Fall is one of the best seasons for new grass growth. With cooler temperatures creating optimal conditions, it's the perfect time to rejuvenate your lawn. Seeding helps build turf density, fill in bare or bald areas, and is a key step in maintaining a healthy lawn. When combined with organic fertilizer, compost topdressing, and lawn aeration services, overseeding can transform your property in just weeks.
Fall Lawn Care: What is Over-Seeding?
Overseeding is the process of spreading grass seed over an existing lawn and is a crucial practice that offers several benefits for maintaining and improving the health and appearance of your lawn. Some of these benefits include:
Repairing Lawns: Overseeding is particularly beneficial if you notice thin, bald, or bare spots on your lawn, which may result from issues such as infrequent watering, mowing problems, heat stress, foot traffic, etc. Overseeding helps fill in these sparse or missing areas, promoting a fuller and healthier lawn.
Suppressing Weeds: A thicker lawn provides less space and resources for weeds to establish and spread, effectively reducing weed growth. Healthy, dense grass can outcompete weeds for nutrients and sunlight.
Enhancing Lawn Health: Even if your lawn appears healthy, overseeding can enhance its resilience and keep it lush and robust. Without overseeding, a lawn can become worn out over time. Regular mowing prevents the grass from producing seeds and replenishing itself naturally, causing the lawn to rely on rhizomes, stolons, and tillering for growth. Over time, this can make it harder for the lawn to maintain strong growth, resist weeds, and handle other stressors like extreme temperatures or heavy foot traffic.
Timing and Seed Selection
When seeding your lawn, timing is crucial, and soil temperatures play a key role in determining the best time to seed. Fall is ideal for overseeding in New England because the soil remains warm from the summer, while the cooler temperatures promote optimal growth. Cool nights and shorter, milder days create perfect conditions for seed germination. During this time, grass seed retains moisture more effectively, and seedlings are less stressed by the intense heat of summer, allowing them to establish and thrive more successfully.
In addition to timing, choosing the best grass seed for your lawn is a crucial step in successful overseeding. For New England's climate, cool-season grasses are recommended. These grasses are well-adapted to thrive in regions with extreme temperature fluctuations, while warm-season grasses cannot sustain the colder months in New England. At Pure Solutions, we use a premium blend of cool-season grasses including tall fescue, ryegrass, and Kentucky bluegrass for optimal results.
Preparing Your Lawn for Overseeding
We recommend cutting your grass below four inches before overseeding. This allows seeds to make better contact with the soil, improves access to sunlight and oxygen, and enhances air circulation, improving the chances of germination. We recommend aerating your lawn in conjunction with overseeding. Core aeration is the process of mechanically removing small plugs of soil from a lawn to improve natural aeration. Over time, lawns can become compacted, limiting the flow of air, water, and nutrients to the grass roots. Lawn aeration helps these essential elements reach the roots, promoting healthy growth and ensuring a strong, vibrant lawn.
How to Over-Seed Your Lawn this Fall
We recommend overseeding with proper machinery to ensure even distribution of seed across your lawn. Using a machine provides the precision that hand seeding cannot match. Hand seeding can lead to uneven coverage and overcrowding in some areas, which can prevent seeds from growing due to lack of space. However, for areas around flower beds, we suggest seeding by hand to avoid spreading seeds into unwanted areas. In New England, germination should occur within two to three weeks after application under ideal conditions.
Post-Seeding Watering and Mowing Recommendations
It’s important to ask questions like, "What is the best overseeding watering schedule?" and "When can I mow after overseeding?" to ensure you’re taking the proper steps post-seeding for successful germination. At Pure Solutions, we recommend watering three times a day for 10 minutes each cycle—once in the morning, early afternoon, and again before sundown—for two weeks, taking natural rainfall into account. This ensures the seeds have an adequate water source to germinate. Additionally, we strongly suggest avoiding mowing your lawn for two weeks after seeding to allow the grass proper time to establish. After this period, you can return to the regular watering and mowing guidelines.
Additional Fall Services - Should I Fertilize After Over-Seeding in the Fall
Combining overseeding, lawn aeration, organic fertilizer, and compost topdressing offers numerous benefits for your lawn.
To increase the chances of germination, we recommend applying fertilizer when overseeding. Fertilizer provides the necessary nutrients for seeds to germinate and develop strong roots. Waiting too long after seeding can make it harder for the seeds to establish themselves. At Pure Solutions, we use a premium organic fertilizer in the fall to promote new growth and support the overall health of your existing lawn throughout the season.
Additionally, we apply topdressing with organic compost after overseeding. Compost enriches your lawn with organic matter, packed with nutrients and beneficial microbes that strengthen the soil, retain moisture, and serve as a sustainable resource for the grass. It also helps reduce lawn stress, conserve water, create an optimal seedbed, and smooth out bumps caused by wear.
Our fall services—fertilizer, aeration, over-seeding, and compost—work together to transform your lawn into a lush, healthy, and beautiful space to enjoy. Each service plays a crucial role in enhancing soil quality, promoting strong growth, and achieving a vibrant lawn.
Ready to revive your lawn? Request a free fall lawn care quote today!
Sources:
Burke, K. (2020, October 22). Fall Lawn overseeding to repair grass. The Spruce. https://www.thespruce.com/fall-lawn-overseeding-2152905#:~:text=Fall%20is%20the%20best%20time,occurs%20in%20the%20summer%20months.
Organic Lawn Care - Natural Yard Services & Programs. Pure Solutions. (2024, May 16). https://www.puresolutions.com/pure-page/organic-lawn-care-treatment/
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