Guidelines to Overseeding Your Home Lawn – Everything You Wanted to Know and More

Your Guide to Maximize Seed Germination and Success

Do you have areas of your lawn that are thin or bare or damaged? These are some reasons we overseed. Another reason is that a thick, healthy lawn will always be your best defense against weeds. When should we overseed? Spring and Fall are the best times as there are generally cooler temperatures and more rainfall than the summer. See our Overseeding Brochure and steps below to revive and thicken those areas to create a uniform lawn.

STEP 1: MEASURE

Before we can do anything, we need to know how much area we are working with. This is helpful not only for the soil and seed but also for fertilizer. Different seed blends require different seeding rates depending on the seed sizes. To determine how much soil you will need to coat the seed is also determined by square footage. To achieve this number, simply multiple the length by the width of the area. For weird shapes, square them off, figure them out and then add the quantities together.

 

STEP 2: SOIL

For best results, we recommend our BigYellowBag Nature’s Blend. You just need a thin layer, enough to coat the seeds for good seed-soil contact. 

STEPS 3&4: FERTILIZER & FEED 

To get the seed off to a great start, provide it with a food source at a level it can access without roots. Measure out the amount of Fertilizer (8-32-16) based on your square footage and the rate on the bag and place it in a walk behind or hand-held spreader. Put the spreader on a low setting and proceed to walk your area so as not to overlap the fertilizer. After you finish one direction, start again going over it in another direction. Continue this until the fertilizer is gone. This ensures the correct amount of fertilizer is applied and the distribution is as even as possible.

Follow the same process with the seed as you did with the fertilizer to apply the correct amount of seed. 

STEP 5: RAKE

Take a leaf rake and lightly graze over the soil, seed and fertilizer. The goal here isn’t to disturb the distribution of any of it, but to just coat the seed in soil for protection. 

STEP 6: WATER 

Now that the area is finished, water the seed bed until it is moist. Your job over the next several weeks will be to make sure the soil doesn’t dry out whatever that means. You also need to be careful not to drown the seedlings. Be aware that different seeds take different amounts of time to germinate under optimal conditions so be patient. 

Overseeding is one of the best ways to revive and thicken your lawn—now that you know the steps, it’s time to put the plan into action. Browse our overseeding tools, seed blends, and starter fertilizer to get started, or connect with us for expert guidance tailored to your lawn.

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