Have you noticed that the grass in your lawn gets thinner each year while more and more weeds keep showing up?
There is an easy way to fix this and it’s called overseeding.
What the heck is overseeding? You simply buy a bag of grass seed at your local hardware store, core aerate your lawn, spread the seed, cover it with a light layer of compost, and then water twice a day until the seeds sprout. Once they sprout, you can cut back to watering once a day.
After about 4 weeks your lawn will be thick, green, and lush.
The core aerating is an important step — it helps get more water, nutrients and air down into the root zone of your lawn. It also helps remove some of the thatch layer that builds up over time.
The type of seed you buy should match your existing lawn or complement it. For example if your lawn is thin under your trees or in shady areas make sure you buy seed that does well in full shade. Are the areas in full sun burning up? You may need seed that thrives in high heat.
The type of compost you use is not really important. I’ve used sheep manure, steer manure, chicken manure, etc. The steer manure was only $1 per bag while the other two are $5 per bag, so I usually mix them together to get more coverage for a lower cost.
The increased thickness of your grass will force the weeds out and keep them out. The thicker and healthier the grass, the fewer weeds you will have.
Overseed early in the spring and again in the fall during cooler temperatures. Grass seed does better when it’s cooler and hates the high heat of mid-summer.