More Is Better: Time To Overseed Your Lawn

Midwest weather can be tough on lawns. Summer heat and drought can take their toll on your grass and leave you with patchy, bare spots and inconsistent growth. And, if you don’t seed during the two best times of the year-fall and spring, you’ll miss your window of optimum growth and fall short of achieving impressive results.

Timing is everything when it comes to achieving that lush, thick, green lawn you’ve always wanted, but have never been able to achieve.

What is Overseeding And Why Do You Need To Act Now?

Overseeding refers to the proven practice of seeding into your existing lawn to establish additional grass growth and finally, fill in any thin, dead, or bare spots.

There are two optimum times of year for successfully overseeding your lawn—fall and spring. Fall is the best time of year to overseed a lawn, but if you can’t wait that long and would like to have a great lawn to enjoy over the summer months, spring is your second best choice.
Spring rain, cool nights, and ample sunshine are all positive factors in building a green, healthy, full lawn. One drawback to overseeding in the spring is the growth of weeds. We will tackle that issue at another time.

Spring Overseeding Establishes A Beautiful Summer Lawn

Spring in the midwest is always a welcome change from the dark, cold, sunless winters, and general deadness of lawn and foliage. Who doesn’t love playing with the kids, grandkids, barbequing, or playing softball on your freshly-cut lawn? However, if your yard is damaged, full of dead spots, or looking lackluster due to the build-up of leaves, twigs, and dead thatch, you don’t have a lawn that you can enjoy with your family. With spring overseeding, and if done correctly and before the window closes, you can turn it around, and you can enjoy a great lawn.

Does Overseeding Work?

Yes, it does for millions of midwest homeowners, golf course superintendents, sports field managers, landscapers, and more. Overseeding is not a new process and has been proven to work for many years and in many climates, including the temperature and weather extremes that are commonplace in the midwest.

What Steps Must You Take Before Overseeding Your Midwest Lawn?

You might be asking yourself, how do I overseed a lawn? As with anything, there are steps one must take before undertaking a successful overseeding. Here are just a few of them:

• Make sure to catch the clippings by bagging your grass clippings. Or, rake them later. See step five.
• If you are going through the process of renovating your lawn, there are a couple of steps you may want to add to your do it yourself (DIY) seeding process.
• Dethatch the lawn. Dethatching is the process of removing vegetation like dead grass, and debris, and anything else that’s preventing the sun, moisture, and nutrients from quickly reaching the soil impeding germination and rapid grass growth. Use a power-rake/verticutter or dethatching rake, not the traditional leaf rake, to remove dead vegetation.
• Roots need air to breathe. All of your foot and mower traffic and even rainfall can compact the soil and reduce the air spaces in the soil. You may want to consider aerating your lawn. Aeration is the practice of poking 2 to three-inch deep holes in the soil, usually removing the core of soil and placing it on top of the ground. Aerating the soil will help both your current lawn and the new seedlings. Aerating can help the grass seed germinate by creating holes for the seeds to germinate from and deliver more nutrients, water, and oxygen to the soil. Although grass seed from overseeding can grow on the top of the soil, slightly deeper depths ensure the easy establishment of grass roots.
• After you dethatch and aerate, now is the time to seed. Spread the seed evenly across your lawn. And then use a garden rake or a power-rake/verticutter to work the seed into the top ½ inch of the soil. DO NOT leave all of the seed on top of the soil. Seed to soil contact is critical to ensure proper germination. Rake it into the soil by hand or by machine.
• Apply a ‘starter’ fertilizer. This is a specially formulated fertilizer that will help the grass seedlings grow and mature.
• Irrigate. And irrigate often. Keep the surface of the soil moist. Not standing water wet, but moist. And, in the absence of rainfall, that might mean you need to water for 10 min every day.
• Once the seed germinates, DO NOT STOP watering. Keep it moist. This is the most critical stage of the grass seeding process. These little baby grass plants have a very short root system, less than ½ of an inch. If the top ½ inch of soil dries up, the seedlings will die.
• Keep frequently watering until the grass needs to be mowed. Do not let it grow too tall. Once it gets to about 2.5-3 inches, get out there and cut it.
• Start cutting your water back to every other day or every couple of days.
• Do not apply traditional herbicides to your new lawn until you’ve mowed it twice or after two months have passed.
• Monitor and care for your new grass seed over the summer.
• Fungus: Spring seeded lawns are usually thick, immature, and moist from the need for frequent watering. This can be a recipe for lawn fungus. You should probably protect your new grass seedlings with a fungicide treatment.
• Moisture: As described above, your new grass seedlings will require more frequent irrigation than an established lawn.

Does This Sound Like A Lot Of Work? It Is. We Have A Solution:

Ryan Lawn and Tree Service, with offices serving homeowners and property owners in the greater Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, Wichita, Springfield and surrounding areas, including cities from Chesterfield to the Central West End, Overland Park, Tulsa and every city in between, has been helping busy professionals and homeowners like you establish and maintain lush, green, healthy lawns for over ten years. Also, we now offer lawn care in Branson, MO! We have thousands of satisfied customers that can attest to our superior service and results. You no longer need to search for a lawn seeding company near me.

You have so many things competing for your time and attention, and maintaining a great lawn doesn’t have to be one. Enjoy that weekend at the zoo, at the park, on vacation, etc. Instead of spending your time and weekends trying to revive a dead lawn, or plant a new one, let Ryan Lawn take care of it, and give you more time with your family, friends, and kids. We are the professionals you know and trust for lawn seeding services.

From Treetop to Ground Deep, Ryan Lawn and Tree Have Got You Covered.

Here are just some of the lawn care and maintenance solutions we offer our customers:

• Aeration
• Lawn Fertilization & Weed Control
• Overseeding
• Landscaping
• Lawn Irrigation Systems
• Tree Trimming & Removal

If it’s your lawn, landscaping or trees, lawn irrigation, and more, we’ve got you covered. We can tackle any issue, find a great solution, and make sure that you don’t have to worry about any issue that affects your lawn, trees, home, or shrubs.

And, finally, unlike some of the big boys, our employees own shares of our company. This is not just a “job;” our employees are partners in our success, which comes through in every project we undertake. Our employees have an extra incentive to go the extra mile and never cut corners.

There’s a lawn, and then there’s a Ryan Lawn! Let us show you the difference.

The Window For Properly Overseeding Will Close Soon

Let’s book your analysis, develop a plan, and get started. Ryan Lawn is ready to help you tackle all your lawn care and maintenance challenges and deliver a yard that will make your neighbors green with envy.