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How To Overseed Your Lawn

Learn how to overseed a lawn with this helpful tutorial. Don't let dead patches spoil the look of your lawn and your house. The key to a lush, beautiful lawn is unknown to anyone, but overseeding will enhance your lawn. Landscape experts know what overseeding is, but many homeowners don't. Overseeding is part of a systematic, strategic approach to keep lawns looking fantastic.

What is Overseeding?

How To Overseed Your LawnOverseeding is the planting of grass seeds directly onto existing grass, without cutting down the crop or the dirt. It's a simple way to fill bare patches, increase turf growth, create improved grass varieties, and enhance the color of your lawn. If the grass seems aged, or simply "torn down," whether it requires increasing amounts of water and fertilizer to flourish, it's the ideal candidate for overseeding.

Why Overseed Your Lawn?

Overseeding a lawn is a great choice for homeowners whose lawns have experienced drought stress, insect damage, or other signs of decline. The newer turfgrass types are best able to tolerate the damage caused by drought, pests, and insects that cause damage to the lawn. Lawn overseeding will also help to increase the density of your lawn grass and keep weeds from taking root. It may also improve the brightness and uniformity of the design of your grass.

The Benefits Of Aeration And Overseeding - One of the best practices you can do for your lawn is to have it aerated and overseeded on a regular basis.
How to Overseed Lawns Without Aerating - It is entirely possible to plant grass seed and improve your lawn appearance without aerating. Here, you will learn how to overseed lawn without aerating.

When is the best time to overseed a lawn

The best time to overseed your lawn is to depend on the type of grass. Spring is the perfect season to overseed the turf for most species. Most grasses require a germination temperature of 59 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit). Do not seed when heavy snow or frost is expected. You may put down seed early in the fall for winter covering, but it takes a little more maintenance and irrigation.

How to Overseed a Lawn During a Cool Season - When cool-season grasses take a beating from the summer heat, overseeding lawns is the answer to rejuvenating them.
How To Overseeding Your Lawn In Spring - Learn to re-establish a healthier, better-looking lawn by overseeding it in spring. 

How to Overseed Lawns

If your lawn care provider is not in a position to overseed, you can do it yourself. Overseeding your lawn is not a difficult task, but you need to take all precautions to ensure good seed germination.

Prepare the area

Mow the grass shorter than normal to increase the amount of seed that comes into contact with the soil. Inspect the lawn for the presence of thatch. If it's too dense, it's better to aerate the lawn before it's overseeded or whether it's packed with gaps to minimize thatch and dead vegetation. After mowing, rake the lawn to clear any residual dirt and thatch and lift the top layer of the soil. Rake over the field to remove the clippings and litter and start turning over the soil, so it's able to accept the new seed. I suggest mowing 1/3 of the lawn length for regular mowing. Get down to 2/3 when overseeding.

How to Prepare Your Lawn for Overseeding - Follow our step-by-step guide on what to do before overseeding (reseeding) your lawn.

Choosing the right lawn seed

When purchasing seed, make sure to pick the best seed for your region of the country and the conditions of your lawn. If your soil is extremely compacted, you may need to aerate the lawn before you are overseeded. If necessary, use grass seed that spreads through the Rhizomes. These grasses are sending shoots and roots out horizontally. This can inevitably fill empty spots on its own for years, making you a very thick, green grass. Don't pick a seed of grass. This needs a lot of sunlight to expand if the area is heavily shaded.

Spread the seed

Use a grass spreader to spread the seed across the grass. Be sure to check the seed label for the spread rate. It's important to do this when the air is cool. Don't try to spread the seed on a windy day, and at the end of you'll miss your lawn and waste your seed.

Watering and Maintenance

Watering is one of the most critical aspects of effective overseeding. Place the seeds onto your lawn soon after they have dispersed. Water daily before the seeds germinate, which can take up to two weeks.

The first watering can be a heavy watering (about an inch of water) For the first week, water the lawn more for a week. Water, if required to avoid wilting and encourage a healthier lawn within the first two weeks, would foster healthy plants, which will lead to good grass and a beautiful lawn.

If the grass has germinated, make sure to water every couple of days. When the grass is completely grown and at the same height as the current lawn, water it according to the guidelines for that type of grass.

Overseeding can sound like a challenging task. But if you know how to overseed a lawn and stop problems, overseeding will help you build a perfect, balanced lawn.