Top-Dressing and Over-seeding

Wow, doesn't that title make it sound like I actually know what I'm talking about?

If it's been a little quiet at Brave New Home lately, it's because it's been exactly the opposite in our lives. With the weather cool and fall landscaping season upon us, D and I have been spending every weekend outside working on some project or other.

Our first project was to try to make grass grow on our front lawn. I realized that I forgot to take a "before" picture but just imagine sparse skinny green grass with a lot of dead beige grass, moss, and bare patches. Not a pretty picture.

After reading that mid to late September is the best time to "top-dress" (i.e. treat) and "over-seed" (i.e. plant grass seed on top of an existing, if pathetic, lawn), we went to work. We thatched out the crud, just like we did back in March and aerated the lawn thanks to some hilarious spiky shoes and a super slow walk around the yard.

We knew thanks to our soil tests that no particular compound was really lacking (we need some nitrogen but it's bad to fertilize just before or during new seeding and the lack wasn't so bad as to need major treatment that would delay seeding). With the ground prepped, we took advantage of our local public works center, despite its limited operating hours, and went one day fill up our car with discounted compost. If we were 10 years old, this would probably have been the most awesome thing ever--a giant pile of dirt:

We filled the car with as many rubbermaid boxes as it would hold (thank goodness for hatchbacks!) and went on our way. It seemed like it would definitely be enough to spread but of course when we dumped it out, we realized we'd have to lay it more thinly than we would have liked. I think it will still have a positive effect on the soil, though.

After that, it was just a matter of putting down the seed and raking gently on top to cover it. Then lots of water (the weather obliged, fortunately, and we had to resort to the hose only occasionally). Here's the view of our strange-looking, dark, composted lawn:

Did it work? I think so. There's definitely some improvement, even if it's still not as dense as we'd like. Also the clover seems really happy and spread everywhere. It's not grass, but it's not that bad either. At least it has a root system that will absorb water and stop soil run-off. Weeds are better than nothing!

We've continued to over-seed when we see sparse patches and keep it mown and free of leaves to encourage growth. Hopefully this spring we'll see a nice, lush lawn...

Hey, a girl can dream!