When to start laying grass seed
How to Plant a yard & Grow a lawn - Like a PRO! Grass seeding, Lawn REPAIR, overseeding,
all right so we've got the backyard
sodded but the plan is to seed the front
yard and a lot of the ground prep is the
same as we did for the sod so but we'll
walk through these guys because what we
do from there is a little different one
of the things that I want to talk about
is the density of seed and that's pretty
important that we get that right because
if you have your seeds too thick it will
compete with each other and kill each
other now if you look at where Blaine is
walking right now the ground is fairly
firm it's because this is where we've
been walking in and out and so we've got
a couple things to do to this ground
before we can seed it so I'll wasting
more time let's get into how the pros
seed a job site and how you guys can
seed your own backyard
[Music]
[Applause]
so in today's today's project we've got
class oh no we don't have classified
we've got clay as our base material and
so we imported black dirt what kind of
do you know kind of black dirt we
imported lame pulverized screened black
dirt all right let's dispel the first
myth right out of the gate a lot of
people think that you got to have four
inches of black dirt before you can seed
or sod and that's actually kind of true
but not totally true if you actually
have your subsoil and then you're
finished grade of four inches of pure
black dirt your seeds not gonna grow
your sods not going to take because
you've got too much stratification
between the two layers and what will
happen as this pure black dirt will
actually hold too much moisture and rot
your seed from the ground up what you
want to do is you want to take that
black dirt and instead of having four
inches of pure black dirt you want to
mix it all in to the top so that your
top four it just has a combination of a
little bit of clay binder of sand you
want to make sure that it in your soil
free drains but you've got to have
organic material as the growing compound
for that seed so your top four layers is
a mixture of all of these different
kinds of soils together that's how
you're going to get the best results we
removed the rocks large particulate
matter because it's already gonna have
it like that rock right there that's got
to go we can't leave any of that behind
and so we've got to just loosen up the
soil and the loose soil is a important
very important first step to successful
seeding now here's the thing it may be
almost impossible for you guys to loosen
up the soil if that's the case water it
water the heck out of that soil because
that will soften up the soil and you
have to keep the soil while you're
seeding if you got densely compacted
subsoil
while the seed is germinating and taking
off you've got to keep it almost
constantly moist because that keeps the
soil soft and that allows the roots to
penetrate down below agree or disagree
Blaine totally agree okay so we're gonna
we're gonna rake this out and then we're
gonna seed this up and show these guys
[Music]
now just like for prepping the base for
sod prepping the base for seed we use
similar tools in this case we're gonna
be using these landscape rakes and the
reason we use these landscape rakes is
it allows us to not only grab a bigger
surface area but also to do a better job
of leveling it
we want our subsoil to be nice and
leveled perfectly and then our finish
grade which is what Blaine is working on
right now we want a very even blend of
soil underneath it and let me talk to
you about what I mean with this if you
guys a bug just flew my nose and mouth
both at the same time that was awesome
so if you guys are laying out your black
dirt for your finished grade you don't
want areas of black dirt that are got
four inches of base and then other areas
that have just an inch of base because
what will happen is is this black dirt
will condense and compress over time so
over the course of a few years the four
inches is gonna have a lot more given
flexibility than this inch so you want
consistent amounts of black dirt over
the entire project and to have
consistent amounts means your subgrade
has to be the same that's the most
important thing now what we see Blaine
doing here is he's pulling off all of
the larger rubble now this larger rubble
is not really good for growing seed it
if it's okay to have a certain amount
mixed in so you don't have to go crazy
being picky with it but getting the
majority of it out is gonna be better
for your finished grade long term these
wet to get back to these landscape
breaks they have a grading side and then
they have this side with the times
you'll see Blaine right there is using
the grading side right now and he's
popping out bigger ruts in the yard and
then he uses the ties just to feather
everything out the grading is probably
one of the most important elements of
this they see I got a little tiny high
spot right there I can knock that down I
can flip the rake over and I can bring
everything back and loosen it up
so getting these great just right
there's probably the longest part of the
process do you have the grass seed
whiskey blame the grass seed with you
okay I think we've got this prepped
pretty good yeah okay
so your grass seed you don't have to
have killer grass seed what do we got
three and a half pounds okay so
all-purpose so a lot of times what I'm
gonna recommend to these guys is use the
general landscapers mix which is usually
a sunny shade mixture and it has
different look for your what best for
your area
some areas do better with different
blends but here in northern Minnesota
can tell you our bluegrass mixed with
rye grass that combination is what gives
us the best result but go to your
general landscaping store and ask them
for the best for and then describe the
Sun conditions
Sawney shady sun shade mixture getting
getting that exactly right is right
so broadcast spreader what do you put
your thoughts on that
thank you that hey use what use what
nature gave you I prefer finger
spreading order hand spreading it it
gives you more precision to hit every
every area that you need to versus just
a broadcast spreader and a broadcast
spreader is great for super large areas
that will give you more consistent
results over larger zones but in tighter
spots like this I just we're gonna watch
the technique that Blaine uses will see
if it's the same as the one I use I
don't know okay that's actually an
important factor yep
just a semicircle now you see how okay
right here I want to let show you guys
some see this that is bad and that's
okay because we know that and we're
pointing it out that's just a little too
dense that much grass seed will actually
compete with each other and kill each
other like right here this is almost
perfect now you will have two over seed
multiple times it's not gonna be a one
and you're done you're gonna seed some
of its going to come in some of its
gonna fail then you get a spot
speed this is almost perfect right in
here all right I'm gonna grab the bag
and I'm gonna do the rest of it Blaine
I'm gonna ask you to hold the camera and
the reason I'm doing that is I want
these guys to see it from my perspective
because I've got the GoPro on I want
these guys to see exactly how much I use
now I'm facing the camera but it's just
a little bit at a time I do it a little
bit just a little bit different
Blaine likes to do this pattern right
here I do that too
but when I want real precision I don't
mind just going like this it's a it's a
simple technique it's using what God
gave you but look it like a see how we
got this pattern right here right down
here that's almost perfect you see that
wind you see how that wind is carrying
it I'm using that wind you will have
wind so you got to be you just be
conscious of it's not like it's this is
science this is common sense but be
amazed that how many people don't seem
to have common as much common sense as
you would think okay so now we've got
the seed down but we're not done by any
means we're gonna before we cover this
up we're gonna look at our pattern to
see if we have any spots that are a
little weak like these edges right here
I don't like these edges and I'm over
seeding too so I want this seed to blend
in to the other two the rest of this
yard and so I'm gonna let some of this
seed go into the existing grass next to
it that's going to help blend colors so
as this seed is coming in it's going to
be a different color than this seed
because it's a different mixture that's
kind of an important thing to take into
consideration you may have deep green
here and lighter green over here but you
take a little bit of the seed that you
grew up with originally and you cast it
out into the rest of the yard and that
feathers everything together just some
tips and tricks that we use so that when
we walk away from a job we know that
it's good watering schedule blame you're
behind the camera but I'm going to ask
you what is the water
during schedule twice a day morning and
evening moist not mud remember that
moist not mud you guys that's important
all right so let's I think we've got
good coverage what do you think Blaine
are we good bad in between looks good
all right so let's show them the next
and final step well one of the two final
steps so we know we've got a problem
area let's address that problem area
first so this is our problem zone right
down here and it's as simple as that
spread that seed out spread it out and
now it's literally just grabbing a rake
and gently raking that seed in just
getting a cover in it and then a light
misting of water turn to get this moist
and keep it moist if you can keep this
ground if in an ideal world you can keep
this ground moist all day long just all
that not mud just moist that's the
perfect growing conditions son with
moist and then when it rains that's
beautiful because the rain actually is
better than watering most people
probably know this but for some of you
that don't rain actually has a certain
amount of organic material in it
phosphates nitrates come from the rain
your tap water filters a lot of that
natural fertilizer out and actually adds
chemicals in to protect us and none of
that does your scent your freshly grown
seed very good mother nature has the
best fertilizer available and that's
just just rain so also pond if you have
access to pond water you could put a
pump in a pond and water your lawn with
pond water because that's what we do up
north that's way better that's some of
the best stuff ever pond water because
that has that's like duplicating or
mimicking rain and this is it I mean is
there anything else we need to know
Blaine I mean realistically did you
nailed it just start watering and keep
it watered that's that
it it's as hard as that so that's all we
got for you guys for today hope this
videos helped you out god bless go get
them you guys check out these other two
videos right here and drink plenty of
people need water too alright I'll catch
you on the next one
