I think that can happen with any first-year lawn, Rutgers. Come the following spring, a lot of people find they have to add more seed or they wait til fall rolls around again. The kbg will help to fill it in, just not as quickly as if it were a kbg lawn. Has yours fully emerged from dormancy yet? I expect that might have something to do with it though you're speaking as if it is. If so, then I'm jealous because there isn't fully-green lawn around here to look at LOL. Is it possible to get some more of your mix down or just add more kbg to it (oh that rye)? Or did you put down corn gluten meal?

rutgers1,

Year 2006, my kids left the sled at the backyard, middle during winter. I removed the sled during March 2007 snow melting. It left a big spot bare soil like around 12" in diameter. I was so p**sed off with myself that I should have removed it. Around September 2007, I can't believe that the bare spot is almost gone.

Mine is also mixed as mentioned by my builder.

Bestlawn....My lawn isn't new. You might be thinking to my posts about my neighbor, who I helped renovate a lawn with KBG this past fall. As for my lawn, I moved in September of 2006 and started working with the lawn (the rye/kbg/fescue mix) last spring.

It never went dormant, at least not entirely. It lost some color over the winter, but not a great deal. By the last week of March, it was entirely green again.

I overseeded in the fall with what I thought was great success. However, looking outside right now, although it is very green, it looks a bit patchier than I would like. On top of that, I have some flowering broadleaf weed that is having a field day. I am really hoping for the grass to start growing/spreading again so that I can determine whether or not it has what it takes to choke out the weeds.

At this point, if I can't the coverage and "look" that I want (I love the current green...but I want it all!), I am considering a renovation in the fall. I will probably have to beg my wife for permission to do it, but I would be happy if she only let me do the front yard for now. For now, I am going to keep feeding it the grains and building up the soil. I really think that my winter green had a lot to do with my efforts to build the soil last year. The grass went to be for the winter with a nice blanket of compost and mulched up leaves, and my guess is that it had an effect somehow.

I remember you helped with your neighbor's lawn but was thinking you did yours, too. Just off the top, I don't think the grass wants to go into winter with a blanket of anything.

Sounds like a decision you have to make. Thick grass definitely helps to crowd weeds. I didn't have a weed problem except along the edges here and there, mainly along the curb. Probably only got 5 or 6 crabgrass plants in summer but never put down pre-m. I pulled them to prevent a problem the following year. You know I hail kbg and don't mean this to another shameless plug, but I think you can expect yearly overseeding with a fescue/ryegrass lawn, even one that has some kbg in it. That might not be so terrible, depending mostly on how brutal winters and summers turn out to be.

Per your late greenup question as it relates to what you are considering, just be willing to swap something - that one thing I think is worth the personal preference. I'm sure you've read me say what a delight it was for me. I had a common Kenblue lawn that was really nice and I loved it. I just wanted it darker so overseeded with Award and Boutique. Kenblue greened up as usual in spring - not particularly late or early - but after a few weeks, I began to notice it get darker, and darker.......and darker every day. The first think I did every morning was run to the window or door, not the bathroom LOL, to take my first morning's peek. The difference was noticeable each day and went on for about two weeks or more. Besides that, it isn't as though you will have brown grass until late in spring. It only means it will be later in spring when the grass reaches its true color. You can deal with that, I'm sure.