Rutgers, why do you ask such a question after the fact? No one said it cannot be done. We said not to expect a lawn like Turf Toes' and others that were purely kbg (or purely Magnificent 3). Adding the premium quality seeds would have to improve the appearance of a lawn you're not happy with. But, it's a better idea than reproducing a lawn you're not happy with.

Someone said that the color would not match since it is so dark, so I opted against it. The last thing I wanted was patches of dark grass where the Mag3 thrived. I am actually totally 100% fine with the decision. I was just curious to see if anyone did - or plans to - overseed with the Mag3 despite having other grasses in the lawn. I would love to know if it blends in fine or, as I feared, sticks out like a sore thumb.

Nah, there wouldn't be patches unless distributed unevenly. You probably can't get accurate answers until next year though.

Every time I drive around my neighborhood, I see lawns that were ruined by someone repairing a big patch with a seed that didn't belong there. Like you said, I probably wouldn't experience this since I was slit seeding evenly across the lawn, but I didn't want to take any chances. I figured I would wait to see how it worked with others :-)

If I am successful in raising the percentage of KBG in my lawn this year, I will most likely start overseeding each year exclusively with the elite KBG.

This isn't exactly what you asked, but I've been doing something similar with tttf. When I moved in, I had a yard that was a mix of K31 and crabgrass. The first couple of years, I got the weed problem under control and overseeded with some random Scotts seed. Over the last several years, I've done a lot more research and started overseeding with varieties that rated higher in my area.

The results - a mixed bag. I've got slopes and heavy clay. The yard ranges from full shade to full sun. I don't think there was anything I could have done to get a completely uniform lawn under those circumstances anyway, but the K31 doesn't help. It actually is handling the drought/heat better than most of the new hybrids, but the blade width doesn't match the fine/creeping fescues I had to use in the shade. I'm sure I could have made everything blend better if I had killed it all and started fresh, but I didn't. The neighbors all think it looks great, and my wife would probably kill me if I ripped it all out and started over at this point, so I guess I'm past the point of no return.

Bottom line, if anyone has a horrible lawn, I would recommend killing it all and starting from scratch. It really isn't any harder to do it right once than to rehab an area slowly over many seasons. For anyone with a perfectly fine lawn, I wouldn't scrap it all unless you are a true lawn freak and would be forever bothered by minor imperfections that your neighbors and wife won't notice.

Your question is exactly why I bit the bullet and I now stand in front of my house saying "Damn I hope you know what you're doing".

{{gwi:111504}}

I had a KBG blend that never quite did as well as I would have liked and got nailed with summer patch this year. I thought about just scalping the existing down and slitseeding in the new elite KBG seed, hoping enough of it would make it to make the work worthwhile but then I started asking myself if I would be happy with that. Answer was at best maybe, at worst, no way. So Death it was.

Hope things work out well for you.

Rob

My situation is very similar to bills, I have a nice lawn and rather then a total kill which would have put me in the doghouse with the wife and drove me crazy as well I have opted to used overseeding to improve the overall quality and density of the lawn.

I have an aquaintance who didn't like the density and quality of the lawn put in by his landscaper and he scalped it and overseed with a slit seeder and sod quality seed and his lawn is beautiful. It actually looks like it was sodded. It is dense dark green and soft. My wife and I were next door to his house at a party and I showed my wife his lawn and she at least stopped giving me the evil eye when I discussed my plans to improve our lawn.

Rutgers-
I am attempting to beat all odds in 10 days! I started a lawn at my new construction home the first week of July '06. I didn't want to wait until fall to seed and look at weeds all summer so I defied the odds with that project as well. I used Scotts PP sun and shade mix due to lack of knowledge at the time, but my lawn looks pretty good for being just over one year old and seeding at the worst time possible. I will be overseeding with the Galaxy Blend (Midnight II, Moonlight and Prosperity) at 2 lbs. per 1,000 sq ft. I have someone coming Sept. 30th to core areate and if the weather cooperates I will seed a day or two after that. I took a couple before pictures and will post them with the after pictures when the lawn starts to grow back. I didn't want to kill off my lawn because it looks pretty good already, I just want better. I can't imagine spraying Round Up on my lawn, you should see the looks and comments I get from my neighbors and wife just for taking a 4" tall lawn down to 2"! I think they might try to admit me to the psych ward after I finally get the mower to the lowest setting!

Where do you live? You want to overseed in October in Zone 5?

parafly- that was a miss post, I meant that I'm having my lawn areated August 30th! You're right, the seeds probably wouldn't germinate well in the snow and frost.

An alternative thought: test plots. So you've got a pretty big back yard? Or, for all of that, a pretty small one? Stake out an area, even using non-stake markers ("....everything from the pool, over to the fence...."
to pick out less than all of your lawn, but a manageable area, and put your preferred seed into it. With luck, you might even get a little neighbor conversation.....Yes, Harry, I put in a little Mag-3 for this year, I wanna see how it works out....of course, I'll let you know. Oh, and if it doesn't work out, I may put just Midnight, and Bedazzled, on the other side of the pool next year. Well, you never know, with all the crazy weather we've been having.....

Are you serious? Why do we (and I'm guilty. But I'm also TIRED, man...) have to bite the BIG bullet with this renovation stuff? The whole darn lawn? At once? Who said so, actually?

I've seen a few pics of some VERY nice colonial homes, with attached garages, on this forum this year. Why not one side of the drive, and not the other side? Somebody else has a very nice spread, obviously non-subdivision, with a good-sized patch in the front. And another good sized patch in the back. Oh, and another good-sized patch across the driveway, up to the trees. We're going to do all three, at once? Honestly, are we nuts? Why not just one? We can do it again, next year, with just one more patch?

Hmmmmmmm. Food for thought. For me, anyway. So I thought I'd share. Comments welcome. I may not respond. I'm to tired to do much other than read. And I have to add ('yes, dear. Yes, Dear. Yes, I really do believe it will look much better in another week. Yes, Dear) that it has been made quite clear to me that this operation had better actually work.

We're going to try overseeding with a KBG blend that I found locally for $2.80/lb. It's equal parts Diva, Ginney, Rugby II, and Rambo. They all look like good seeds for Iowa, and they have genetic diversity like bestlawn recommends.

I think we currently have ryegrass, but I couldn't tell you for sure. If overseeding doesn't work, then we'll Round-Up next year.

Mike and Tanna