Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Overseeding a lawn

I want to overseed my yard to thicken it up. I have a 6ft disc that I thought about using to scratch the surface then spread the seed. Any cons to my idea ?

A harrow may work better if you want to keep the current grass, and rough up the ground enough to take the new seed. YMMV, but I did that once, and the harrow worked great.

I did think about that or a rock rake also

Gotta have ground contact. A harrow sounds better.

There is no telling how much time and money I've spent on mine, and it still looks like crap. I've tried overseeding it in the fall, and spring, and letting a freeze and rain or snow work the seed it, something that it will sometimes do. I've rented a 6 foot no till drill and used that, worked one time, didn't the other. I've took a plugger, and ran it over the yard several times, seeded, then ran the plugger back over, and the rolled it. I've ended up with good stands of grass, then had drought kill the grass.

The best job I've seen anyone do in redoing a lawn was when they sprayed the yard with Roundup, killed everything, then worked it up and reseeded it. Also, if you really want grass instead of a mixture of grass and weeds, you need to spray the weeds every spring, and fertilize and lime regularly.

Be sure and use grass seed that is specifically for a lawn. I'm cheap, I use Kentucky 31 fescue, and although it's marketed as lawn seed, it's really a poor choice, as it is actually a cool season grass, and is prone to dying in the heat and dry weather.

I do have access to a plugger. About 10 yrs ago my wife came home from a friends hose with a square foot of zoysia. I put it in the front yard just to see what it would do. It is now about 10ft in diameter. In about 30 yrs, I might have a great stand of zoysia.

i'd rent a plugger if i was serious. i don't really care about my grass so i just run over it with the quad a few times before and after seeding. just did it today as a matter of fact.

Well I was finally able to get this project on track. First the rains came so I didn't want to rut up the yard with the tractor. Then I got busy with other projects. I went ahead and tried the disc. I set it up so the front gang was deeper than the rear when lowered. It cut some nice slits and the rear gang which are at a greater angle kinda scratched the surface. I put down 50lbs of KY 31 then pulled a piece of old fence behind the Gator to cover it up. We are supposed to get some rain this weekend so hopefully I see some grass grow in about a week. I was hoping to get the fertilizer down also but I don't think I want to start spreading 1500 lbs and get caught in the rain.

Hope the rain comes for you. We could sure use it in eastern Colorado.

How'd it grow?

-Jake

I wish I had taken before and after pics. Mother Nature has been very good to us for growing grass. I will overseed again the fall but for now, I am pleased with the way it came in.

I also did some plugging of my zoysia and I hope that takes off. We will see how that turns out.

Consider using red or white clover? Fixes nitrogen better than grass. Bees will love it. It is “ greener” than grass.

I saw a program on TV where they threw a lot of commercial manure on the existing grass, seeded it, and raked it in. I tried it last year and in some places it worked, in others the Kocia took over and we ended up spraying it with roundup. Next step is to work it up and seed it. Probably ought to just go with gravel and be done with it.

Yes, but the fuggin' grass, (you know, the [bleep] you can't get to grow?), would start growing in your gravel and look like crap.

Your'e correct Dillonbuck. Everywhere I have put gravel I have to spray with a glyphos product a couple of times a year. It is easier than mowing the lawn though.