Time to Over-seed Grass
This is the time to over-seed grassy areas. For a new lawn it might be better to wait a month. Several pointers to keep in mind are:

1) Use good grass seed. Cheap seed has lots of weeds and may not have as high a germination rate. Do not use weed killers until the grass has come up and been cut several times. It is better not to use weed killers anyway. Just plant rye grass and it will crowd out everything. It will be green this summer and stay green all winter. Next summer it will turn brown and can be over-seeded with a more desirable variety.
2) Get all the leftover leaves and sticks out of the way now and mow the lawn really short.
3) Any bare areas should be shallow tilled or at least raked to rough up the ground.
4) Spread seed by hand or with a seed drill. If you have a broadcast seeder be very careful to keep the distance from flower beds adequate. It easier to seed the area around flower beds by hand than it is to pull the grass out of them later.
5) Cover the bare areas with hay or straw. The good thing about hay is that it probably has some grass seed in it already.
6) Once the tender grass comes up it will need to be watered during the first season. Don’t water after that except in case of severe drought. Water for grass is like drugs. If it gets used to being watered the watering has to continue.


David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/