Is Overseeding Worth It? (2022)

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A stunning lawn is not grown just by opportunity or time. The secret to owning a green and suitable lawn is to perform at it. The lawn of your dreams can be attained inside of a season or two by doing a series of landscaping tasks at the ideal time of the yr. Overseeding your lawn is something pretty much everyone suggests, but is overseeding worth it? I’ll inform you what to count on, and why I imagine it is a single of the best factors you can do for your lawn in today’s post

The thought that spreading seed in excess of your current lawn will have a huge affect a difficult promote for home owners who haven’t experimented with overseeding ahead of. Is not that just throwing high-priced seed away? Will the new grass even develop or will it be crowded out by current grass? You in all probability have a great deal of doubts and inquiries

In today’s post, I’ll go in excess of why overseeding is worth it. I’ll also cover how yearly overseeding will hold your lawn thick, healthier, and stunning, and share some ideas to aid you maximize your investment and get good final results

Let’s start off with the essentials

What is Overseeding?

Overseeding is only spreading grass seeds in excess of current ones on your lawn without turning the soil to start with.

The advantage of overseeding is that you do not have to destroy a current lawn to start off in excess of from scratch. As a substitute, with minimum energy, you can hold your lawn from thinning out and revitalize it with healthier youthful grass every single yr

Overseeding is a way of thickening the thin and patchy places on a lawn. It is a course of action of setting grass seeds for development in the turf of a current lawn without any significant structural perform to your turf. Vacant and bare spots in a lawn are filled to make the lawn thicker, enrich its colour, and create new, hardy types of grasses in the lawn

Why is Overseeding Significant?

There are a variety of advantages of overseeding your lawn. Some of them are:

• Overseeding assists to revive worn-out lawns. It is an effortless way to carry a lawn back to a healthier state – lush, thick, and green, without reseeding, purchasing sod, or starting up the lawn all in excess of once again from scratch
• Spreading seeds on an established lawn can make it much more resilient to insects, drought, conditions, and other difficult situations which may possibly be resulting in your lawn to struggle
• Overseeding is an all-natural and expense-powerful way of decreasing the need to have for pesticides, water, and fertilizer
• Overseeding enhances the colour and consistency of your lawn’s look. It can also reduce weeds from expanding by assisting to thicken your lawn’s canopy and stopping light from hitting the soil

Overall, overseeding a lawn can make it healthier and rejuvenates it. A renovated and healthier lawn seems to be thicker and retains an appealing green colour

For me, overseeding is absolutely worth it and it is a single of the simplest tasks any house owner can consider strengthening the look of their yard.

You just need to have to do it at the ideal time of yr, and make absolutely sure you prep thoroughly. Let’s examine that now

What to Do Prior to You Overseed Your Lawn

Some challenges lead to any lawn wanting thin, worn and lacking colour. You need to have to determine and perform to right these troubles ahead of overseeding

Some of these challenges include things like:

• Bad problems or fertility of the soil
• Improper drainage of water on your great deal
• Lack of irrigation or inadequate water
• Inadequate sunlight
• Unsuitable grass types for the location
• Injury or sickness due to improper care of the lawn

You ought to determine and tackle these challenges to get the best end result.

Overseeding is not a miracle remedy-all for lawns, and it is critical to determine gaps in your lawn upkeep program and right people to assistance your rejuvenated lawn

I endorse that you do a soil check to determine macro and micro nutrients your lawn lacks, a bad pH degree, and much more soil-primarily based challenges that are effortless to right by ammending with the suitable fertilizer and dietary supplements. I at this time use this soil check kit from Amazon and really endorse it

Soil Check Kits I’ve Employed Endorse

There are quite a few possibilities for testing your lawn’s soil, but I desire a lab-primarily based soil check that will deliver a comprehensive examination of your soil’s nutrients and what it wants for your lawn to thrive

MySoil Check Kit on Amazon

LawnServ’s Check Kit

And if you are interested in taking the guesswork out of what to do subsequent soon after you get your soil check final results, look at subscribing to a single of LawnServ’s subscription boxes . They’ll check your soil and curate the merchandise your lawn wants, mailing them to you with every little thing you need to have (such as comprehensive guidelines). It is very fool-evidence – Click Right here to Discover Much more

Prior to you overseed you ought to mow your lawn shorter than normal and you can look at dethatching or aerating your yard. In my expertise aerating whilst overseeding can be specifically valuable

When Ought to You Overseed Your Lawn?

The excellent time to overseed your lawn seriously depends on exactly where you reside and what variety of grass you are planting.

Right here is some standard info to guidebook you to obtain the best end result probable:

Northern Climates

The best season to overseed a lawn is in the fall. This is simply because the problem of the soil and atmospheric temperature is favorable for healthier lawn development at this time of yr, and yearly weeds are starting up to die and will not compete with your seedlings for water, light, and nutrients.

Soil is also nevertheless warm from the heat of summertime, that means you will see good germination

In late summertime or early fall, there is nevertheless a lot of sunlight with satisfactory moisture to assistance youthful grass with suitable irrigation. The warm soil of summertime enhances germination, and the great air of fall speeds up development. This season is best for great-season grasses in northern climates

When you can efficiently oversee northern lawns in spring, there are much more issues you will encounter. Soil is nevertheless warming up, which can lead to bad or delayed germination, yearly weeds are getting ready to vigorously develop (and will thrive in the situations developed when overseeding), and there is a quite narrow window of when you can plant that gives time for your new grass to create the root procedure wanted to survive the heat and drought of summertime

You can have achievement overseeding in spring, but it will demand much more irrigation deeper into the summertime for most northern lawns. Your revenue and time will be greater invested in the fall

Southern Climates

In the south, overseeding is best in mid spring, close to the time lilacs start off blooming. This makes it possible for your soil to warm sufficiently, and warm season grasses develop best in summertime, so your new lawn will have many months to create itself prior to winter dormancy

In late spring and midsummer, there can be higher odds of heat, drought, conditions, and competitors of weeds with grasses.

Germination and development are probable if weeds are thoroughly managed and there is satisfactory water provide and other therapy practices

Grass that Can make Overseeding Really worth It

I have a post that speaks straight about the best grass seed for overseeding and can aid guidebook you in building an excellent variety for your house and climate

In standard, however, make absolutely sure that you decide on a warm-season grass seed in southern climates, and a great season grass seed in northern climates.

I generally endorse deciding on a mix of grass seed. This makes it possible for various grasses to turn into dominant in various light and water situations close to your house. The finish end result is that you will see a wonderful constant green across your yard

I also endorse that you decide on a seed mix with at least a single variety of grass that spreads laterally through rhizomes (like Kentucky Bluegrass), which will aid your lawn thicken, and let your grass to restore itself when broken by canines, young children, or autos

How is Overseeding Completed?

There are various techniques to overseed your lawn, which fluctuate primarily based on your lawn, soil variety, and much more situations.

Having said that, the three most important techniques of overseeding are:

• Slit-seeding with a mechanical overseer that you lease locally,
• Working with a broadcast or drop spreader, or
• Spreading the seeds by hand

Slit Seeding To Overseed

Slit seeding is the best strategy for overseeding a lawn. It assures that seeds get into the soil to assist in germination.

A slit seeder has concave disk blades that open up the soil, and a series of tubes which align with people disks and let your seed to drop into the shallow cuts manufactured in your lawn.

In this strategy, fewer seeds are wanted, as they are straight place into the soil. It assures seed-to-soil get in touch with and gives superb, even coverage.

When utilizing an overseer I endorse that you spread half of your seed in a North-South pattern across your lawn, then spread the other half traveling East-West. This cross-hatch pattern across your whole lawn assures that you get a stunning, even end result

Working with a Spreader

A broadcast spreader is a different powerful strategy of overseeding. It does not be certain seed-to-soil get in touch with the way a machine developed especially for the work does, but when you detach or aerate your lawn prior to spreading seed in this way you can see good final results

In both of these solutions, gear rental will aid you attain experienced final results, and whether or not you lease an electrical power rake to dethatch your lawn, or a core aerator (as a substitute of renting an overseer) will rely on the problem of your yard.

Overseeding by Hand

If you have a little yard or are only overseeding sure places of your lawn, then you can normally broadcast the seed by hand.

Immediately after you cast it out, I endorse taking the back of a leaf rake to gently spread the seed evenly and perform it into the soil

What Overseeding Products is Appropriate For You?

• If your soil is compact and would advantage from aeration, lease an aerator and overseed with a spreader
• If your lawn has a thick layer of thatch, lease a dethatcher and overseed with a spreader
• Lawns that are in excellent problem previously ought to be overseeded with a slit seeder

The Approach of Overseeding

A couple of factors are critical to your achievement when overseeding your lawn. These are:

• Mow grass very low : Prior to overseeding is finished, grasses ought to be minimized shorter than usual. The leading layer of soil ought to be raked to clear away debris. This permits the grass seed to consider root in the soil and prevents current grass from shading out your seedlings
• Decide on the best grass seeds : Decide on grass seed primarily based on what grows best in your location and has the search you want.
• Enhancing the soil : Prior to grass seeds are planted, topdress and rake a thin layer of screened compost into the lawn. Make absolutely sure you do not destroy the current grass on the lawn. Spread about one/4″ of materials. This natural materials will feed your lawn and hold your seed moist
• Spread the seeds : If a spreader is staying utilized, it ought to be adjusted in accordance to instructions. Utilized seeds ought to not be spread on a windy day, but when the air is calm, so even distribution of seeds is ensured. Make sure a hefty rain is not in the forecast, or you chance your seed staying washed to very low places in your yard

After new grass has been planted, apply a starter fertilizer (I like this a single from Scotts ) and cover the seed with a light mulch.

Make absolutely sure to water routinely for best final results. This assures the speedy and healthier development of newly planted grass seeds and enriches formerly current grasses

Care Immediately after Overseeding Your Lawn

In overseeding worth it? Only if you make standard upkeep of your lawn a priority soon after you overseed your yard

After your new seedlings have been mowed after at two-three weeks, you can return to usual mowing and upkeep.

• Straight away soon after overseeding is finished, the law ought to be watered to aid grass seed settle into slits or aeration holes
• Prior to grass seeds germinate, the law ought to be watered lightly day by day for about a single to two weeks. Your seed ought to stay moist, but not soaking moist
• Immediately after grass seeds germinate, gradually transition to much less regular and much more deep waterings. This encourages your new grass to develop deeper roots to seek out that water, and can make your lawn grass much more resilient and hardy
• Bag the clippings on your to start with mow, and do not mow much more than one/three of the new grass blade. Bagging the clippings assures none of your new seedlings are smothered
• Immediately after your to start with mow usual irrigation, mowing, and upkeep of your lawn can resume

Is Overseeding Really worth It?

Definitely

Overseeding your lawn is a simple course of action that is effortless for any house owner to do themselves. It delivers favourable final results when finished in the ideal way, at the ideal time of yr. And it is a pretty foolproof way to strengthen the search and really feel of your lawn

I look at overseeding to be a wonderful strategy to rejuvenate and thicken up a neglected lawn. Even a properly-maintained yard will advantage from this task

High-quality grass seed is high-priced, but as lawn care tasks go, overseeding presents a single of the best returns on your investment. It is some of the best revenue invested on your lawn every single yr

by Sarah The Lawn Chick

I have discovered to really like to care for my lawn naturally and enjoying it day by day. On this website I will share some of my best ideas and tutorials to aid you make your lawn the best on the block!