How Do I Seed My Lawn?

• Step 1... Prepare the site: Your lawn area should already be graded or tilled and the final level smooth surface should have been obtained. If not, now is the time to remove hills and depressions so that you have a nice smooth lawn for years to come.
• Step 2... Planting: You can use a commercial turfgrass planter, sow the seeds by hand (not recommended), or use a broadcast seeder/fertilizer spreader. Set the seeder for the correct seed application rate. Remember, you can always seed a second or third time, but it's pretty hard to pick up the seed you broadcast if you only planted 1/3 of your lawn and ran out of seed.
  We suggest you use a 2-step PLANTING process... Divide your seed into two equal quantities. Set your seeder rate so that you will cover the entire lawn with 1/2 of the total seed. You will need to determine how far the seeder is throwing the seed as you walk. Spread the seed in a pattern that allows overlapping coverage of all areas. Most seeders come with instructions that explain this planting principal.
  Plant the first half of the seed walking in one direction with your seeder. Then plant the second half of the seed walking in a direction perpendicular to the first pass. This double spreading provides for a more uniform broadcasting of your seeds and also insures that you get complete coverage. Always sow lawn seeds at the recommended rates. Good quality lawns require lots of seeds in order to achieve the correct plant density. You will save very little money by cheating on the quantity of seeds to plant.
• Step 3... Rake it in: Once your seeds are sowed, rake or drag the seeded area, so that as many of the seeds as possible are lightly covered (1/4 inch is an ideal covering for grasses). You can drag the lawn with a harrow or a piece of chain link fencing behind a mower, ATV, tractor or just by hand. This should cover your grass seed adequately. Not every seed will be covered by these methods, but a large quantity of them will. Over time soil and wind action will help cover even more. It's also a good idea to apply a starter fertilizer to the newly seeded area at this time.
• Step 4... Water, water, water: Water the lawn area you have planted on a regular basis. Frequent light waterings throughout the day work best, unless it's raining, of course. The key is to keep the soil moist (not completely saturated or underwater) at all times-especially once the seed begins to germinate. Once the seed sprouts, you must not allow the soil to dry out for more than about a day.

Now that you have the lawn planted and wet it doesn't mean you can go on vacation. There are still necessary procedures to observe until your lawn gets to the "adult" stage in its life cycle. If you did everything right up to now, you're on the right track to a beautiful lawn.

Continue watering your newly seeded lawn daily. For the seeds to germinate it takes water and time. Be patient. Most grass seeds take anywhere from 7 days to 20 days to germinate if conditions are right. The right conditions are generally warm soil temperatures (even for cool season grasses) and adequate moisture.

Many people plant their lawn and then a week later ask... "Why don't I have a lawn yet?" Be patient. As when you were born, it generally took you around 9 months to "germinate" and pop out into the real world. So it is with grass. The little living seeds must first decide that conditions are right to begin their growth process. Some grass seeds can last months or even years in the soil before beginning this process. And when they do pop out of the ground they're going to be little, baby plants. And as immature plants their root and leaf systems aren't developed enough to handle severe stresses in the beginning. Just as when you were a baby, grass plants need to grow bigger to survive all that you are going to ask of your lawn.

After anywhere from about 1 week (fescue) to 2 weeks (bluegrass) you should be able to get down on your hand and knees and see many of the little sprouting grass plants. They will be tiny, needle-like leaves sticking mostly straight up out of the soil. These little plants will be spread amongst the many weeds that also will have germinated.

And no... the vast majority of your weed seed were already present in your soil and were NOT brought sprouting into your world by the seed you just planted. They were already in the soil you just tilled. But don't worry… weeds are normal in newly seeded lawns. With proper care, grasses will crowd out the majority of those new weeds over time.

One thing you should do is limit traffic on a new lawn as much as possible-- especially kids and pets. Those baby grass plants can't tolerate much disturbing while they are trying to establish themselves and grow up!

After about 60-90 days these little plants will be big enough for you to carefully start running your mower over them. Mowing will help to keep the aggressive (and usually bigger, stronger) weeds from wiping out your baby grass plants. In effect, mowing provides for an equal playing field. It also helps the grasses to start spreading and filling, which is in their nature to do. You may want to forego watering a day before mowing to allow the ground to be firm enough to support the mower and you without making a muddy mess. Be sure your blade is sharp.

Keep up the frequent watering until about 45-60 days after planting... By then your grass plants should be big enough to start stretching out the watering interval without harm. This is actually good as it makes the plants send their roots down deeper into the soil, instead of just staying in the top few inches. Consequently, the plant will tolerate drought conditions better. Once established, the best watering schedule is to water deeply, 1-2 times a week under normal conditions.

Its now time for a second application of fertilizer to your lawn. And, yes... you can now think about taking that vacation. Just be sure you have someone lined up to mow your lawn while you're gone, make sure the irrigation system works properly and keep kids and pets off of the grass until your lawn's fully mature.