You should water new seeds twice a day. The ground that they are on/in should never get dry. It is almost as much work as taking care of a newborn baby......well, not as much, but you get the point. What type of grass was there originally? Whatever that is, you need to plant the same type or else you will have one of those funny looking lawns that change colors. You would think that grass is grass, but it isn't. Just drive around an look at people's yards, and you will see what I mean. Regarding the hay, stuff like that is helpful but not necessary. There are many different things you can do that have the same effect. It really only has an effect if the seeds were in danger of either washing or blowing away...or perhaps being eaten by birds. Lastly, "about 4 weeks ago" was July 1. That would just about be the worst time of the year to seed. Keeping it moist is very difficult at that time, and the summer heat requires you to baby even the baby seedlings. So, in sum, here is why I think our lawn didn't take: 1) not enough water 2) didn't plant at the right time of year If I were you, I would relax a couple weeks, perhaps pick some weeds if they annoy you, and then overseed on September 1. If you really want to make sure the seed takes, do the following: - rent a slit seeder so you can make sure there is seed to soil contact - topdress with compost Even if you don't rent the slit seeder (which most people don't want to do, topdressing with something would be very helpful.

Hi Mike, I haven’t checked in for a long while, but thought I’d respond... I grow my Meiwa kumquat in West windows, zone 7A (SE NY) in gritty mix - it never goes outside. Fertilize with Foliage Pro. For extra light on rainy days (lol, like this entire Fall ?) and in winter, I use a fish tank light hood with Zoo Med “Ultra Sun” bulbs and just lay it across the top of the pot, the leaves are uplit. The tree is ending its 3rd year in gritty mix. It’s time (likely past time?) to go from a 12” pot to a 14”. I came back today to research lighter weight soil options and maybe get some input about root pruning? Instead I discovered something called a New Zealand Lemon! Been indecisive about a 2nd citrus tree until now...but ordered a NZL from FW and fingers are crossed! My Meiwa is recovering from spider mites (so a little sparse) it was entirely insect -free until contaminated by a new plant (lesson learned) and lost its immature kumquats in late Spring. Treated with Castile soap and water sprays in the shower every few days and now, once a month as a preventative. It has about 20 new tiny kumquats on it...strange that it flowered that much since it’s the Fall...so we’ll see how they do through winter in the window...hopefully they‘ll be ready to eat in July! At night in winter I move the tree away from the window because it can get pretty cold in that spot, but the sunroom itself stays above 55 degrees - Mary (mandarin1)

I've got several raised beds on the south side of my house that don't get full sun more than a few hours a day. They are blocked by the house nextdoor, trees to the east and a tree to the west, so they're really only getting late morning and early afternoon sun. Tomatoes don't like it there. Small peppers do okay in the sunniest beds. What loves it there and grows like mad is lettuce, beets and the greens like collards and chard. Onions do okay there, but it takes them a long time to get going. All of my herbs have done well there. Cucumbers do really well there in summer, too, where they'd scorch anywhere else in the yard. I say go for it. If you're building a simple box, you can always move it to a sunnier spot if it's not working out.

Grass doesn't do well unless it gets at least four hours of sunlight per day or at least light reflected off your house, even, and also doesn't do well underneath trees. You could try one of the shade mix grasses found online, but it might look odd next to bermuda. Only option might be to thin out the trees to let some light in or maybe try to landscape differently without grass. Photos are always good to post.