• Makes the lawn hardier and more tolerant of drought, heat, diseases, pests, and other issues
• Helps turfgrass crowd out weeds
• Keeps your lawn green through winter

Is Now A Good Time To Overseed Your Lawn

You’ve noticed a few yellow patches in your yard, or spots where your lawn could use a boost? Seeding in the spring takes longer due to the cool soil temperatures. Ideally, the daily temperature should be between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius for at least two weeks before overseeding. This will allow the soil to warm up to the optimal temperature for seed to germinate.

Germination does not usually occur until mid-May, sometimes a few days later, depending on the place you live. When nights are cold in the spring, the soil is slower to warm up. Seeding in the spring is thus highly influenced by weather conditions.

Late summer or early fall is the best time for seeding grass seed. You will need a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks of good growing temperatures, during which the daily temperature will stay above 10 degrees Celsius for optimal germination. This means that grass seed must be applied before mid-September, here again depending on the climate in your region.

The more northern your region is, the earlier you will need to sow the seed. If grass seed is applied too late, it may not have enough time to germinate and grow before the winter, and it is likely to die from the cold and frost.

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What Is The Best Time Of Year To Overseed Your Lawn

Technically, you can overseed your lawn at any time of year, provided that the soil is warm enough to stimulate germination. But from a practical point of view, I prefer to do this job in spring or autumn. Not only is the soil nice and warm, but the air is moist and theres plenty of rain to help the seedlings develop.

Ideally, overseeding should follow on from aerating and scarifying well get on to that later.

Take into account whats happening in your garden before you plan your overseeding. If your lawn is covered with falling leaves in autumn overseed in spring so that the seedlings are not disturbed by leaf clearance. If you have a party planned for the summer, seeds sown the previous autumn will be stronger and less likely to be damaged by the extra foot traffic.

Wait This Project Is Getting Out Of Control

When you start to add aeration, dethatching, top-dressing, and seeding your lawn together, it sounds like a lot of work .

But this is a lawn renovation you can complete by yourself in a single 3-day weekend and youll be amazed by the results.

Its a project weekend I do every other fall on my lawn here in New England, and I have a complete schedule for this sort of overseeding project weekend which you can check out at the very bottom of this page if youd like to learn more.

And if youre interested in learning my exact process for caring for my lawn each season, grab my free cheat-sheet right here.

I hope your overseeding project goes well this year!

STOP GUESSING

Improving Your Lawn Doesnt Have to Be Difficult

Get my FREE cheat-sheet and learn exactly what to do, and when to do it for a low-maintenance lawn youll be proud of.

Youll get a copy customized for your growing zone.

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Lawn Care Seeding Methods

There are two common overseeding methods slit-seeding with a mechanical slit-seeder and broadcast seeding with a cyclone or drop-type seeder.

Slit-seeding is the best way to overseed established turf. Slit-seeders have mechanical blades that create a slit through the thatch layer to deposit each seed. This strategy is more efficient because it requires less seed than other methods. With more seed-to-soil contact, slit-seeding yields higher germination rates and produces thicker lawns.

Another effective method for overseeding is broadcast seeding. This method spreads the seed over your yard without creating slits for each seed. Its essential to aerate the turf prior to seeding with a drop-type seeder if youre broadcast seeding. Aeration is the process of pulling cores out of your lawn. Aerating the yard reduces soil compaction, enhances new seed germination and makes air, water and nutrients more readily available to your grass roots.

Do You Need Topsoil When Overseeding

Topsoil has fewer benefits than overseeding. Compost is your top dressing when you choose between the two. When overseeding, use compost, not topsoil. Its easier to work with compost than it is with soil. If youre not sure what type of soil to use for your garden, check with your local garden center. They can help you choose the best soil for you.

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Choose A Diversified Seed Mix

Having a balanced mixture of fescue types , bluegrass types and perennial ryegrass limits the amount of permanent damage insects, disease and drought stress can inflict throughout the warmer season. For example, one type of grass may be highly affected by drought stress, while another many not. Including different types of seed in your mix minimizes the amount of stress that your lawn is susceptible to from one particular stressor. Think of this as having a diversified investment in your lawn!

Should You Put Topsoil On Top Of Grass Seed

When placing topsoil over newly planted seed it will actually suffocate the grass seedlings and ultimately they never have the chance to even get started. … Even though they can not be covered with topsoil or earthy materials they can not be let exposed either. Grass seed loves a warm niche in the soil with moisture.

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Does Overseeding Help With Weeds

Bare spots that have been overseeded with grass are less prone to being invaded by weeds. A thick, weed-resistant lawn can be maintained throughout the year. How to overseed a lawn is a simple process that requires no special tools or equipment.

You can do it yourself, or you can hire a professional overseer to do the job for you. If you choose to hire someone, make sure they have the proper equipment and know how to use it.

When Is The Best Time To Aerate And Overseed Your Lawn

Blog / Lawn Care / When is the Best Time to Aerate and Overseed Your Lawn?

Aerating and overseeding your lawn is important for its health, but you have to perform these tasks at the right time for them to be as effective as possible. The best time to aerate and overseed your lawn depends on the type of grass you have. If you have warm-season grasses, then late spring is the best time. For cool-season grasses that are more commonly planted in the West, early spring or early fall is the best time. These grasses include Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass and fescue. Here is a closer look at these two procedures and how they can help.

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Weed Control & Fertilization

Our Lawn Care Program includes up to 7 applications of weed control and lawn fertilization to achieve the beautifully vibrant, green lawn youve always dreamed of!

What Is Overseeding And Why Do You Need To Act Now

Overseeding refers to the proven practice of seeding into your existing lawn to establish additional grass growth and finally, fill in any thin, dead, or bare spots.

There are two optimum times of year for successfully overseeding your lawnfall and spring. Fall is the best time of year to overseed a lawn, but if you cant wait that long and would like to have a great lawn to enjoy over the summer months, spring is your second best choice.Spring rain, cool nights, and ample sunshine are all positive factors in building a green, healthy, full lawn. One drawback to overseeding in the spring is the growth of weeds. We will tackle that issue at another time.

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Determine Your Grass Type

Before getting started, it’s important to understand your grass type. If yours turns brown in the winter, then you likely have warm-season turf. Common varieties include Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede, or St. Augustine, explains Mayer, all of which respond more favorably to sodding or sprigging opposed to overseeding. However, if you reside anywhere throughout the Midwest or Northeast where grass remains green through the winter months, then you’re dealing with cool-season iterations, such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, or Ryegrass.

Remove Thatch And Debris

After mowing, rake your yard with a metal rake or a dethatching machine to remove excessive thatch and debris. Thatch is a layer of organic components found between the grass and soil that can prevent proper air circulation and water absorption for seedlings, which is necessary for germination. Vigorously raking your lawn also helps to loosen and break up the soil to create good seed-to-soil contact, making it easier for the seeds to take root.

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Which Grass Seed Should I Use For Overseeding

There is no right answer to this question. The grass species you should use depend on lots of different factors.

• How often you use your lawn and what you use it for.
• What soil type you have
• How much sunshine your lawn gets in a day
• Mowing height how short do you want to mow your lawn?
• Which grass species seem thrive in your lawn
• Whether you are overseeding the whole area or just repairing patches

For a family lawn, I would suggest using a ryegrass based seedmix and overseeding the whole lawn.

For a close mown lawn, fescues and bent grasses are traditionally used because they will tolerate being maintained really short. Watch my masterclass on cutting lawns really short.

For a shaded lawn, fescues are great but see if you can identify the species that are already doing ok in that area before you buy seed. You might be surprised. Not sure how to identify grasses? Subscribe to my YouTube channel Im planning a video to help you tell one type of lawn grass from another.

How To Overseed A Lawn

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Can You Just Sprinkle Grass Seed On Lawn

While its possible to simply sow the new grass seed over your existing lawn, taking the time to prepare your lawn beforehand will increase the likelihood of seed germination. If the grass looks healthy and healthy looking, then youre good to go.

If it looks sickly, youll need to wait a few days to see if the seed will germinate. You can also check to make sure that the soil around your new lawn is dry before you plant your seed.

Can I Put Topsoil Over Grass And Reseed

It is possible to dump new soil over top of what you have, and prepare it for sod or seed. The cost of removing the old soil and replacing it with the new will be cheaper with this option.

If you do not have the time or inclination to dig up your lawn, you can use a garden trowel to remove soil from the surface of the grass. You can also dig a hole in the ground and fill it up with soil. The soil will then be ready for planting.

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Correct Existing Lawn Problems

For troubles beyond normal thinning, test your soil and make corrections before overseeding. Follow test recommendations for using soil amendments and repairing bare lawn spots. If needed, take time to dethatch and core aerate compacted lawns so air, moisture and seed can get to the soil. Pennington One Step Complete products combine premium seed with a stabilized-release fertilizer and wood mulch to simplify lawn repairs.

Fertilize With A New Seeding Fertilizer

After spreading the seed, apply a new seeding fertilizer. This will give your new seedlings the nutrients they need to develop a deep root system and germinate properly. Opt for a fertilizer that is rich in phosphorus and can be applied at the time as seeding, such as Jonathan Green Green-Up Fertilizer for Seeding & Sodding, which is specially formulated to grow strong roots to help your lawn withstand stress, especially from summer and winter weather.

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Plug Aeration Vs Spike Aeration

As you plan to aerate your lawn, its useful to understand the difference in the two aeration tools available. The first, a spike aerator, has a solid tine that pokes holes in the ground. The second, a plug aerator, actually removes a small plug of soil and grass from the lawn. While both types of aerator do the job, plug aeration is the more effective of the two options. Look for one that removes plugs 0.5 to 0.75 inches in diameter spaced about two to three inches apart.