Whether you’re establishing new turf or doing an annual overseed, seeding your lawn is an investment of time and money. Different techniques have their pros and cons, and picking the right one ensures your investment won’t go to waste.

Bare Soil Seeding
When you need to start a new lawn or fill in bald patches, bare soil seeding is your only option. You may also want to consider ripping out existing turf and starting over when it’s severely damaged.

• Prepared soil: Freshly tilled and fertilized soil is always the best way to go. It aerates, maximizes soil-to-seed contact, and destroys weeds that could out-compete your seed. Tilling is best, but you can try simple aeration for small patches.
• On top of soil: It may be easy, but expect low germination rates if you seed over unprepared soil. Warm season grasses, like zoysia and Bermuda, will almost never germinate this way. Cool season grasses may, but core aeration will improve your odds.
• Hydroseeding: This professional method provides even coverage and a high germination rate. Seeds soaked in water and fertilizer are pushed into the soil via pressure. It’s economical for large areas, too.

Overseeding
Overseeding helps improve the thickness of existing turf, fill in sparse areas and can add new grass varieties to improve drought or shade tolerance.

• Slit Seeding: Slit seeding uses a professional machine slice the surface of your lawn. Seed is laid directly into the slits through tubes or washed in with a deep watering. It’s a great way to add a new variety of grass to your turf.
• On top of soil: It’s quick and easy to DIY, but seeding on totally unprepared soil has a much lower germination rate. At least aerate the soil before overseeding to increase soil-to-seed contact.

Erosion Control
If you live on a hill or another high erosion area, like near a coast, any seed you lay is at risk of washing away before it establishes. Prepare and seed the soil as usual, then lay the erosion mats or straw over the seed to help it stay in place. Remove the mats or rake up the straw once the grass establishes.

It may sound complicated, but all grass seed needs is a comfortable home in the soil, good nutrients and plenty of water. You’ll have a thriving lawn in no time.

Everyone knows that lawns need water. Some people are willing to stand on their porch with a hose every morning to ensure their grass gets a good drink, yet no one seems to water their lawn on the same schedule. Is there a right answer? Every lawn is a little bit different, but are some good rules of thumb. It is easy to customize once you understand what you lawn really needs.

Finding the Magic Number
Water for lawns is a lot like food for humans. Grass needs enough water to be nourished, but too much of a good thing can make it lazy, unhealthy and incapable of flourishing when the going gets rough. Under-watering your lawn will, of course, leave it wilting and dying. Over-watering can go one of two ways.

At worst, over-watering will drown your lawn and encourage disease. At best, you will end up with shallow roots that cannot soak up enough deep water stores to survive summer temperatures without sending your water bill through the roof. You want to give your grass just enough to be healthy.

The Rule of Thumb
On average, most lawns need 1.5 inches of water every week. That can come from irrigation, like sprinklers, or rainfall. One, deep watering one day a week in the early morning hours is the best method.

A robust lawn may be able to survive a brief drought on 1.5 inches of water, but you can increase your watering time or split your allotted time up if you notice wilting. Keep in mind some grass will turn brown and go dormant in extreme heat. Dormant grass will not respond to extra water. You just have to wait for temperatures to cool.

Testing the Amount
To test how much water your irrigation system puts out per minute, set several empty, wide-mouth containers of the same size out in different areas of your lawn. Run your system for about fifteen minutes, then measure the water in each container. Figure out how long you have to run your system to get your 1.5 inches. Check each area and adjust your system to ensure more even coverage.

The EPA estimates that Americans use 9 billion gallons of water daily on residential irrigation. The right watering methodology will help you cut back on your contribution to that footprint, improve your lawn’s health and keep your water bill low.