Hellobee Boards

Are you putting hay over the seed? We had some grading done and had to replant our entire front lawn, we have seeded it three times now, and on the first application (which we did in the fall) we covered it with a thin straw layer.
Also, maybe get more expensive grass seed? We couldn't afford it, but my dad always uses this "conservation mix" which has a lot of clover mixed in and makes a lovely, natural looking lawn.
Do you have a grass seed spreader?

Start from scratch with sod

Kidding! (kind of). Assuming that is a financial no-go, definitely put a loose layer of straw over the seed. And I'd spring for the type of seed that comes with a bulky fertilizer (where it changes color & holds the seeds in place when you water it). You'll need to water it quite a bit when it's establishing.

Also, do some research on when to apply fertilizer, early weed & crabgrass killer, and when to aerate. It depends on your climate. And you'll need to be careful with weed killer, since it can easily kill new grass.

Not a fun process!!!

Agree with the first step being to get soil tested and kill the weeds!

@regberadaisy: Ive heard to be careful about watering at night. If the grass is too damp over night it can rot the seed/grass.

http://www.sodco.net/tips-and-resources/overwatering

@regberadaisy: I'm in a rural area, we put a poet on front porch forum (is that a thing where you are? Like a community email list serv) and ended up getting some from some horse farmers for free- it was too old for them to use as feed.
Do you live near any farmers? It wouldn't be too much to buy a bale of hay from them, or maybe a local garden center would know?

@regberadaisy: Haha, I am learning to love my lawn as it is, weeds and all. Grubs are our main problem, no amount of milk weed thistle has solved it to date and I am not willing to put more chemicals or invest any more money into it at this point.

I think you've missed the window for over seeding this spring. We bought our house 2 years ago and the lawn was a disaster. Almost completely crab grass, plus some other awful looking things. DH tried to fix it last spring but he hadn't over seeded in the fall, he just used EZ seed, and he slowed down on the watering, and it all became crabgrass again.

So in the last year we over seeded in the fall, seeded again in the spring with fertilizer and I think weed killer. Basically follow the Scott's steps. We went from a back yard of dirt, to a yard with 90% grass. There are a couple tough spots we still have to attack, DH thinks we might have grubs there. I think he's going to do some grub treatment and put down some topsoil and some more seed. Just the regular stuff, not EZ seed this time.

I made this on Timehop back in April and sent it to DH because I was so amazed by how far we'd come with the lawn in just one year.

@regberadaisy: Haha, I wasn't even trying to get a before pic. It was DH's first time on his riding mower (we have a much bigger yard in the front, hence the need for it). And when I got the time hop from last April I was like "whoa we've come a long way." It looks even better now, most of the spot on the left is gone and we moved the swing set so we can try and fix the patch that was under that. Both of those bad patches are like 80% gone.

When we moved in I told DH my top priority was making the back yard a place we could run around in and hang out on. It's taken 2 years, and we made a ton of mistakes the first year! Oh, and we've learned the best way to keep weeds from moving in is to work on building up the grass. The weeds seem to just be annuals, so if you can encourage grass before the seasonal weeds take hold, you'll see a big improvement.

@regberadaisy: farmer's daughter here....straw is much cheaper than hay---its almost a byproduct and animals sleep on it, v. hay which animals eat (nerd alert). You'll save yourself several bucks per bale.

I suck at growing grass...

@regberadaisy: err...I live in farm country, so if you are near farmers try that. Maybe call a farm stand or even a greenhouse. I think you can even buy rolls of straw that is weaved into a mesh (I assume there's a plastic mesh backbone.) Maybe home depot or Lowe's would have that ($$$).