Lawn Reseeding in 3 Steps

Reseeding your lawn is one of the simplest do it yourself projects that a homeowner can undertake and it makes the lawn and the home look better with just a couple hours of work. Lawn reseeding can cost a great deal of money if the homeowner decides to hire a professional for the job, but the homeowner can achieve the same effect by following a few simple instructions for reseeding their lawn. The techniques work best in the late summer or early autumn because it allows the new seed time to grow during the cool autumn days.

Step 1 – Preparing Your Lawn

Before starting your lawn reseeding, the lawn must be prepared to receive the seed and help them grow. The entire lawn should be raked thoroughly with a heavy duty rake to expose any thin areas in the lawn and remove thatch that could impede the growth of the grass seed. Any debris should be removed from the lawn or composted to provide nutrients for the soil as the organic plants decompose.

Once the lawn has been raked, the areas that will be reseeded should have the soil loosened to a depth of about one inch, so that the grass seed will be able to penetrate the soil and find a hold for the roots of the newly grown grass.

There are many commercial tools available to accomplish this task, from smaller hand tools that can be used for smaller areas to large motorized tools for larger areas and entire lawns. After the soil has been loosened, the proper amount of fertilizer should be added to the soil before the grass seed in laid on the area.

Step 2 – Reseeding the Lawn

The type of grass seed that should be used for lawn reseeding will depend on the area of the nation that you live in and the climate that is present in that area. Many garden stores and home improvement stores will carry several different high quality grass seed blends that are good for use in that particular area and the employees of the store may be able to help you choose the blend that is right for your lawn.

The type of seed chosen will also depend on where you are planning to place the seed on your lawn, whether in a shady area or an area that gets plenty of direct sunlight during the day.

The grass seed can be spread around the areas to be reseeded by hand, covering the areas sparingly because only about 6 seeds per square inch will take root and covering the area much thicker than that only wastes time and grass seed.

If only certain areas of the lawn need to be reseeded, only purchase enough seed to cover the areas chosen as these are the only areas that will need to be focused on. After the grass seed has been spread, each area that received the grass seed will need to be watered lightly, moistening the soil and encouraging the grass seed to grow.

Step 3 – Finishing The Project

To encourage the new grass seed to grow faster, you may want to consider covering the areas where the new grass seed was spread with a thin plastic sheet, weighted around the perimeter with rocks or other heavy items to keep it from lifting and blowing away.

The plastic sheeting will help keep the moisture in the soil and will protect the grass seed from being eaten by birds before they are able to take root. This plastic sheeting must be removed as soon as the first sprouts appear or it will kill the new grass. Once the grass has sprouted, it should be watered at least twice per day until it has reached a height of 1 inch.

Photo by Dominic Alves, Creative Commons Attribution License