I'm not sure why it is people resist telling us where they live. It's like pulling teeth sometimes. You're just prolonging the agony. If you live in Inyokern, that's what we need to know. Boron? Who knows? Trust me, we won't show up on your doorstep. In fact, with that area, it would help to know whether you are in the hills or on the flats. I would get a soil test if I lived north of Edwards. Boron is a necessary micronutrient, but you have it in abundance. Too much boron and your soil will become unproductive for most plant life. There is a reason why Boron is located where it is. And there is a reason only certain plants will grow (stunted) in the wild around there. Honestly, the best expert at growing grass in your area is the greenskeeper at Boron High School. Call him and ask what kind of grass he grows and how does he keep it green? How does he keep the high boron levels from killing it? Search Google Maps for Boron, CA and find the high school. It's not hard to find with the aerial view. It is the only green grass in the 100-mile region. Fescue still will not turn brown with your freezing weather. Annual weeds like crabgrass will die off completely in the winter. Grasses like bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, bermuda grass, and St Augustine will turn brown in the winter. Fescue only will go dormant under survival conditions. At this point I would stop dethatching, send in a soil sample to be tested (Logan Labs), and forget about seeding until you see the results of the soil test.

Some of this I can answer, at least. 1) It makes your life easier and Home Depot (here, at least) seems to have them. For Zone 5, we're talking probably mid-August to Labor Day, but that can vary depending on where you are. Zone 5 is huge. 2) OK. You may discover patchiness from the color difference, though. 40K square feet is an awful lot to restart from scratch. 3) Probably, but if you seed the only thing you could use is Tupersan. Crabgrass is a spring germinating weed anyway and dies in frost. I'm not worrying about it on my restarting lawn. 4) Probably not, no. If you can spread the grass and see soil, you're home free. 5) Either aerate or slit seed, but not both. :-) 6) 40 pounds per 40 K square feet is definitely not enough, although any pH over 6.0 is OK. What was yours? 7) Compost or peat moss, about a quarter inch, definitely helps. You don't absolutely need to do it, though. 8) Yep! They sprout, develop, grow (fall being their prime season) and then nap off perfectly happily for winter. Some die off (some always do over the winter) but most make it just fine.

I have a fairly heavily wooded lot in NJ. I've always seeded right after the summer weather breaks. I've found that the grass is always ready for the leave onslaught. Just make sure you do the leaves at least once a week. The grass will stay alive and look decent, but not great. It will fill out in the spring provided it has good sun exposure. My biggest problem is that by end of summer much of my grass in my front yard is not in great shape because of too much shade. There are some spots that I feel will never be successful.

morpheouspa. Gloves down here for a moment. What claims are you referring to that I have made about mechanical aeration? Granted, I do claim that there are purposes for which the employment of mechanical aeration can be useful and it irritates me to no end that people peremptorily discount mechanical aeration as being without any use. (in the past couple of months, I've seen were you have suggested? that plug aeration might be an aid in pursuing some outcome.) Are you saying that I have advocated mechanical aeration as a necessary continued lawn care practice? (Do you advocate the application of a surfactant as a necessary continuing lawn care practice?) Is it necessary to spam this site with links to hundreds of university turf programs that recommend home owner lawn aeration not only as a continuing lawn care practice, but for the prevention of disease, thatch LDS etc.? For what purpose? They are just conclusory statements, No more valid than anything you or anyone else can produce. What you linked to, rather than belittle you, look at the facts: First some of what they call aeration is plowing (bad for me) but anyway I counted 13 studies and of those, the majority showed some improvement to crop yield, none showed a decline. They do,make a conclusory statement that aeration will cause increased weeds. OK fine. Based on what? No ancillary evidence even? Did they atleast credit dchall for the quote or maybe daniel? So even though your site actually supports that aeration results in slightly greater % crop production than non aeration, I say irrelevant and useless for any support for either of us. This argument has been going on forever, but if you take the time to understand and observe, there are logical conclusions you can come to and when applied either work or don't. If X then Y, put it to the test, and if it repeats, then continue, whether it is surfacants, aeration, corn meal or Bayer. So recommend on your experience and give your rational when challenged. Caveat emptor. My goal for my lawn, and for those I give advice to, is to obtain a turf that in the shortest time possible will only require mowing, watering and fertilization. I endeavor to employ the least expensive, least labor intensive, but most effective methods for a healthy turf AND soil and those are the ones I promote. My questions were for the reader and therefor need no response from you . I will no longer joust this windmill with you or anyone else, but I will call out anyone who "make [an unsupportable} claim... or [spew} any other blatant lie"