Thread: Lawn Help
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Bob F Bob F is offline
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Default Lawn Help


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On Apr 8, 10:16 am, TomC wrote:
wrote in news:793bb731-b47b-47b2-b427-b4b282adc093
@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Ok, year #2 in the beautiful newly built house in the NE with the
crappy lawn. Builder half-assed it and the lawn is sparse with a lot
of crabgrass. I don't need a "home and garden" lawn but I'd like some
grass !
Questions:


1. My thought is to use a slit-seeder rented from home depot since
previous attempts by just chucking down seed and watering has failed.
Make sense? Other ideas?


2. Is now a good time to seed or should I wait 2 weeks or a month?


Thanks for your guidance!


I went throught a similar experience in my new house in south central Pa.
just three years ago . The top soil was basically turned under during the
building process. So, the real problem is lack of fertile soil for the
grass seed to get off to a good start. I had a soil test done at the
local extension office. They recommended the type of grass seed (Kentucky
Bluegrass) for my locale, and they said to use a starter fertilizer when
I seeded, and to follow up with continued use of the starter fertilizer
over the next three years, during the early spring, early summer, and
late fall. Worked out great. Important steps a

Get the right grass seed for your area;
Use the correct starter fertilizer and apply it when you seed (expensive
step, but if you don't do it the grass seed won't germinate in the poor
soil);


What's supposed to be expensive about applying starter fertilizer?
It's about the same price as any other fertilizer. You can do a
10,000 sq ft lawn for $20



Insure good seed and soil contact; e.g. rake, cultivate, or use a slit
seeder, etc.;
Continue to fertilize poor soil for several years;


To make most lawns look good and like the typical lawn people want,
you'll need to fertilize every year. Kentucky bluegrass is one of the
high maintenance lawns that requires more nitrogen.




Be patient; it will grow and then you can spend a lot of time cutting it
:-)
If you seed in the spring and don't get enough rain to get that instant
lush lawn, don't fret about it over the summer. It will grow in the fall.


When you seed, you're surely not going to get a lush lawn for many
months, with or without rain. And if you don't get enough rain when
seeded, it will die, either right then, or later in the heat of summer
because it doesn't have an established root system to sustain it
through dry spells. When seeded, it needs to be kept constantly
moist, which is nearly impossible if you're relying on rain. In
short, if you can't irrigate a lawn, you're likely wasting a lot of
time trying to establish a lawn from seed in Spring. In Fall, your
chances are much better.


I set up a sprinkler on a hose with an electricic timer that allows me to have
it turn on for 5-10 minutes 3 times a day to keep it damp (not soaked)until the
seed sprouts. This has worked very well for me.