Tips For Overseeding Your Lawn

When the weather starts getting warmer, your yard gets more and more use. There's playing kids and pets, family barbecues, or even just quiet nights staring at the stars. You'll enjoy your outdoor spaces more when your lawn is healthy and looking its best. Overseeding can keep your lawn thick and green, and we have a few tips to help you get the job done right.

When to overseed your lawn

Overseeding means you're spreading grass seed over your existing lawn. If you have areas that are thin or worn away from pets or foot traffic, overseeding can fix them. You can also use overseeding for lawn maintenance. Grass gets thinner as it ages, and bare or thinning areas encourage weed growth. Overseeding before that happens keeps your lawn healthy and looking great. It's also cheaper and easier than having to reseed or resod the entire lawn.

Selecting grass seed

Because of climate, lawns in the northern part of the country generally have different grass varieties than those in the south. Identify what type of grass you have and get the same type or mix of grass seed so it blends in with the rest of your yard. You can view common lawn grass varieties on the internet or talk to someone at your home improvement center for help identifying what grass you have.

Many people in northern climates overseed in the spring, and that's fine, but fall is ideal. It's a little cooler, so your grass seed has less competition from weeds and is less likely to be affected by excessive rain. In the south, the best time to overseed is late spring to early summer. The grass varieties in southern lawns need warmer temperatures to germinate, but it is less likely extreme heat or drought will be a problem.

Start by mowing 

Mow your lawn but cut the grass shorter than you usually do. Bag the clippings. These two things will help expose the area that needs seeding and allow new seed better access to the soil.

Prepare the soil

If you have other problems with your lawn, you may want to test the soil and correct those problems, or aerate compacted soil before overseeding. Otherwise, go ahead and rake the area to get rid of any grass clippings, debris, or dead vegetation, and loosen the top layer of soil. If you are overseeding to thicken the entire lawn, you may want to rake in a thin layer (less than ¼ inch) of soil to help the seed take root.

Applying the seed

You can use grass seed only or a product that combines seed, fertilizer, and soil enhancer. Apply either product to the lawn with a spreader, following the manufacturer's instructions. If the product you used doesn't contain fertilizer, apply some after spreading the seed. Avoid any products that contain herbicides for weed control since those can prevent the new grass seed from germinating.

Watering

Keep the soil consistently moist, but not soaked. You'll want to water lightly a couple of times a day until your seeds germinate. Then increase the amount of water (but don't overwater) and water daily or every other day, whatever is needed to keep the new grass from wilting and drying out.

Overseeding your lawn is a fairly simple process and can do a lot to keep your lawn healthy and looking its best. Once the new grass is the same height as the rest of your lawn, you can return to your regular maintenance schedule and get back to enjoying your outdoor space.

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