Good morning folks! Long-time lurker, first time poster. I've been gathering up excellent info over the past couple months in hopes of making my first attempt at a lawn renovation in Northern VA/ Zone 7 a successful one! Here is a quick run-down of the steps I've taken up to this point in time, almost all thanks to the wealth of free knowledge to be gained on this website!

Late July- had soil tested. took sample, sent away to Virginia Tech for analysis, soil was sufficient in most items, however a little low in potash. I decided not to till the soil so that I didn't have to deal with the ground settling over next 3 years, and was hoping to remedy the deficiency over the next couple years with fertilizer that is higher in potash.

Late August- lawn was 80% weeds. home built in 2006, owners didn't perform any lawn care, so I decided to kill everything w/ glyphosate.

Late September- set mower on lowest setting, scalped the lawn, bagged all clippings. Then, used verticutter/ dethatcher to both kick-up matted thatch as well as lightly scrape the surface of the ground. Then, hand raked & bagged all thatch. 1 day after a solid rain, Core Aerated the crap out of the lawn (6-7 passes). Next, Used a verticutter again to both pulverize the cores made by the aerator and to further soften the top 1/2" of the ground (after reading thoroughly on this forum, I realize that I probably don't have clay like everyone in their brother thinks, however the ground was ridiculously hard and could only stick a screwdriver in the ground 1" deep in most places).

Sunday 9/28: using a Classen TS-20 Turf Seeder, seeded lawn with what I am hoping was an awesome quality TTTF seed blend which I purchased online (Bullseye, Cochise IV, LS1200. Sod-Quality, 0% weed seed). Seeded at a rate of 8lbs per 1000sq ft. Used a 50lb bag for approximately 5000sq ft of lawn. Then, used what is hopefully an excellent starter fertilizer (19-26-6) with 72% methylene urea nitrogen, 25 lbs used for 5000 sq feet of lawn. Lastly, using a water-filled lawn roller, rolled the seed in the ground for good seed-to-soil contact

Past 2 weeks: I purchased (2) 4-valve digital hose valves and a ton of sprinklers. I've basically got 8 zones of sprinklers covering 90% of the entire yard, and they have been watering approximately 5-8 minutes at breakfast, lunch, and dinner automatically. I've been adjusting the duration every day depending on the moisture of the ground and the rain forecast. Ground has been kept moist, hopefully not too damp.

Today 10/11: it has been 12 days since initial seeding, and I've got a good amount of seedlings in sight! If I were to guess, I've got 70% germination. ***here's the problem***: It appears that there are clear areas where the seed hasn't germinated. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that in some places, the seed wasn't dispensed properly by the turf seeder, or if somehow the seed in certain places was placed deeper in the soil, but I'm getting nervous that the lawn will look "patchy" in certain places (even after maturing).

SO....... today's October 11 in Zone 7. I know that I'm pretty much outside the "sweet spot" for planting seed, but I've got 2 choices: buy more seed and throw it down by hand in these places (hoping for good seed-to-soil contact without harming the other young seedlings) OR wait for next fall & overseed. I really didn't want to wait for next fall because I know that if these areas don't fill in with grass, they will be filled in with weeds. I don't want to fight another major battle in 1 year.

Which is where the wealth of knowledge from this community of users comes into play..... what are your thoughts, people? put down more seed now, or live to fight another day & overseed next fall? Thanks in advance Folks!!!!
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This post was edited by Ken_Cross on Sat, Oct 11, 14 at 11:11