Early use of the garden weasel followed by a grass-clipping mulch are keeping the weeds down nicely. The mulch retains water. Anything I were to grow in the narrow spaces between the plants would require watering instead. Zone and geology make a great deal of difference. Gardening in Massachusetts on a sand that was unsorted glacial till gave me little trouble -- except that I mulched for the first time (mulch plus soggy clay in a steamy, Western PA summer would have been a sure recipe for fungal diseases). The Carolina Sandhills are the remains of an ancient beachfront. The sand is nearly pure quartz and the grains are almost all the same size so its quite different from my Massachusetts sand. And the blistering days (I never thought I'd ever utter the phrase "Its not too hot today. Its only 90.), suck the moisture away so rapidly that I water only at the plants' roots. Any weed seeds in the area that I did not mulch yet are not sprouting because it hasn't rained in 3 weeks. My neighbor uses an annual rye grass on his garden over the winter with good results, but he doesn't care if his garden gives him nothing between late October and mid-June since he only grows beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. :-)

Start with getting the soil in the area into nice condition. I tend to top off the area with a nice soil mix to help the area stay moist enough and to get some nice growth. You can scratch the surface with a rake to make some faint rows into the soil. I sprinkle my grass seed on top of the earth and then sprinkle something on top of them to keep them somewhat in place. Usually just a little straw helps. Grass seems to germinate best in the spring and fall when the temperatures are cooler. I see most people watering the grass seed every day, which is good. However, if you plant at the right time of year, you do not have to water so much.

Thank you. I was hoping they would have a bit of a chance. Soaking them now. Will try planting them tomorrow. Hopefully I can get at least one to germinate.

daleyc, the only benefit to soaking those seeds large enough to conveniently soak then handle - is soaking can allow moisture not nutrients to penetrate to seed coat and begin the germination process. But again, in those seeds that are large enough to handle which have less penetrable seed coats ;0) No need for any fertilizer before any seedling has true leaves - it's already there and present. Within the seed coat is the embryo and nutritional materials used to sustain the germinated seedling until it is able to make its own food via photosynthesis. You might start with a very diluted fertilizer after a set of true leaves have appeared, nothing to gain by rushing it - or doing it before germination takes place.