No matter the season, everyone can agree that coming home to a lush and green lawn is extremely satisfying. The fall is a great time to keep your lawn fresh and abundant by overseeding. Overseeding doesn't have to be complicated, and almost any homeowner can do it by following some simple best practices.
Before You Overseed
Before you overseed, you'll want to make sure to choose the right seed for your area. If you live in an area that doesn’t get a lot of rain, you may need a seed that resists draught and thrives on very little water. You'll also want to note how much sun exposure your yard gets before selecting your seed.
Mowing and dethatching your lawn is a MUST when it comes to growing new grass. Think of it like an exfoliating treatment for your lawn – you are removing old and dead grass and exposing the top layer of soil to make room for new growth. After you’ve mowed and dethatched, the next step is to aerate.
During Overseeding
Once you're ready to lay the seed down, you should spread it in a crisscross pattern across the lawn. Most mechanical seeders will accomplish this for you. After the seed is down, it is best to rake a little soil back over the seeds to ensure they have some protection from the elements and will develop healthy roots.
After You Overseed
Once your overseeding is done, the amount of water that you give your yard over the next few weeks will determine whether your new grass grows or not. We suggest watering twice per day to start and over time, decrease the amount of watering. Your life will be made much simpler if you can schedule watering plan via a smart wi-fi enabled controller. You can pull up the app on your phone, tell it that you’ve just seeded, and let the smart controller take care of the rest! Plus, the smart controller takes weather into account. Have a rainstorm coming up? Your smart controller is on top of it and will work around the weather as to avoid overwatering!
If you don’t have a handy dandy app to help you control how often your lawn gets watered, you’re probably wondering what times are best to water. This is extremely dependent on what part of the country you’re in. But as an overall rule of thumb, it is best NOT to water in the middle of the day. Mid-day is when the sun is at its peak, and this means all the water that goes on your lawn will just as quickly be evaporated from the sun. Generally, the best time of day to water your lawn is early morning, around 5-7am. This gives the grass and soil enough time to soak up all that wonderful H2O before the sun has a chance to rise. Once the new grass has grown about 1 inch tall, you can cut down the watering to just once per day.
The last thing to remember is to try to keep off the grass as much as possible. Foot traffic, or paw traffic, can cause the seeds to be tracked off of the lawn and into your home or onto your sidewalks. No need to put up caution tape around your lawn, but just keep it in mind for the first few weeks after overseeding to avoid too much disruption to the lawn.
And before you know it, you’ll have the beautiful, lush lawn of your dreams! The entire overseeding process is made much easier by an efficient, smart irrigation system. If you’re looking to overseed this Fall, give us a call beforehand to make sure your sprinkler system is ready to go!
Download our overseeding guide below before your next overseeding project!
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