Seed your cool season lawn

I would have normally suggested to reade it is time to seed your cool season (bluegrass, fescue, and rye) lawns when I wrote my last column four weeks ago. But because of the lack of moisture for a long time, our local soils were developing a lot of cracks in them because of that moisture deficit.

When I write this we have recently had a good rainfall and some more is predicted. Therefore I want to suggest now is the time to seed your cool season lawn if it needs it.

Purchase a good combination of bluegrass seed, or a combination of bluegrass, fescue, and rye. There are a number of bluegrass seed combinations on the market, so check with your lawn and garden dealer which one is the best for your situation.

At the same time that you get your seed, also purchase a good lawn starter fertilizer, such as a 9-13-7. The high middle number compared to the first number will tell the lawn seed at first to put its energy into developing roots at the expense of shoots.

When seeding make sure that you get the seed into the ground, not just on the soil surface. You can do this with a verticutter. This machine will put the seed into the ground.

Fertilizer is displayed Thursday at Sunny Hill Gardens & Florist in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

Now begin to water the seeded area. Make sure you keep the soil moist until the new seed begins to shoot up leaves.

After the new seed has gotten a good root system well established the plant will begin to shoot up leaves. When the new plant has reached normal mowing height, mow the lawn as needed.

Once the seed has grown up, been mowed for a couple of times, and the soils get cool, make one more fertilizer application this fall of fertilizer high in the first number, nitrogen. Continue to mow the newly seeded lawn during the fall as needed. This will encourage the plant to also produce roots. A good strong root system will be needed for the new planting to tolerate the cold temperature we get in the winter.

The sooner you do the seeding this fall the better chance you have of getting it well established before winter. Happy lawn seeding.