It’s almost time to plant winter lawn.
The first thing is to get some good seed. It’s better to buy at a nursery or a sprinkler shop. The price should be about a dollar a pound and it takes about 10 pounds for every thousand square feet so one 50 pound bag will do about 5000 square feet. Some people like to put her on a little thicker than that.
If your grass is really thick & matted then you probably want to detach it. You want the seed to be on the soil, not on top of an inch of dead thatch. You can buy a kit for some mowers with springs that attach to the blade like rake teeth. (Call us for options.) Or you can rent a detacher from us.
If you have a lot of bare areas a verticutter actually works better. You spread the seed and then run over it and it actually pushes the seed into the soil. That way you don’t need any kind of topper and the birds don’t get it.
Before you verticut or dethatch you want to take some flags and mark your sprinklers so you don’t tear them up. Alternate mowing as low as you can and the detaching to get your Bermuda grass down low. If the winter grass doesn’t shade it or if it’s too warm the Bermuda will come right back.
After you spread the seed, set your sprinklers to about six times a day. Maybe 6 AM, 9 AM, noon, 3 PM, 6 PM, 9 PM. You don’t want puddles you just want to keep the seed moist. After a couple of weeks the grass will be coming up. Turn back the water a little bit. Mow it to help it spread. Once it comes up nice you can really turn the water down. Depends on the temperature during the heat of the day but once a day should be fine. And once the weather cools off – every other day. Actually, often I’ll turn my water off in the winter because the dew keeps the grass wet enough.
A topper such as mulch helps keep the seed moist. Manure does the same but also creates heat so if the you are late then it will definitely help. That being said I have never used topper on my own yard.
After scalping, your mower is in the worst shape! Now is the time to wash it and bring it in to Scotty’s for its annual service including oil and filter change, spark plug, blade sharpening, etc. Then, hopefully you can go all year til the next service.
Happy cutting!