Best time of year to make those home lawn repairs

By Bob Mugaas, University of Minnesota Extension

ST. PAUL, Minn. (8/25/2008)—While this year has seen fewer 90-degree and hotter days, below-average rainfall in many areas has resulted in brown lawns. Lawn grasses adapt to hot, dry conditions by slowing growth or even turning brown and going dormant. Normally, once rainfall or irrigation increases and days get shorter and cooler, grasses green up and resume growth.

However, there are limits to how much stress our lawn grasses can endure before permanent injury and death result. If your lawn needs repair, mid-August through about mid-September is the best time of the year to do some overseeding. At this time the soils are warm and seeds germinate much more quickly than in cold spring soils. This gives our lawn grasses an excellent opportunity to germinate and get established before winter and without the competition of weedy annual grasses, such as crabgrass.

When overseeding, make sure that there is good seed-to-soil contact. This helps ensure uniform germination and early seedling growth. Where all of the grass has died in an area, scratch up the soil surface with a garden rake and remove any excess dead grass. With the soil loosened, sprinkle some grass seed over the area and lightly rake it in. Always use fresh seed and grass species adapted to your site conditions.

After seeding, keep the area damp but not saturated with water. Germination should begin in a week or two. Mow when the first grasses to germinate and grow have reached about 3 inches. At that time cut back to about 2 or 2 1/2 inches.

If overseeding into an existing thin lawn, keep the existing grasses mowed fairly short until the newly seeded grasses have had a chance to germinate and catch up with the others. If the existing grass get too long, it will compete with the new seedlings and your overseeding efforts will end in failure.

A little bit of overseeding and some good fall lawn care will help restore your lawn to a healthy, dense condition and be in a much better position to resume active, vigorous growth come next spring.

Any use of this article must include the byline or following credit line:
Bob Mugaas is a horticulturist and turf specialist with University of Minnesota Extension.

Media Contact: Catherine Dehdashti, U of M Extension (612) 625-0237, ced@umn.edu

URL: http:// www.extension.umn.edu/extensionnews/2008/lawnrepair.html  This page was updated Aug. 25, 2008 .
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