Who wouldn’t love and dream of a healthy and lush green lawn in their courtyard?
Yes, maintaining a lush green lawn can be a little tricky. You may find bald spots, weeds, and brown spots here and there destroying your lawn. And that is when you should think of overseeding your lawn.
So, how do you think you can maintain a beautiful and uniform lawn?
Overseeding is a complete solution to all kinds of lawn problems. It helps in thickening turf and hence, in eradicating weeds.
You can make out a smooth and uniform loan by overseeding, without the need for renovating the whole lawn. Overseeding repairs burned spots and other damages caused by summer heat. It also improves the overall health and strength of your lawn.
However, you should overseed your lawn at the right time and follow the right techniques to achieve proper and good results. The grass type must schedule the time for overseeding your lawn and the location you are living.
We will discuss everything you need to know about overseeding the lawn in this article, starting from finding the right time to aftercare needs.
When ToOverseed Your Lawn?
As said earlier, the time for overseeding your lawn varies with your lawn’s grass type and the place you are residing. Two major grass types seen in the United States are cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses.
Cool-season grasses occupy the Northeast and the Midwest areas of the United States. In the Northeast, late summer and early fall is the best time for overseeding cool-season grasses. Meanwhile, in the Midwest, the best time for overseeding lawns starts mid-August and ends in mid-September.
Warm-season grasses are mainly seen in Southern parts of the United States. And the best time to overseed them is early-summer or mid-spring.
The Western parts of the United States have both cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses. Cool-season grasses are seen in the Northwest parts, and the best time to overseed them is six weeks before the winter. Meanwhile, warm-season grasses are seen in Southwest parts, and the best time to overseed them is in early spring.
Now, you have got an idea about the right time to overseed your lawn. Next, we will see a step-wise guide for overseeding your lawn properly.
Step-Wise Guide To Properly Aerate And Overseed Your Lawn
- Step 1: Prepare the soil and seeds
Take a soil test. Find out what nutrients are missing in your soil. Grass requires nutrient-rich soil to fuller its growth. Check the ph. Take the necessary steps to improve nutrient content and pH value if you find it inappropriate for the lawn’s proper growth.
Find quality grass seeds according to the climate of your place. Try out changing the grass seeds if your lawn has not been performing well previously.
You are advised to maw the lawn before starting the process of overseeding. Water and moisten the soil a day before you overseed the soil. You should keep the soil soft and moist but not muddy.
- Step 2: Aerate the soil
Aeration is an important step that has to be done before overseeding. Overseeding without aeration would go vain. You cannot achieve good overseeding results if you skip the step of aeration.
Are you wondering why aeration is an important step in overseeding?
You know that overseeding is done over thatch, a layer of dead grass along with the soil. If you drop grass seeds over the thatch, 90% of the seeds won’t sprout. Aeration loosens up the thatch and soil and paves the path for a suitable environment for seeds to sprout with a proper reach of air and water.
You can use a core aerator or manual aerator to remove and loosen up thatch. Also, don’t aerate the turf of your lawn in dry conditions. The soil should neither be too muddy. You can water the soil a day before and aerate in moist conditions.
- Step 3: Overseeding
The best way to overseed your lawn is by using a broadcast spreader. You can use a drop or broadcast spreader to overseed the lawn. Add a starter fertilizer and seeds into the broadcast spreader
It is highly recommended to overseed your lawn within 48 hours of aeration. You can finish up overseeding by gently soaking the soil in water just after spreading seeds and fertilizer, without washing away the grass seeds.
- Step 4: Aftercare
Keep the soil moist for the next few days after overseeding. Don’t mow too soon after overseeding. Allow the seeds to germinate and get accustomed to the soil and climate. We would advise you not to mow the lawn for at least four weeks after overseeding.
Some Common Mistakes To Avoid In Overseeding Your Lawn
- Choosing the wrong set of equipment.
- Skipping the step of aeration.
- Overseeding your lawn at the wrong season.
- Aerating and overseeding law during dry or extremely muddy conditions.
- You choose not to water and keep the lawn moist after the process of overseeding.
- Mowing the lawn too soon after overseeding.
Final Verdict
Here we have given detailed instructions about overseeding your lawn. You can find everything you need to know about overseeding your law, beginning from the right time to aftercare needs, in this article.
You have to follow each step carefully and wisely. Missing out a small step can lead your entire work into a failure. So, be careful and on-point with accomplishing the steps of overseeding.
Don’t miss out on aeration before overseeding at any cost. Also, place your hands on the right set of equipment to accomplish overseeding efficiently and achieve good results.
However, we advise you to seek a professional’s help if you are completely new to this and have no idea about using the aerators and broadcast spreaders.
