When should i Round up the lawn? It all depends on when you are going to drop seed, and if you are going to fallow for a bit. In actuality you can round up a few hours before you lay seed, but that isn't too practical for home lawns. For a home lawn, 2 weeks is probably the least amount of time I would suggest, since after about a week you should know if you missed any areas, and you can reapply. Also when applying it, it is important that everything is green and growing. Dormant, or sluggish grass/weeds won't absorb it, and they can wake up during the renovation. So most people recommend watering a few times a week before you apply round-up, and afterwards as well. Which type of RU? I saw blue and green cap ones. Just use the straight round up or any brand that has glyphosate as the main ingredient (I use Ortho's from Home Depot, it's a little cheaper). The other kind has another chemical that makes things turn brown in a few days, but I don't see the need for it when renovating, plus it costs more. Should i drop the Calcium lime before i drop seed or after? Drop Potassium sulfate before or after? Your next liming should be 90 days after the one you did this spring. If that coincides with seeding then I would wait till your grass has been mowed a few times. When seeding I would use a half app of starter fertilizer at the time of seeding, and the other half after it has been mowed once or twice. So then lime 2 weeks after that starter app. The starter is high in K, so that will count towards a K app. Would it be smart to fallow the lawn? It's not a bad idea, especially if your weed pressure is/was high and you don't mind having a brown lawn for a month or so. Better to do a TTFF/KBG lawn or just KBG? It all depends on you and your lawn. If you have a good amount of shade, TTTF is going to do better. KBG makes the best lawn in my opinion, but it has a longer establishment and maturity time, so don't expect a full KBG lawn to be really nice next spring. It really hits it stride in its third year. TTTF/KBG is a nice compromise, but there can be some issues with color matching and growth rates. For the TTTF cultivars, those are all good. I would definitely use Bullseye, it is one of the best. LS 1200 is good, but it does poorly in shade. For the KBG: Bedazzeled: A good choice, not too dark, good spring green up, not sure about it's disease tolerance. Prosperity: A very dark cultivar, might not blend well with TTTF due to color, but I can't say for sure. It also has some disease issues, might not be the best if you are just using one in a mix. Moonlight 2: Not sure about this one, check the NTEP's and it's tech sheet. Emblem: Not a good choice. Seed on the market is old as it's being discontinued. A very aggressive cultivar, might dominate lawn. Also very dark. Has a very long dormancy period as well, i.e. slow spring green up. Blueburry: One of the darkest cultivars you can get. Might not blend well, and it might have disease issues. Moonlight SLT: A good cultivar, supposed to have some shade tolerance. Check the NTEP and tech sheet for mixability. Award: A compact midnight, so it's going to be dark, and might not blend well. Does OK in shadier sights, but not great. There are a few others to look at. Bewitched: A dark cultivar so be warned, but does well in shadier areas, not too aggressive, and has good disease tolerances. Unique and Apollo. Not as dark as some, good shade tolerances. America: An old standard, has been around for a long time, but still performs well. Has some shade tolerance, not as dark as others. Orfeo: A very fast one to germinate and establish. Blends well with TTTF, but is aggressive, so it can take over. In reality, color might not be as big an issue as I make it out to be as KBG really needs good soil high in iron to reach it's full potential while TTTF seems to be less finicky to iron levels. Many of the growers say a lot of their cultivars blend well with TTTF. If you are really worried about it though, then just go with all TTTF or KBG.

I hate it when that happens. I had a reply in here and my browser crashed...badly - taking me all the way back to late June. But I'm back. I completely agree with tiemco on this. You have a much better than average lawn. I would spend the $20 on the Logan soil test and spend the rest on applying whatever they tell you. With a healthy stand of Kentucky bluegrass, the last thing you need is seed and the hassle of putting it down/watering/etc. Your color is a little off. I believe that is due to a lack of fertilizer. I don't know what your temps are but if the highs are below 85 then you have some options. If they are hitting 85 and above, then you have one option. If you are below 85 for an entire week at a time, then you could get away with applying ordinary synthetic fertilizer (slow release). Hot weather and salty fertilizers can put stress on a lawn so you need it to be cooler. However, if you are warmer, you can apply organic fertilizer any day of the year and expect good results. Here is a picture from mrmumbles he posted here in June. This was his organic fertilizer test. What he used was alfalfa pellets (Purina Rabbit Chow). Most people are skeptical of the modern grain theory of organic lawn care, but images like this are pretty striking. Note the color and density of his Zoysia lawn with and without the fertilizer. If you are intrigued by that image, go to the Gardenweb Organic Gardening Forum, find the FAQ, and read the last one titled, Organic Lawn Care FAQ. When I wrote that the price of corn was way down and soybean meal was high. Nowadays it is reversed (almost). In any case you get a large bang for your buck using soybean meal this summer. You can get it at most feed stores in 50-pound bags. The application rate is 20-30 pounds per 1,000 square feet of grass. I would definitely start at 20 pounds. When these fertilizers decompose on the lawn you will notice a different aroma. It doesn't stink exactly at the lower rates, but if you use 80 pounds THEN it stinks like sour milk. The more often you use it, the less you will notice the smell. This is because the soil microbes are becoming more populous and can deal with all the food you are giving them. The decomposition of food on the lawn is a biological process that takes a FULL three weeks to happen. You will not really see it coming either. In fact you'll be wondering whether the soybeans had any effect but then at the 3-week mark, it hits. I think when you see that, you will forget all about overseeding. And like I said you can apply organic fertilizer any day of the year. If you want you can apply it again in 3 or 4 weeks to get ahead of the neighbors. If they are using synthetic (like Scott's), they will have to wait until cooler temps to fertilize. There's a guy on another forum who has applied heavy doses of organics every week to speed up the process of improving his soil. It worked so well that his KGB lawn stayed green almost all winter. You might not be in that category of lawn nut but it is pretty easy to slip from simple hobbyist to complete lawnaholic when you see these kinds of results.

Here in NC they say to seed around Labor day or after, so you should be good to go. One thing about dethatching though is if you already have fescue you really shouldn't need to do it unless you've had large areas that died and have thatch layers covering the ground. Otherwise, you're just gonna be pulling up good grass plants...not good. You might find the link helpful also. Here is a link that might be useful: linky

I wish I could get it that cheap but I'm happy with the product I'm using. Perhaps once I get a better feel for results etc. I may try and source something through the local feed companies. Since I'm a novice though, I'll stick with what I'm using for now. A 20kg (44 pound) bag is $24 for me. I've figured the cost to be a 30% premium over what I was paying for synthetic however I have stopped paying for rolling & am now going to stop paying for aeration as well so net cost is less. I've decided not to aerate as if I'm organic I understand the lovely worms etc. should do the job for me and I'm concerned about bringing up weed seeds. Thanks Bill. I will consider skipping the overseeding then. I'd rather add extra organic fertilizer than spend money on seeds that may not be necessary. Re CGM as a pre-emergent, I read today that the best time to prevent crab grass & dandelion germination would be to apply it after the forsythia is finished blooming and before the lilacs. Does this seem right? For me, that would mean starting my cycle around the end of April. My forsythia were in full bloom last year the 4th week of April. I don't want to waste my spring application by putting it down too early. Thanks again, Sharon