wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, I have been told a billion times that autumn is the time to plant
and feed, so having bought a home with about 3 patches of grass, I
rented a tiller and tilled up about 6" of soil, fed it, seeded it,
tamped it, fed it and seeded it again, covered it with hay and started
watering.

After about 3 weeks, nothing has come up. I noticed a few sprouts
yesterday, but it just doesn't look good.

Now, is it possible that this is just an autumn dormancy thing and come
spring I'll have a beautiful, deep-green lawn sprouting up, or have I
done something wrong? I've got the lawn covered with hay, but of course
I won't be able to leave it there all winter...

If you seeded three weeks ago and you're in Connecticut, you've left it a
bit late in the season. I assume you're zone 6 - even in my very mild zone 8
climate, it is not suggested one seed a new lawn (or overseed an existing
one) after the middle of October - you will just not get very good
germination. It is quite possible that much of the seed will remain dormant
over the winter and sprout in spring but it is just as possible that much
will rot or otherwise fail to germinate and you will need to go through this
process again.

FWIW, it IS recommended one use a starter fertilizer with laying new lawn
seed, but they too will not be very effective in colder weather. And for
future reference, the "fall" they refer to when advising on seeding a new
lawn is generally September and early October in the majority of this
country.

pam - gardengal