I would wait until Fall. It's getting too hot to seed right now. You'll germinate a ton of weeds if you try. You say you are in the Philly area? A cool season grass is what you should be using.

Also a Philly area native, and it may not be that hot yet,trying to grow a lawn from seed will not be successful at this time..Start Sept 1st..If you "must" get a lawn, you could still sod it for a relatively low cost...I laid 4000 sf of sod several years ago in June(around a new pool) and it looks great, though i'd have rather seeded if the time period would have worked...good luck

I think you might have your zone wrong. A 3 or 4 would probably correspond to northern Canada. Philidelphia is generally considered a 7. As the others said it's too late to seed in Phily now, you will be wasting your money trying to start a lawn plus the weeds will love all the watering and fertilizer. Also cheap fixes, as in most cases, are only worth what you pay, which is little to nothing. Since it's too late to seed, you should focus on killing weeds and getting your lawn and soil in great shape for seeding time, which should be around Sept. 1 for you. Pulling weeds is fine, if you want to spend hours doing it, making divots in your lawn, and redoing it in a month or so. Buy a hose end sprayer, and get some Weed-B-Gone max or Bayer Advanced Weed and Crabgrass Killer and use as directed. The clover might need a second treatment of something like Ortho's Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis treatment, but I think the Bayer Advanced might take care of it all at once. Tupersan is a crabgrass preemergent, and is probably too late to apply now if you already have crabgrass germinating. If you don't you could put some down if you want to prevent the later germinating seeds. After you get your soil test back you can start to get your soil in shape for the late summer. Also that Patchmaster in my opinion is a waste of money. It contains mediocre seeds, and is mostly paper mulch that takes forever to dissolve. You will probably save money just buying good seeds that you want to plant. For full sun in Phily you can't go wrong with Kentucky Bluegrass, it produces some beautiful turf. You could also go with perennial rye or turf type tall fescue, both produce nice turf as well, but as a bunch type grass it doesn't spread like KBG. Warm season grass will be dormant for 5 or 6 months out of the year, and isn't a great option for you.

gryd and qdwag thank you for the responses. I will give up on trying to seed before fall. I may look into sod. I saw an interesting thread on sod plugs, but the most effective were warm side creeping grass. I am going to take the suggestion a cool climtae grass. I also may have a thatch problem. I did not even know what thatch is until today. It has been very wet lately and some recent cool days and nights. But,I know that the scorching heat is right around the corner. I will have to check quickly into sod.

thanks for the detailed response tiemco.I went to scotts site put in my zip code answer mostly sunny and drought condition and no patchmaster product came up.bluegrass did come up as well as fescue and others. The product that caught my eye, actually a week ago was EZ seed. Below is a link where someone did a test using ez seed vs their own cheap mix of topsoil and fescue.The result if not a hoax was impressive.
http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/scotts-ez-seed-review/

I will try and resist throwing my money away as I don't have alot. Regarding making divots by pulling weeds, would putting some topsoil in be a valid improvement or just cause instability. I think i have heavy clay soil.

The problem with any patch products is that they usually contains several varieties of seed, i.e., some KBG, some FF, some PR, and maybe some TTTF. I don't know about you, but I like to decide what type of grass I grow, and what cultivars I will use. This isn't possible with patch products. Also those grasses germinate at different rates. The PR will be up and growing in a few days, TTTF takes a week before you see green, and KBG and FF two to three weeks. Generally people stop watering once the PR is lawn height while the others are just starting, and the lack of water means they die off. I am sure they work to some degree, but the results are always going to be worse than laying seed (the proper amount by the way, patch product seed rates are usually too low), topdressing and keeping it moist. I am sure that test was fine, but let's face it, the nicest lawns are never done with patch products. If your lawn is a mix of many types of grass, and you aren't too concerned about what cultivars you are putting down, I guess it is the easiest way to get something growing to fill in some bare areas. It is a bit late to try growing anything due to summer being right around the corner, so if you want to try the EZ patch go ahead since it isn't much work, and not terribly expensive. If you have divots due to pulling weeds leveling off the areas with some topsoil would be a good idea, and if you use the patch product on top of that you will get better results.

That is a really small area. Sod would be the best option. Since the area is small you could also get some compost an mix it in after the weeds are gone. I would 1. Roundup the weeds. 2. Buy compost 3. use a garden rake to mix it in and level the dirt. 4. Throw in the sod.

I really do apreciate all the helpful advice given by all.I think I may pull a few weeds and throw in some top soil and ez seed. If I get some grass to grow it will be a bonus. I will mostly concentrate on improving the soil and using some weed be gone or bayer to get rid of the weeds. I may decide to seed or use sod but that will have to wait till fall.The reason I am deseperate to get some grass spots growing is because I have only weeds no grass at all. if I can prevent a small dust bowl of bare dirt blowing around I will. If I need to aerate the soil, I will wait on that as well. Thank you for all the help.

i

If you are going to use EZ seed then you would be wise to not use weed killers, as those chemicals can inhibit germination and new growth. Always read the labels with those product to determine if you should use them before seeding.

It wasn't clear from your replies that you realize this, but you can lay down sod any time of year as long as the ground isn't frozen. 15x8 is 120 sq feet. At my local nursery, I can get KBG sod IIRC for 4.99 or 5.99 / roll (2x5 - or 10 sq. ft.) So for around $50, you can get a great looking patch of lawn with minimal work past the initial installation (no need to water 3x / day). EZ Seed is probably going to cost you at least $15-$20, so think about spending a little more now to save any effort later.

Of course, if you're planning on reseeding the entire lawn in the fall, then I would just throw down some quick sprouting perrenial rye to cover the dirt patch until Sept, and save on the EZ Seed expense.

Gags

Sod will be better. Instant lawn and don't have to worry about it after initial installation. that is the huge bonus of having such a small area to worry about. I would say get compost instad of top soil because the sod will come with an inch of topsoil which is another bonus of sod.