Christie’s Blog

September 2024

Give your Lawn a Chance for Renewed Beauty

Aerate and Seed in early Fall.

This early September I get questions from friends and neighbors about aeration and seeding of lawns. Questions range from “How do I aerate and seed?” to ‘What if I don’t do anything?”

 You have a chance to rejuvenate you lawn in September with aeration and /or seeding.

Fescue vs. Southern Grasses in Richmond

The important thing to understand is that Richmond is on a marginal line as to whether you plant fescue or zoysia. Fescue lawns do not like the heat and  are readily invaded by weeds. By August each year most Richmond fescue lawns look horrible. Hot and wet summers are rough on fescue which like cooler temperatures.

Southern grasses thrive in the heat and grow into a thicker “mat” to keep out weeds better. Zoysia and Bermuda are just some options for  a southern grass you can plant.  This seed gets sewn in early spring and takes a while to fill in. Plugs sold by sod farms are expensive but much better to use than seed.

Planting of Fescue

Aeration and seeding introduces at least the possibility of a new lush lawn for fescue. If you are a natural lawn as shown in the photo below, and do nothing else, try to at least throw fescue on the ground and water.  It is much better to seed than sod especially this time of year because the seed grows roots within 2 weeks. Sod roots get cut when harvested and have to re grow. Sod also can dry out much more quickly especially at hard to reach places for a hose or sprinkler.

Timing for Aeration and Seeding

My company always tried to seed  no later than early October. If you do later that this, leaves may start to fall suffocating new seed. When you start to blow for leaves in October and November, you may blow unestablished grass seed off the lawn.

When you aerate you should try to do 2 difficult angles in you lawn. They are one diagonal and one straight across.

The reason you aerate is so seed falls in the holes and do not readily wash away with heavy rain.  Aeration also brings up plugs from 2″ down and mixes up the soil to activate minerals and nutrients.

If you do not want to aerate, you can rake ugly areas with a hard rake to get dirt to seed contact.  If you have a small area to seed you can use a tough pitch fork and poke holes in the lawn. This is definitely a  “DIY” remedy.  It gets tiring pretty quickly.

The other option is to at least seed and water and hope for the best.

Fertilize and Water

For all options is is important to fertilize at the time of seeding. Repeat fertilizing in October and December.  This is called the SOD program.

Water 2 times a day for 2 weeks for about 15 minutes to keep the soil moist. Then water once daily as the seed takes hold. Hard rain counts as a watering. You have to keep an eye on the watering and not rot seeds with too much water. Too little water of course interrupts and can slow down germination.

It takes 2 weeks for seed to germinate and for you to notice it.  Do not panic if nothing turns green immediately.  If you do have spots that don’t come up after 2 weeks, go ahead and over seed by throwing more seed down.

Lawns will  not grow in deep shade but can take partial shade. You must use special shade seed to have success. Water less if your seed is in the shade.

Mowing and Blowing

Wait til the lawn is 3 inches before you mow. Do not use a bagger on your mower because this more readily tears the seed from the roots. Do not rake your lawn when newly seeded because that too will rip out new seedlings.

There is more I could write about aeration and seeding, but I feel a little long winded in my explanation. I wanted to give this information because it is a good time to aerate and seed is super expensive. (The forest fires in Oregon these past years has made growing and harvesting seed much more difficult and drive the higher prices.)

 If you do have a company aerate and seed for you, I would ask if they do a few swipes before seeding,  how much seed do they put down and do they use shade and sun seed for different areas.

Good luck. Don’t kill yourself trying to load an aerator in your trunk! Maybe you could share an aerator with others in the neighborhood.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.