Hello everybody,

I have read a lot of old posts and have a pretty green thumb. I moved into a new house in July. The lady before had done nothing to the small lawn for 20 years, other than cut it too short and bag the clippings. There yard was over grown with large trees and many saplings. There was hardly any grass in back yard and even the weeds were sparse. The small yard backed to a steep hill. There was also a pile of DIRT running up the side of the yard, probably just dumped there from construction at least 10 years ago.

I had too giant trees removed that shaded everything and dangerously overhung the house removed. I had large branches from a third tree removed. The lawn now get a nice amount of sun all day and good direct sun for at least 6 hours in all places.

I killed everything with round-up. I did not bother to water the dead DIRT to sprout weed seeds and round up a second time.

A month ago I spent an entire weekend digging. Blister remnants are still visible on my palms. I cut out all the tree roots I could find. I turned over all the soil. I dug out the back hill 6 feet in by 30 feet wide. The lawn now goes back flat to a dirt cliff. I need to build a retaining wall. I leveled the side mound of DIRT and graded it all to have a slight slop away from the house and to the left. I know turning everything over is going to give me some settlement issues but I can fix that easily with topsoil.

I keep calling it DIRT because I have never seen anything like it. In my entire weekend of digging I found 3 earthworms and one white grub. I am used to working in soil. This was devoid of all insect life. There were some ants. I checked with the neighbors they have plenty of worms and a nice yard.

I decided to go with KBG. (I have dogs and they pee kill spots from time to time and I want something that will fill back in without me having to seed). I was going to order good seed but time got away from me and I wanted to seed the lawn the following weekend. Labor Day. So I compromised and bought the Pennington KBG mix. it should have

�Cadet Kentucky Bluegrass
�Brooklawn Kentucky Bluegrass
�Midnight Star Kentucky Bluegrass
�Royale Kentucky Bluegrass

I got it down on the Monday. I watered it well and low and behold I had some growth the following Sunday, 6 days for KBG!

I kept watering and one week after I saw the first signs of green I had a pretty nice looking seedling crop. I then fertilized with starter fertilizer. I did not walk on the lawn. It is small enough that I can throw handfuls all over by walk the perimeter.

A week later the grass is looking good!. Probably in "sprout and Pout" Some parts are thinner than others and I think this is to do with my seeding and racking the seed in technique.

Now the questions.

1. It is KBG, when will the sparser areas fill in?

2. Should I add a little more seed to those areas or I am I now too late in NJ?

3. When should I expect to mow it? I see when it gets to 2-3 inches. How long will that take at this time of year. I was not planning on cutting it or walking on in until Halloween.

4. Should I fertilize it again before winter?

5. When will it start to look like mature grass not just a carpet of seedlings.

6. What do you think of my longer term plan below?

So because I have DIRT not soil and I don't like to and will not be using chemicals long term. I am going to be trying to build soil going forward. I plan of using pre emergent next spring and a starter fertilizer. I might spot spray any broad leafed weeds for the first spring. Then no more chemicals. I am going to mow high and leave the clippings. I will try to mow in some compost every couple of weeks the first year.(I did not get a soil test and I probably never will) I have always had amazing lawns where ever I have lived used my mowing high and leaving the clippings, autumn leaves and adding compost.

7. Do you think the inside of the house was more neglected than the outside?................................

Thanks for any answers you all can provide.