Overseeding Lawn

[IT Guy]

Can anybody recommend a good company to overseed our lawn this fall? Also, how much does this typically cost so I can mentally brace myself.

I am in Elk River. Thanks!

[LABS4ME]

Try Windscapes. They blow a soil/seed mix over your existing lawn. They can custom tailor your seed mix(s) also.

Good Luck!

Ken

[fishing tech]

When is the best time to over seed? Should a person areate their yard before over seeding? Also I have about 8 inches of black dirt on top of sand as far as I care to dig. Is there anything I can do to make my soil retain more water.

[federline]

Blowing and throwing seed out on top of your lawn is one way to overseed. I've seen better results from a contraption that is available at most rental stores that looks like a hand-operated field planter with furrow discs. You load the grass seed in a hopper, and it is self propelled, with discs that slice a bunch of shallow, small, parallel furrows and drops in seed as it moves forward, closing the furrow back up as the last step. Pretty darned skick. You run it multiple times over the lawn, criss-crossing it. I plan to use it on an adjacent lot I purchased which has some large weed patches in it that will be killed first.

[federline]

fish tech - Sounds like my yard. If I were you I would be very careful about aerating and dethatching, your ground doesn't really need it unless you have weekly soccer games on it. I have sand and gravel under 4-12 inches of black dirt. My first few years with this lawn was painful - never enough water, never enough food. Some things I found that lengthened the time between watering and feeding:

(1) put your mower on the absolute highest setting, and let that grass grow to a point where you only take off 1 inch when you mow. This leads to stronger grass plants and roots, while giving a cooling effect to the moisture layer through taller blades (shade).

(2) Let the thatch build up to 1/2 inch. With your ground, you may find a 1/2 thatch layer maintains itself - mine does. Thatch will keep the weeds down, and will hold your pre-emergents in the spring and broadleaf control in the summer. If you find your 1/2 inch thatch layer is self-maintaining, I wouldn't ever power rake it - light hand raking in spring, followed by a pre-emergent, is all it needs.

(3) Water the snot out of each area once a week during summer, really deep. Better for the lawn (makes longer roots), and doesn't leach the lawn food out so fast. In Spring and Fall, let Mother Nature tell you if it needs watering.

(4) For your soil, if you get brown patches that watering doesn't help, it may need food (if it is not drought)! You wouldn't believe how much fertilizer sandy-base lawns can leach when they are watered frequently.

(5) When drought hits, just accept that a lawn that is on top of sand will go dormant where it wants to. It will come back to green when conditions improve, even if when you water it, it stays brown. Brown is fine, brown means taking a nap... gray means dead.

(6) Sprinkle fine organic material or black dirt over the high maintenance spots periodically to help maintain the thatch, nutrients, and black dirt layer.

Doing this, I was able to reduce my water bill significantly, and bring feedings down to 4 times per year, including winterizer.

[fishing tech]

Thanks for the info. With 2 boys and their friends my yard gets pretty packed down. I am considering a sprinkler system but the funds seam to keep going to hockey or hockey or did I mention hockey. Oh well I enjoy it and it keeps them off the streets. Thank again.