wilkes

Seeded 64-90 from Statesville to Taylorville, but I dont have your kind of experience.. Just going by the book ..You dont use both at the same time. I am just saying...

I've been sowing seed since December and now have a decent crop now because of the mild winter. The best time is in the spring or the early fall, but we can't all wait while our yards wash away for months. Use a thin cover of hay or straw and cross your fingers.

And starter fertilizer is not a high nitrogen product, more phosphorous and potash to assist the plant development.

Your fertilizer has time to dissolve and get into the soil before the grass seed germinates

Go to ehow.com..you should find lots of answers there.

Having a dirt yard all summer is not practical and having said that, I have never had any success in sowing a yard in the spring. Then I have never had an irrigation system to ensure it does not dry out and die when the first hot, dry spell of summer arrives. Fall is the optimum time for grass seeding. This is just my experience so, if you do sow this spring, water, water, water for complete success.

oakwoods, would it be okay to put down the lime and the grass seed all at once then? Or should we just put the grass seed down and the put the fertilzer on?

Satan, if I had to do it that way...I would go without grass! lol

This soil is very moist and hasn't had anything applied to it in about 25 years. It was actualy grown up in trees, weeds, and briars with the actual ground covered with leaves from a huge old Oak tree. Throughout the winter, we have cleared it all out to where now all it is, is dirt.

Yea, I was worried about this being the wrong time of year to plant. Hopefully, we can get it to come up pretty good though until we can replant at the end of summer. Thanks for that info!

plant each seed individually ...3/16 of an inch deep and 3/16 of an inch apart

Your best bet is to use fescue or bluegrass or a combination of both. You can use almost any fertilizer but the most important thing is to get the soil pH correct. If the area has not had lime applied within the last few years then adding lime is important. it is impossible to say how much lime without a soil test, but 40 pounds per 1000 square feet is not unreasonable for soil that has not had lime in years.

PawPaw7, thanks! I didn't realize the fertilizer should be put down before the seed. Thanks for that info. We could put it down this weekend and allow it to work on the soil until we are ready to put down the grass seed in a few weeks. Again, thanks for that info.

Add 100# of pelleted lime per 1,000 sq. ft. to begin with. I would use a blend of tall fescue, I personally use Rebel from Pennington. Loosen the top soil up, spread your seed and lightly rake it in. Fescue does not need to be deeper than 1/4". Doing that will assist the seed in germination and also keep the birds from having a feast at your expense. For fertilizer, I would buy a starter lawn fertilizer, applying it at the rate recommended on the bag. Cover the lawn with straw to help hold the moisture in. DO NOT USE ANY CRABGRASS OR WEED CONTROL broadcast product when you plant. Those products contain a pre-emergent and will not allow your seeds to germinate.

I would use a mixture of 31 - Falcon- and creeping red...I think your fertilizer shoud have already been put down to feed the soil or put out now...

We are getting ready to start fixing our new yard. We are starting just from plain dirt. There is no grass, this lot was just cleared for a mobile home. We have never sowed grass before and I was curious to what other people have used. We would need to do it in the next few weeks. So my question is, what would be the best seed to plant for this time of year and what kind of fertilizer to use? Ofcourse, I could read the back of the bags but I was wanting to know what people have had the best experience using.