I am trying to restore bald spots, places where I have removed weeds,
etc. a) Is this a bad time to do this? Should I just wait until fall?
b) If i can do it know, how? rake the area, put down some seed, straw
on top and keep it wet? What type of seed?
thanks

On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:04:02 -0700 (PDT) in jaf wrote:
I am trying to restore bald spots, places where I have removed weeds,
etc. a) Is this a bad time to do this? Should I just wait until fall?
b) If i can do it know, how? rake the area, put down some seed, straw
on top and keep it wet? What type of seed?

Do you have a warm season grass, or a cool season grass?

If it greens up in the winter, it's a cool season grass.
If it turns brown in the winter, it's a warm season grass,
or all crabgrass.

If it does both... you have one infested with the other and
crabgrass.

Now are you wanting to migrate your lawn to a warm season grass
or a cool season grass or astroturf?

Either way, get a soil test done.

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/agronomi/uyrst.htm
for the forms. Boxes available from the dock at the NCDA station across
from the Army Reserve reservation on reedy creek road close to the
intersection with edward's mill.

If your soil is acid as hell, you probably want to start putting in
strips of centipede sod. See the NCDA publications on centipede.
If you go the route of centipede, make sure you can provide ~2gallons of
water for each square foot of sod for each week for the first summer, and
pick up and install the sod the morning it is delivered at the
home improvement store or the sod place at the farmer's market.
An inch of rain provides 0.6 gallons/square foot.

If your lawn is mostly cool season grass and mostly okay...
plant fescue/blue grass in the fall. But you probably should aereate
and top dress with compost now.

Zoysia is also an option, it needs more TLC than centipede, but less
TLC than fescue.

Warning, see if you have a bermuda grass infestation. If you do and have
or are going with fescue, bayer sells a bermuda grass killer that's
available in the big box stores.
If you have or are going to a warm season grass (other than bermuda),
you'll have to go online to buy something to control bermuda grass
and an eye dropper. (Because if you go with the "More is better" route,
you'll kill the warm season grass too).
--
Chris Dukes
davej eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. I have two. Bullshit.