Thanks for the quick response, Nancy! Actually, the bags I bought were on sale for 1.95 each, whereas the MG Potting Mix was 7.95 for a 2 cu. ft. bag *sigh* Like a dork, I thought I was buying something "better", AND saving a few bucks in the process...it figures, I made a newbie error. Probably the first of many *giggle* I'll probably hang onto them, maybe store them in the garage. One of the bags broke when I took it out of the trunk, so now all three are muddy and messy; I'm sure I'll find a use for the soil somewhere. Thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated! Susan in Kansas

Duplicate post. Please see http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4842874/best-back-up-variety-in-case-others-fail?n=3

Where do you live? France is a big place. And does it snow in your area? Here is some general info on lawns. Ignore your neighbor. He's trying to intimidate you and set you up to fail. Plant new seed only in the fall. Start in the early fall. That might be August or it might be September depending on where you live. You seem to have done it pretty well - perhaps by accident. Not rototilling was excellent. Rototilling is a big mistake that a lot of new gardeners make. See if you can rent a roller. You only need it once the first time you seed a big yard. After that, for annual overseeding, you can simply walk on the new seed to press it down onto the soil. Water new very lightly 3x per day, every day, until you get 80% germination. For the shade grass you planted that would be 3 weeks. If you have shade type grass, I'm assuming it's a fescue. Fescue should be mulch mowed at the mower's highest setting most of the time. If it gets hot in the summer, then mow every other week. The idea is to develop deeper roots to get water from deeper places in the soil. Fertilize for the first time on Fête du huitième mai or Jour de la Victoire 45 (same date different name). Fertilize again on Assomption and for the last time on or about Jour d'armistice. With the new lawn skip Jour d'armistice for this year. National holidays are easier to remember than specific dates. If you want to use organic fertilizer, you can do that any time including now. The application rate for organics is almost always 7 kg per 100 square meters. I like to use alfalfa pellets (lapin chow) as a fertilizer. Get them from a local feed store in 20-kilo bags. They really work. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 3 cm all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps from 33-38 deep water once per week. With temps from 25-32 deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps from 21-24 deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 21, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. In the USA this deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont (for Oz think Hobart to Darwin including Alice Springs), so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. These are in reverse order of importance. Watering is key to getting a good lawn with the fewest problems. Weeds: Spot spray a liquid herbicide in mid April and again in mid September.

Should I go back over my recent overseed with a slitseeder? I live in zone 7A, Long Island, NY and last Sunday (9/20) I pulled the trigger and overseeded my lawn (25% or so was newly seeded areas). [HERE](https://imgur.com/a/BsQFd2K) is where I’m at today, 9/30 on my 10th day I had my landscapers dethatch, aerate and drop topsoil in preparation for some newly seeded areas where we removed some pachysandra and poison ivy. Here is what I dropped via my Echo RB60 in said order: - Jonathan Green Black Beauty Ultra - Scott’s Starter Fertilizer w/ Tenacity - Jonathan Green Mag-I-cal - Jonathan Green Love Your Soil I then rolled everything with a lawn roller which I filled about 3/4 of the way with water (ie, heavy as fuck) At 10 days now, most areas look to be coming in nicely, but some areas look like I may have ran my sprinklers too much and washed away seed. I did not topdress as I thought the heavy rolling would be enough, that may have been a mistake! I’m thinking of renting an over seeder this weekend and going over everything again. I’ve used an overseeder in the past with great results and am unsure why I did not just do that again?! As you can see form my pics linked above, some areas are thin, some have not germinated at all and some look washed away. Here are my questions: -Am I too late in zone 7A to seed more? -I would be seeding on October 4th, last 5 year average soil temperatures are 60-68F until around October 20th where it starts dipping below 60F, Mid November soil temp drops to around 50F. Is this long enough for this grass seed mixture to germinate and establish itself??? -If I go over everything with an overseeder, will that rip out the short grasslings that I currently have? -Would I have to reapply a starter fertilizer? -Bluebird and Classen overseeder are what are available locally, is there a preference? -No top dressing would be needed after using the overseeder, correct? I really do not spending the $$$ to do this again as we just bought the house last fall and I would really love the grass to be as decent as possible come next spring/summer. * Edited to add soil temps * Edited again to add pics from today