Fall overseeding

[j4c11]

I will definitely have to mow next week. I have never mowed this late either. Your grass is looking good considering how late it was seeded. I don't remember, did you put down fescue or KBG? Since you're up in MD I would seed some KBG with the fescue, it spreads via rhizomes like Bermuda and makes for a beautiful thick fine bladed lawn.

[titleist1]

Spring time update....The two late seedings last year came in very well and after all the rain last week really took off. There is still some crabgrass in there which I will treat for again this year but it looks better than it ever has.

The crabgrass will probably be an ongoing issue since there are other wilder areas nearby that don't get treated and will probably continue to send seeds to the lawn area. If I can keep ahead of it a bit so it doesn't become a muddy mess in the fall/winter as the crabgrass and other weeds die off I will be happy.

I used fescue last year but will take the above advice and overseed with kbg next time. There is a seed company nearby I buy from and will also ask them for recommendations for our area.

[j4c11]

Originally Posted by titleist1

Spring time update....The two late seedings last year came in very well and after all the rain last week really took off. There is still some crabgrass in there which I will treat for again this year but it looks better than it ever has.

The crabgrass will probably be an ongoing issue since there are other wilder areas nearby that don't get treated and will probably continue to send seeds to the lawn area. If I can keep ahead of it a bit so it doesn't become a muddy mess in the fall/winter as the crabgrass and other weeds die off I will be happy.

I used fescue last year but will take the above advice and overseed with kbg next time. There is a seed company nearby I buy from and will also ask them for recommendations for our area.

That looks great, congratulations. A shot of iron (Ironite) will darken it some more.

You will need pre-emergent to resolve the crabgrass problem, it has done wonders for me this year. Not only for crabgrass but various other summer weeds. The $65 jug of prodiamine I bought last year will last me about 15 years and is probably the best $65 I ever spent on anything lawn care. Very little breakthrough which I resolved with quinclorac.

Here's the thing on KBG, it is difficult to establish in a thick mature stand of fescue like you have there. The reason is KBG takes much longer than fescue to germinate - up to 3 weeks - and keeping the area wet for that long will cause the existing fescue to take off which in turn will make it very hard for the KBG seedlings to succeed. Try it and whatever makes it makes it, but I would put down 50%-50% fescue/KBG. That means 90%-10% by weight, KBG seed is 10 times smaller than tall fescue seed.

Did I say your lawn really came out nice?

[titleist1]

Did some reclaiming work on the front yard on Saturday. Been waiting for the backfill to settle a bit against the house for the last month or so before doing the work on the grass area. It will probably settle some more but I don't think i will have to run the fel on it enough to tear up the new grass.

Rototilled the top layer which had a lot of clay and was packed pretty hard from the earlier skidloader & backhoe work. Coulda' used a jack hammer in a couple spots!! But patience won out and i did get it broke up pretty good. I spread out a scoop of topsoil and a scoop of sand over the area and raked it in.

Then I seeded with the spreader and lightly hand raked it and then put another thin coat of seed on top. Spread out two bales of straw in a thick layer because of all the rain that was coming on Sunday (which it did). I didn't want it to just wash away. This seemed to work, looking at it today the soil, seed and straw is all still in place.

I know i will get all the weed seeds from the straw bales growing in there too but i will deal with those later just like i did in the back yard. in a few weeks i should have a little more mowing area which will slightly increase the seat time!!

[Dirty Steve]

Looks good.