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How To Overseeding Your Lawn In Spring

overseeding lawn in spring
Spring is around the corner and it truly is a great time to seed to get a fuller, greener lawn. Selecting the correct seed, appropriately seeding, and continuing to sustain new grass are all crucial to a productive, properly established lawn.

Is overseeding in the spring the best way to brighten your lawn? Yes! Overseeding is a secret used by many professional landscapers and spring is one of the most popular times for it.

Deciding What Locations to Seed

The very first decision you may make is whether you desire overseed in spring an currently established lawn or to seed some bare spots. This may not just determine how you seed, but additionally how much seed you'll use. The basic rule of thumb for overseeding with Kentucky Bluegrass, for example, is 1.5 to 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Buying the correct Seed

Next, you are going to want to select the best seed for your lawn. The best approach to do that is to determine what species of grass currently thrive in your lawn and to buy that seed type. In West Michigan, we normally see blends of rye grass, bluegrass, and fescue. It's a good idea to pay a little extra for a great, high-quality seed, as you'll probably see greater final results than having a low-cost grass seed.

The Seeding Process

The method for seeding often comes down to your personal preference. For smaller sized lawns, you could possibly simply be able to overseed in spring using a hand-spreader. Bigger lawns might call for a overseeder or slit seeder machine (which are usually available for rent at hardware or rental stores). Should you are seeding bare spots, you'll desire to guarantee the seed is buried for optimal growth. If overseeding lawn in spring, you can just spread the seed more than the lawn, but you will see the best growth if the seed is buried, too. Our preferred method is to overseed 1st, then aerate the lawn to ensure that each the seed gets in to the soil and also the cores of soil pulled out can nourish seed on top of the lawn. Right after this, you can spread far more seed onto the lawn and it's going to fall into the holes that were aerated.

Maintaining New Grass

Once seeding is completed, you'll wish to have a starter fertilizer utilized at your subsequent application. Lawn Care Sevice is happy to apply this for you in lieu of our standard fertilizer at no additional cost. You will also desire to water your lawn routinely. Watering often for brief periods of time is best, so your lawn can dry among each and every cycle. The only actual drawback to overseeding in spring is the upcoming hot summer months and watering nicely keeps your young grass healthy. But, if not effectively maintained, the young grass can suffer through heat and dry spells. In case you do lose any grass inside the summer or if your lawn doesn’t get fairly as thick as you hoped, you can overseed again within the fall.

Weed Control and Crabgrass Pre-Emergent

It is a good idea to let your Lawn Care technician know should you plan on seeding. We are not simply happy to give you seeding recommendations, but we also desire to keep informed so we can ensure we don't apply something to your lawn that could negatively effect new seed growth. For example, crabgrass pre-emergent (that is applied with your spring fertilizer application) frequently should not be applied if you have lately seeded or plan on seeding within 6-8 weeks. Normally, it's also a good idea to wait until you’ve had a chance to mow new grass 2-3 times ahead of applying and herbicides to weeds.

As you can see, overseeding in the spring is not the easiest thing to do, especially when dealing with weeds. It is often better to keep the weeds down throughout the summer and then complete the seeding in the fall.