How to Prepare a Lawn for Seeding

Preparing a lawn for seeding is an important step if you want it to be healthy, beautiful and last a long time without growing lots of weeds. The soil needs to be broken up and aerated. If you have organic material like old grass clippings or straw, they need to be tilled in to enrich the soil. Then, depending on the acidity of your soil, you may need to add other ingredients to make the best growing conditions for the new grass. It all needs to happen in the spring or early fall for the best looking results.

Things You'll Need

• Rototiller
• Rake
• Spreader
• 10-20 pounds nitrogen rich organic fertilizer per 1000 square feet of lawn
• 50-100 pounds ground limestone per 1000 square feet of lawn
• 4 pounds grass seed per 1000 square feet of lawn

Instructions

1. Remove any debris from the area that you plan to turn into lawn. Take away rocks, branches and any trash left behind from the construction crews.

2. Use a rototiller to break up and aerate the soil. If your soil is sandy, you can do this at any time. However, if your soil is heavy and contains a lot of clay, wait until the weather has been dry for a couple of days so that the clods will break up easily. Till the soil so that it is loose down to about six inches beneath the surface.

3. Test the pH of your soil with a kit that you can buy at your local garden supply store. Grass grows best when the soil is slightly acidic with a pH of at least six. For every unit of pH below seven, add 50-100 pounds of ground limestone per 1,000 square feet of lawn.

4. Enrich your soil with a nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer. Use 10-20 pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of soil.

5. Wait two or three weeks after the application of the fertilizer before your plant the grass seed. You will need about four pounds of seed per 1,000 feet of lawn, more or less, based on the variety of grass that you have decided to plant.

6. Plant the grass seed when the soil is warm, the days are relatively short, and the nights are cool but not below freezing. This can be done in either the spring or fall. It is easiest to plant grass using a spreader so that the seed is released across the lawn in an even flow.

7. Finish by gently raking the lawn to cover the seed with a thin layer of soil.

Resources

• Rototillers
• Organic Fertilizers and Soil Additives