garycinchicago wrote: In such a shady area, why plant KBG rather than fine fescues? It's shady, but it still receives 3 hours full sun in the morning hours and 2 hours full sun in the evening hours with dappled shade throughout the day. I'm ok with Fescues but I'm in love with KBG and if it takes a little more TLC to keep it nurtured in such an environment, I'm ok with that... besides, I already have the seed. ;-p ------------------------------------------------------------ gardenfanatic wrote: That last picture makes me wonder if you might have grubs in that area also. That's actually the drainage and grading problem. That area is the convergence / "low" point between the (gradual) grading of my house and the (steep) grading of the dirt road about 15' behind it. During heavy rains that area fills up with water and compacts the soil completely. You can see all the moss that forms there because of it. To make the problem worse, I only have between 0-18" of red-clay soil on top of limestone and bedrock and that is one of those areas that is probably only 6" deep or less until you hit solid rock so I can't readily put french drains in there. It can be done, with a backhoe & jackhammer attachment - but as I have a slab foundation the jackhammer, that close to my house being concrete sitting on rock could break my damn foundation. Or at least I'm afraid it might, lol. I'm still searching for landscaping options for that area as I don't think grass will work well but I still want to try to improve it's general condition so that I don't flood out there as much.

You can certainly overseed now if you want, and the peat topdressing is a great idea. With a quarter inch of peat atop the seed you can safely drop to watering once or twice per day once your original seeding is fully sprouted. Don't count on that before Day 28. By then temperatures will be down, so will evaporation, and the water you put down won't leave as fast. Also, when sprouted it's really THIN. Like threads. It takes a while for that seedling leaf to garner enough energy to develop a good crown and start growing real leaves. I know we all look at first frost as the end of the season, but for your grass it's a signal to start moving into fall mode. You don't want frost on new seedlings, but even if the root systems haven't developed yet, they have plenty of time--until the ground freezes solid. 'Round these parts, that's January most years. December in a few. Never November. You can water at a higher rate through mid October and get away with it just fine. Yes, you'll have some losses, but you would have anyway. Second...patience. Below are my photos from day fourteen and day 35. Recap: Day 14 (two weeks!): Day 35 (FIVE weeks):

turf toes, Well, you set the bar so dang high, that I'm just trying my best to keep up! toomuchtodo, I think that sometime photos look better that what is right in front of you. Post some pics of your renovation. boatboy24, Don't forget preemergent in the spring! Oooohhh you got that right! I will use the best stuff I can find, if it has to be synthetic so be it. If I do get any weeds next summer I will use any means necessary to get rid of them. If there are too many for the Weed Hound to handle, I will get something like Bayer weed killer that comes in a hose end spray bottle. I did not do all of this work to have a yard of weeds, that's for sure. I will be using organic ferts next year, then after the lawn gets nice and thick I will switch over to the organic pre-m also.

I used my scotts classic reel mower as well this weekend and I must say how impressed I am with the cut of a reel mower. I hadn't used one since I was a kid and at that time I could care less about the quality of the cut itself. If I had A) more time or B) less yard I would seriously consider using one all the time. I may actually alternate every other cut or so between the reel and my other lawn mowers.