wilkes

you need to check the test date on the grass seed. get something fairly new. do not just throw the seed on the ground as it will not grow. you need to at least plug it. you can put down straw, but be prepared to kill weeds in the spring after temperature hits 85 degrees for a couple of days. worse comes to worse, watch what the landscapers are doing. bruce

I would say you should not use straw to cover the grass seed if you can avoid it because it often times has weed seeds in it that will germinate and cause lots of weeds in your new lawn. It is best if you can put a thin layer of peat moss over top of the new seed or even a thin layer of top soil. You should use a starter fertilizer also and you can get it that has the crabgrass preventer in it just in case you have to use straw.

hehaw reccomdations are correct. i would just add to that. k-31 is outdated fescue grass seed. you want to use a turfgrass variety of tall fescue such as rebel from lowes. also a starter fertilizer is example 18-24-12. not 5-10-10. but yes it needs good seed to soil contact to establish and it will not establish in a compacted soil.

If it has been freshly graded. It would really help to have some sort of Topsoil on it. Its really hard to get grass to grow in just plain red clay.

You can add pelletized lime and some starter fertilizer - something with about a 5-10-10 number.

Thank you so much! I think we'll try this week after the rain. Would you recommend throwing the fertilizer and lime in there with the grass seed?

Sometimes it's hard to get a good stand of grass started. Really, fall is the best time to sow grass seeds during September. The next best time is along about now so it can get a root system before hot weather. Grass seeds need to have good soil contact (raked-in) about a quater of an inch deep, and cover lightly with straw in small areas or plugged/aerated in large areas.. Lawns need about an inch of water per week. Some people choose to put fertilizer and lime on the yard at the same time as the seeds. Most people around here use some type of fescue seed, KY-31 or Rebels fescue blend for southern lawns. If the red dirt is packed-down, it will need plugging/aerating or tilling if it it small. If you just throw the seeds on top of the dirt, they'll just wash away. Good luck. Used to be that grass seeds, fertilizer were fairly reasonably priced. Not so anymore.

My mom's yard is reddish-muddy clay. There is some patches of grass, mainly weeds. She paid someone $700 last year to grade it a little and sow grass seed. Needless to say, it didn't last.

So my question is, what is the best type of grass seed to sow and when should we start? I have no idea about any of this, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated!