Great looking seedbed! Looking forward to seeing how the progress comes along!

OK, the front is seeded, here are pics this morning right after the sprinklers shut off.

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{{gwi:112017}}and a look at the old driveway and front lawn from 3 years ago...this is pre garden web. I got more of these of the back yard. I should post them to show how everything I learned here from all you good folks has helped my yard.

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egghead2004, what is your watering schedule, since you opted against straw or penn mulch etc.?

karensson,
right now I am at 7am, 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. 10 minutes each. I may cut back on this depending on how wet things look when I get home tonight. I might eliminate the 7am and spread the others out a bit, but this is where I started.

I have never used straw before, never had a problem as long as i keep the ground moist.

I also ran the dethacher over the soil on the highest setting just to stir the soil and sort of cover the seeds a bit. This has worked well for me in the past.

You are going to have a GREAT LAWN Egghead. CanÂt wait to see your pics. Bill Hill

Nice woodpile too, that should keep you warm this winter.

One week today, still nothing, but some weeds are popping up here and there. OK, bye the weekend I hope to see something. It may hit 90 also, so it will be crucial for me to have those sprinklers running.

Take heart. At Day 7 I was tapping an anxious toe and hoping the seed hadn't decided to up and die on me. I had minor sprout here and a very occasional there.

A week later and it's more like sprout. Lots of it. KBG is very, very, very slow.

KGB is brutal for those without patient spouses. Although, mine has been cool headed about it this year, the front has been like this since May when we did the driveway.

This is the third fall that i have made a mess out front and seeded. The last two times it took 3 weeks before germination.
I seeded the second weekend in September, so it was a lot cooler. Since we are still on August and soil temps are a lot warmer, I am hoping for a 10-15 day germination.

I am hoping for a 10-15 day germination.

That sounds really reasonable. By day 12 it was obvious on mine, by now (day 16) it's kind of like a little, weak lawn. Sort of. Portions, particularly to the south and west, are still sprouting slowly because they get hot and dry.

The Dearly Beloved But Impatient Spouse gave me until Sunday, August 19. I made it...by one day.

This morning I looked closely at the bare dirt in the front, and look! I can see sprouts of elite KBG coming up. I little sooner than I expected as tonight I wanted to spread some milargonite on the dirt to give the little sprouts some food when they came up. So now I'll wait, I don't want to disrupt these little babies. There looks to be GREAT coverage too. I'll get a pic of it tonight after work and post.

Lets see, the last two years when seeding in early/mid September, the same seeds took 18-20 days to germinate. So the seeds almost a month earlier and it is only 8 days.

I didn't even have time to have any doubts or bad thoughts.

Yes, post some pics please - we need to see progress. And BTW, the reason your KBG seeds are germinating much quicker than previous year is because soil temperatures. The warmer the soil the faster the germination. Now once the seeds germinate and become seedlings, you want cooler temperatures.

I'm down in the Raleigh area in NC, I'll be overseeding my bluegrass lawn this weekend.

Here the are, pics on day 8(yesterday), too bad the sun will not show.
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Too bad the sun has not been out at all lately, maybe it will come out this weekend to really make things pop.

Does that look too wet in some areas?

It looks it, but in one hour it will be just damp. Those wet areas are where 3 sprinklers meet, not much I can do to fix that without leaving other areas too dry.

I hope it works out.

Here is for Saturday 8/25...ten days

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I love it when a plan comes together. Doesn't it make you feel good to see those germing babies?

A.J.

Nice job Egghead!

It's gonna look great!

I second what AJ said too. It's really great to see it work the way it is supposed to work.

Great looking, egghead! We're rooting for you!

Great job egghead. The lawn is coming in nicely. Lot's of work for you, but it'll be worth it!

ok here is day 16, on 8/31.

weeds are growing too, but thats fine. I'm going to seed that bald spot in the middle. I think that is there beacuse 4 sprinkler heads hit that area and it almost puddles up after only 10 minute cycles.

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Wow, I hope my results are half as good so soon. Great job!

Labor day update, day 20.

That bald area was being hit by 4 sprinkler heads and it did settle a bit, about an inch. So I dug up some soil and mixed with some sand and spread it out, hopefully leveling that area. Seeded it with a bit a starter fert, and covered with a bit of pete moss.

Then I cut 2 of those heads back from 3.0 GPM nozzles to 2.0 GPM. That entire zone sprays much better with the additional 6 PSI. Not as much heavy large drops at the parameter, but a more even spray. No more puddle there either.

I also discovered that I didn't put enough milargonite out there initially, only 3 bags for 9000 sq/ft. Someone here posted that their new seedbed was fertilized with 1 bag per 1250 sq/ft and were complaining of the smell. Now that I looked at the bag again, they are right, for new seedbeds, 1 bag per 1250 sq/ft.

The grass has lightened up so I went on spreading milargonite on the entire area, 6 bags on 9000 sq/ft.
At the same time, I added 15 more pounds of seed to the hopper along with the milargonite and spread that too. And yes, the milargonite does smell at that application rate.

Then I read philies21 post earlier today about the later germinating seeds...I thought about it. It has not even been 3 weeks yet, it has taken 3 weeks to get germination of ANY KBG in the past. Hopfully I didn't do too much damage. Also adding more seed should take care of that. I promise not to walk or mow until October when the leaves fall.

Here are the updated pics of the growing grass...and weeds.

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Nice looking lawn Egg!

Update 1 month

OK, so Saturday night/Sunday morning 9/8-9/9 we got a vicious thunderstorm. rain gauge was over 10" per hour for about 8 minutes, wind lighting, the works. Heaviest downpour I can remember. Sunday I went out and saw most, if not all my new seed and milargonite washed out to the driveway and down into lower areas of my established lawn. I rolled that stuff in good too. The peat moss is gone as well. arg...damn rain.

So anyway, the pics on the 15th, here they are, 1 month. I had to mow as many areas were over 4 iinches. The weeds are bad too.

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That is looking really good!! I'm glad to see that it is turning out so well, I am aslo glad to see that I am not the only one getting his fair share of weeds, LOL. It is great to see the results of people who are a couple of weeks ahead of you in this process. When does this elite KBG start to turn dark?

ha, I hope it turns darker by Columbus day, I have a family cookout then. However, my past experience tells me that it won't get dark for at least 3 growing months, so maybe in May or June next year.

Looks great egghead2004! Curious, how many pounds of seeds did you use per thousand feet?

I envy your having been able to mow already, mine is coming in fairly well, but nowhere near mowing height yet.

Paul,
I initially used 3 PP 1000 S/F. Things looked pretty good.
On labor day I seeded again with about 1.5 PP 1000 S/F. However I think most if not all of that washed away in that thunderstorm. I's been over 2 weeks and I see no new germination yet.

Darn weeds are aggravating me though.

egghead2004,

Darn weeds are aggravating me though.

I hear ya!! I would not have thought that there would be this many. I know that the crabgrass will die in winter, but if I would have known I would get this much, I would have spent the extra $20.00 for the starter with crabgrass control.

Hey Paul, how much seed did you use per 1000 sq ft? FWIW I went with 2lbs plus 20% per 1000 sq ft.

I used 4 lbs./1000, and then went over only the worst trouble spots with just a little bit two weeks later. I was afraid to add any more than that! I still have a few bare/thin patches, but overall think I will be ok now. I'll try to post an updated pic soon. The ones I took yesterday are washed out and not well focused, will try again later today or tomorrow.

When does this elite KBG start to turn dark?

Eastpenna,

Your mileage may vary. Maybe it was because my soil was so poor. But I didn't see the really dark color it began showing this year until a good 18 months after seeding.

Don't get me wrong. It looked really good the first spring, summer and the 2nd fall. But it really improved the following spring.

turf_toes,

You may be more accurate. I look back at pictures from last June and July in my back yard, it was darker than when first planted, but no where near as dark as it is now.

turf toes, egghead2004,

Thanks guys! The reason that I asked is, I had a neighbor say that my lawn was a nice "bright green". I was just a little nervous that I needed a some iron, or worse yet "I planted something other then I thought". When I saw eggheads photos, I much relieved!

I guess I'm just not use to this good stuff! I never really noticed this from the cheap bag stuff at the local hardware store.