Are you assured that the brown patches and barren land in your garden are not because of insects? Check once again to verify that it’s not some form or garden disease or garden mismanagement. If you notice multiple dead areas in your garden, then you must consider overseeding lawn grass. In fact, when the majority of your lawn surface seems damaged you must work towards reseeding lawn grass.
What is Overseeding?
Overseeding is a process that includes seeding an area of your land that is exhibiting poorly growing grass, or zero grass growth at all. This is also a great solution for beautifying the aesthetics of your lawn. Think about it, how lovely would an even and lush green backyard look?
Benefits of Overseeding and Reseeding Gardens
Overseeding and reseeding are typically done to repair and revive the grass facing malnutrition. Here are a couple of good examples to give you more clarity:
- Parts of your lawn grass may be thin and thus spoil the uniformity of your surface. Overseeding can help reestablish the uniformity and positively influence your backyard’s visual appeal.
- Gardeners who are nurturing warm-season grass usually have to face the downfall of the winter season as their garden goes dormant. They can benefit via overseeding with cooler climate grass seeds.
- If you have decided to replant your lawn grass for reasons such as simpler maintenance or soil compatibility, then reseeding becomes a top priority.
- Weeds may sometimes take over regions of your garden and curb grass growth. In this situation, overseeding lawn grass proves to be an economical and time-saving way of combating weed growth.
The benefits of planting new grass on these patches are much more convenient than replanting your entire lawn from scratch.
Timing Tips for Overseeding
Overseeding is highly dependent on the time of the year and the type of grass you plan to grow. If you are attempting to overseed cool-season grass then late into summer or the initial stages of fall are good times. This is because the cool winds will contribute to the germination brought about by the warm soil.
Warm-season grass, on the other hand, must undergo overseeding strictly toward the end of fall or during the initial days of winter.
How to Overseed a Lawn?
Overseeding a lawn is a step-by-step process and requires mowing, choosing the right seeds, using fertilizers, improving the soil condition, raking, spreading seeds, watering in the right amounts, followed by day-to-day maintenance.
Follow the steps mentioned below in an organized fashion and you will be rewarded with an attractive and evenly surfaced lawn:
Prepare With Perfection
Preparation is always key when you decide to take up a gardening project. Since you are going to perform overseeding on the visible barren patches, it would be sensible to also identify the hidden patches.
This can be done by mowing your lawn to a fine size for easily spotting the brown or nutrient-deprived patches. Make sure that all the excess twigs and wooden pieces are separately collected in a bag. This makes your seed spreading action an efficient one. Also, the shorter you trim your grass the better, as more seeds can reach the soil.
Weekly lawn mowing calls for reducing your grass length by 1/3rd of its original. Whereas, mowing specifically for overseeding demands trimming your grass by 2/3rd of its length.
Check out these robotic lawn mowers for automating quality cutting of your grass.
After the above steps, use a rake to clear excess garden waste that the mower missed. Also, give the soil mild hits with the rake to loosen up the turf and make it suitable for new seeds to settle down.
Decide the Grass Seed You Want to Use
This decision will revolve around the existing grass type in your lawn. In the process of how to overseed a lawn, the grass seed determining aspect has the most factors to consider.
For example – the time of the year that you are performing overseeding will cut down the number of options at your disposal. Even your already-planted grass is a factor to consider when choosing new grass seeds.
Another factor is the requirements of the chosen seed to grow. Some may require plenty of water, whereas some may thrive in great amounts of sunlight. Depending on your area of residence and year-round climate, you must make a sensible choice.
You can also opt for grass seeds that come pre-loaded with fertilizers and soil improvement elements. When you are carrying out this research, lay emphasis on the 2 main categories of grass – cool and warm season.
Spread the Chosen Seeds
Now that your area is prepared and you have chosen the seeds for reseeding lawn grass, you can work toward spreading the seeds in your lawn. You may also want to enrich your soil before spreading the seeds as this can promote support throughout the budding phase of your newly planted seeds. Avoid adding more than a quarter-inch of enriched soil as it may choke the new seeds.
If you have a small lawn then handheld seed spreaders are good enough. But if you have a big lawn then consider using a broadcast seed spreader. You do not want to leave out the slightest of patches. Make sure you thoroughly double-check that you’ve covered all areas that need treatment.
The recommended rate of overseeding will be mentioned on the packaging itself, make sure you follow it. Also, don’t perform the spreading process on windy days.
You don’t want to allow unwanted spreading of the seeds, do you? Besides, grass seeds can be expensive, and wasting them due to wind issues would be stupid.
Thus for even distribution, only perform this step on not-so-windy days.
Fertilize the Overseeded Regions
If you want a faster growth period and also want to enhance the nutrients available for your new grass, consider using fertilizers. Nitrogen content is responsible for improving growth cycles and maintaining a bright green color – both these attributes are perfect for freshly planted grass.
This step will help in effective seed germination and is the key to building the ideal platform for an upcoming healthy lawn.
The benefits will also contribute to the already existing grass, thus you will be knocking two targets with one product. You can get out your garden cart along with a rake or shovel. These DIY garden carts solutions could prove handy while you are performing garden maintenance.
Bonus Top: Spread a small amount of compost over your seeds.
Perform Regular Watering
New grass seeds require plenty of water to germinate. Thus it is crucial that you maintain the moistness of your soil by consistent watering. Ideally, once a day should do the job unless you’re residing in areas of warm climates. Once your new grass is of the same height as your entire lawn you can reduce watering episodes.
If you are a busy person, you can even consider to time an oscillating sprinkler and automate the process. You can’t afford to let your grass start to wilt because of the lack of water supply. Within a month of reseeding lawn grass, you will begin to notice the seeds have sprouted and your lawn is gaining a healthier structure.
Bonus Tip: For the first week, perform watering twice a day.
Overseeding a Lawn: Tips and Tricks
- Weed Treatment: Avoid beginning weed treatment in the first one or two months of overseeding your lawn. The grassroots may yet be slightly weak and developing, and the chemicals could be an obstruction in absorbing nutrients from the soil. Consider replacing this will all-natural fertilizers.
- Never overdo it with water: Too much water will choke your grassroots and lead to root rotting. You must water your grass with an intention to only leave the soil moist, never with an intention to make it muddy.
- Refrain from herbicides: Herbicides are the biggest enemies of overseeded and reseeded lawns. They easily kill new grass and inhibit the germination of budding seeds.
- Study the Seed Bag Label: The better knowledge you have about the seeds and their composition, the better reseeding decisions you can make. Check this out to develop a better understanding of what each parameter on the label indicates.
A denotes the types of seeds blended together.
B denotes the name of the grass.
C denotes the presence of other crop seed. Refrain from a rating above 2.5%.
D denotes the dirt. Refrain from a rating above 3%.
E denotes the quantity of weed seeds. Refrain from a rating above 0.2%
G denotes the expiry date. Refrain from seed bags that have crossed their tested date by 1 year.
Verdict
How to overseed a lawn can be a troublesome question without knowing the soil type, weather conditions, and existing grass type. Be sure to have information regarding the basics of your garden and grass to be ready to go about overseeding lawn grass in a seamless manner.