When And How To Sow Grass Seed

By Mark Cullen

Mid August through September is the best time of year to sow grass seed. The reasons for this are simple, but often overlooked:

Cool evenings. Grass is a cool season ‘crop’.
Heavy morning dew. If you walk through grass in bare feet, early in the morning, this time of year, you are reminded that dew falls heavy in early fall.
Shorter days. The long days of summer are behind us and the heat that we often associate with it. Grass responds best to half days of sun and half of night time. Like hydrangea and other late -flowering plants, grass wakes up and gets frisky about now.
Cooler soil. We may have some hot weather ahead of us and we may not. But soil temperatures moderate whether air temperatures are cold or hot. Gradually the soil cools, producing a root-inducing environment for this ‘cool’ crop.
If you are a golfer, you know that fall play provides some of the best playing conditions of the year. One of the reasons is that golf management professionals take the time now to strengthen and grow better turf.

Here’s how:

Sow grass seed. This is the best time of year to thicken an established, but thin lawn or to start a new lawn from scratch. Make sure that you spread a lawn soil mixture or weed-free triple mix over the area first, about 2 to 3 cm thick. Spread grass seed at the rate of about one lb. per 400 sq. feet.
Either do this by hand or use a small ‘whirly gig’ hand-held spreader. Rake it smooth. Step on it to bring the seed and soil in firm contact, water it and keep the area moist until the seed has germinated. You will be amazed at how quickly it emerges from the soil and establishes a thick carpet of green.
Sow seed and compost together. CIL Iron Plus Lawn Recovery includes quality grass seed, a charge of nitrogen, chelated iron and pelletized compost. It is the first product of its kind, that can be applied through a fertilizer spreader. As the compost is watered or rained upon, it expands to provide a medium for the grass seed to germinate. Iron Plus 4 in 1 Lawn Recovery will save you the effort and expense of bringing in soil to do the job.