To what's already been offered I would add:

The fall is the ideal time to seed. There is less competition from
weeds and the cooler days and nights help keep the seed moist. Early
spring is the second best time. It's generally too late at this point
to be starting seed.

If you want a really good lawn, soil preparation is key. If the soil
is not rich in organic material, you can till some organic matter,
like peat moss in. This is something you can only do upfront and will
affect how well it looks, how much water it needs, how disease
resistant it is, etc.

Get the soil PH tested and adjust with lime for the proper ph for the
type of grass you are growing, generally in the range of 5.5 to 7.0
for blue grass/fescue.

The seed needs to be in contact with the soil. For small areas you
can rough it up with a rake, toss the seed, rake a little more. I
found the best hand tool is one of the small garden tools that has a
bunch of tines about 3 inchs long on it that you roll around and is
used to break up soil, weeds etc in the garden. You can just throw
the seed down and work it around with this tool.

For larger areas, renting a slice seeder is the best choice. You can
rent one of these for about $40 for a half day. It's gas powered and
cuts grooves in the soil, dropping the seed at the same time. You can
also use this to overseed areas that have grass, but need some more.
If the soil is compacted, you can also rent an aerator, which makes
holes about 3/4 of an inch around in the soil, allowing water and air
in.

If you're doing an area that has poor growth to begin with, kill
what's there with roundup first. You don't want undesirable grasses
and weeds there that you may not be able to get rid of later. You can
reseed within a few days of using the roundup.

Buy the best grass seed you can find, preferably endophyte enhanced
and make sure it's appropriate for the area. Use a starter fertilizer
at the recommended rate.

Cover the newly seeded areas lightly with weed free straw. Peat moss
is another alternative which will help keep it wet. You want sunlight
to be able to get in, don't over do it. You don't need to use much
water at a time, but you need to do it frequently enough to keep the
surface wet.

When you mow it, make sure you use a sharp blade.




"Keith Carlson" wrote in message news:r5eBa.1026507$F1.123262@sccrnsc04...
We seeded the lawn on a new house 12 years ago.

What worked for us was:
1) Tilling the soil. But, we had hard clay, and very little topsoil, and
added some composted manure. If the soil is decent, no reason to do this.
But, make sure there is some loose soil on top. Might just need to rake it
with a dirt rake.
2) Rolled the area with a half-full lawn roller so the soil was not
hard-packed, but also would not tend to runoff when watering.
3) Spread the seed. Check the coverage on the bag, then put on twice as
much.
3b) You can spread some starter fertilizer here, too. I don't think we did
initially, but did later for patching an area that was dug up.
4) Raked very lightly so the seed was mixed slightly with the soil.
5) Rolled the area again so the seed gets good contact with the soil. After
this, the seed should be barely covered by soil (actually some will be
covered, and some will be exposed, but all should be rolled down into the
soil).
6) Cover with a mulch - very lightly. You don't have to do this, but it
helps keep water from evaporating, helps keep birds from eating the seeds,
and helps hold warmth in the ground. The grass seed likes warm moist
conditions to germinate. When we first seeded, we got straw from a farm not
far away and spread that lightly.
7) Water, water and water some more. Soil should ALWAYS be moist until the
grass is growing.

I'm sure there's many ways to do it, but I think the more of these steps you
take the better chance of success you have. And the mulching can reduce some
of the watering work.
It sounds like lot of work.. and it is.. but our lawn was nicer than any of
the sodded lawns around us, especially when it got dry.

"Bob" wrote in message
news:QsYAa.1012235$F1.122520@sccrnsc04...

"The Filers" wrote in message
...

The next day I spread grass seed on the ground which was very wet
because of rain the previous night. Then each morning I have watered
the
area well. Some people tell me that I need to cover the grass seed with
topsoil otherwise they say the seeds won't grow...other people tell me
that
this is the wrong approach and that the best thing to is to keep the
seeds
exposed, but well watered each morning...

Watering the seed very lightly a few time a day will work better. You
don't
want it to dry out, or just sprouted seed may dry and die. The seed is all
on the surface, so deep watering won't help much.

Bob