On May 1, 6:03*pm, Oozmiester
wrote:
So where are you guys from then ? *Bob and Trader4 ?

Here is my plan, thanks to the input from you guys:

I am going to aerate the whole garden.
Seed it so they go into the small holes.

While it's OK to seed after aerating, the objective
is not to have seed go in the holes. The holes
from a core aerator will be about 3/4" around and
a couple inches deep. Some of the seed will
wind up in those holes, but how much of that will
germinate is questionable because seed needs
to be planted 1/4 to 1/2" deep, not 2".

And forget about using one of the fake aerators
that doesn't remove plugs of earth. Removing
the earth is what decompacts it. And that removed
earth gets spread around as a nice place for all
the grass seed that doesn't wind up in the holes
to grow in.

As I said before, if the soil is not compacted, no
thatch problem, etc, I would use an overseeder to
apply the seed instead of aerating. Or ideally, you
could do both.




Put some starter fertilizer down.
Put a net over the garden to stop the birds eating the seeds.

I don't know what kind of birds you have or what
kind of seed, but birds eating the seed have never
been a problem in the many times I've done it. Nor
have I seen pros doing anything to deal with birds.
If you want to cover it, weedfree straw can be used.
You cover it lightly and it helps retain the moisture
during germination. Problem is, don't know where
you'd get it. And straw that has weed seed will bring
more trouble than it's worth.

The ideal thing is hydraulic mulch, which is kind of
like ground up paper mache. But given the cost,
at least here, it's only practical for smaller area.



Then water, water, water.

I'll also do it at the fall as I have plenty of seed.

I'm not 100% sure about how the sprinkler timer works.
Can one of you guys explain, I'm being thick here.
I'd only be having it on possibly twice in one day while I am at work.
With a normal garden sprinkler you attach the hose to the tap, turn on
the tap and you have your sprinkler until you turn the tap off.

How does this timer work with the tap if you are out ?

--
Oozmiester

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Ga...searchNav=true

That's the link to one at Home Depot. If the link
doesn't work you can find it under lawn and garden
dept.

It goes between the tap and the hose. You leave the
tap on and the timer controlled valve opens and closes
at the set times.

How much you need to water depends on the climate.
In general, I'd do it 3 times, 11 am, 3pm, 8pm. If it's
cold and cloudy, you could probably just do it twice.
If it's 80, windy and sunny, it could take more. You just
need to keep it constantly damp on the surface. No
need to flood it. Depending on the sprinkler head
and area that could be as short as 5 mins.

As the grass starts to grow, reduce
the watering times, but make them longer. At about
a month, you should be watering once a day. At
6 weeks, maybe every other day, etc. Long term
giving it an inch of water a week should be ideal,
probably in two waterings, unless nature provides
it. To measure how much
water you're putting down use some used tuna
cans.