here's what the seed actually looks like, it's tiny:

Can I ask a stupid question first?

How much did you pay for the seed?

Mix with Pot Ash fertilizer in equal volumes. But before you do, perform a test run with just fertilizer to get the drop rate calibrated. You are shooting for 2 to 3 pounds per 1000 square feet.

$150 for 10 lbs including shipping... Please don't say I got ripped off. For the amount of time I spent shopping I'm going to be pissed!

The times I've seeded Bermuda, I cut it with plain old corn meal. It's been a while but I think I used something like a 2:1 ratio of cornmeal to seed.

If TW had been around to tell me to use Pot Ash fertilizer, I would probably have done that as I'm sure he has a reason for that. The seed is so small and light and it's just easier to cut it with something so that you spread a little more bulk. A coarse sand would probably work as well as my cornmeal. If you use sand, it has to be dry as a bone to go through the spreader.

The other thing that this does for you is let you see where you've been. The yellow corn meal left a very visible trace of my path. Fertilizer would do the same. The seed isn't all that easy to see all by itself.

Potash fertilizer... you mean one with a low-low-high rating? (N-P-K, correct?)

My local Home depot carries a Lesco 18-24-12 as a starter fertilizer, would that work?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100343536/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=lesco&storeId=10051

I like the idea of calibration using a test run, but I wont be over-fertilizing will I?

Whenever I apply small seed, I mix the seed with Milorganite.

I've used both cracked corn (Tractor Supply) and starter fertilizer. Both worked pretty well. DON"T USE WHEAT STRAW to cover it.

Why no straw? I was going to avoid it out of laziness and hopes that it would germinate quicker from sun exposure but the county/city people still do it whenever they throw common seed down and they seed more than anyone...

Remember those weed seeds that shouldn't be in that expensive seed? You'd be throwing a TON of weed seeds down in the straw.

The reason for mixing with Pot Ash fertilizer is killing two birds with one stone.

However Corn Meal is also an excellent ideal as a carrier.

TW can you clarify what you mean by pot ash fertilizer? Thanks!

I mean something like Potassium Sulphate, Muriate of Potash, or my favorite TX or AR Greensand.

...ahhh, green sand. Wish we had a ready source for it in GA.

OK here's a math/reasoning question for you guys:

Since the seed and fertilizer are different sizes (seed is much smaller), the seed will exit the spreader much more quickly than the fertilizer, which makes a trial run tricky to set up. How can you calibrate the spreader without using seed, so as not to waste by overseeding?

Use sand instead.

I didn't calibrate anything, preferring the "by guess and by golly" method. I chose to set the spreader low enough that I knew it would take 3 or 4 passes to drop everything. I made each pass at a right angle to the last. Worked for me. Broadcast, not drop, spreader.

At what ratio? I've heard 20:1 (sand:seed), but that sounds like alot!

The larger the carrier/seed ratio, the more accurate your trial run will be. At 20:1, I'd say your calibration run would be pretty darn accurate.

I've only tried to run sand though a spreader one time. It was impossible to do until I spread the sand on a tarp and let it get bone dry. One try on my part doesn't make a trend, but it was enough to keep me from trying sand in a spreader again.

I can't even remember where I got the sand so I can't tell you what type I used, except that my intuition tells me to use sharp/coarse sand. I'm sure I would have done that. If others have used it successfully, it tells me that it can work.

Anyway, from my experience, a trial run is imperative if using sand. You don't want to mix your expensive seed with the sand only to find you have the same problem I had.

Got the seed out yesterday! I got 4.5 yards of top soil delivered and spread it out by flinging it with a shovel everywhere then raking the rest out. I had about 3k sq ft I wanted to cover, turns out it wasn't enough but I'm not going to cry about it. Bermuda spreads anyway, right? Couldn't get it perfectly level but I'll try sand later on if it looks bad.

For the seed, I ended up using play sand from home depot, mixed at about 10:1. I spread out some general purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer and rolled (which didn't help level it out any more really) and started watering! Hopefully I'll start seeing some sprouting out soon.

Day 10! I see some Green!

Other side of the driveway didn't get hardly enough topsoil. Not much (but some) growth here, *tons* of weeds. Do you think it will spread?

Do we think the bermuda will spread (it will) or the weeds will spread (they will). So, yes, it will spread.

What direction does your house face? If it faces north or south, then this area by the garage is going to have a tough time with the high shrubs blocking sunlight.

Also instead of adding topsoil to the area to the side of the garage, I'd consider taking some out. It looks like it is already leaking out over the curb in the front. Right there in front I would have been scraping it away and profiling it back to keep the drainage good but not enough soil to flow out.

Those bushes aren't too high, that area start to get sun 10-11am, and the sun sets on the other side of the house (house faces south), do you think that would be enough? Is Bermuda not supposed to border *anything*?

It really should not border anything. You'll see where it grows and where it doesn't soon enough.

At what point do you start mowing a new lawn? I'm at day 15 and its getting long! too long for Bermuda I think?

Here is a shot from further out: