Hello,

I live in Minnesota. Last year's summer was dry and hot and my lawn went dormant early and really had some stress on it.

We have a lawn service that sprays it and maintains it and it came back pretty good even though we really had to baby it all this year.

The problem is that I have some areas/patches that didn't make it. We had frost and snow well into May and even June so I didn't have much of a planting season for those dead patches.

Now is the time for us to plant some grass in those patches. I have top soil but need some advice what type of seed to use.

Does anyone have any tips for growing grass in the fall?

I usually mix the topsoil with seed, rake it in, and then cover it with that white growing cloth and have had pretty good results in the spring....is that going to work in the fall?

If anyone has any comments/suggestions/methods they are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Tripper

 

I also live in MN so I know your pain!

There is still a good amount of time to get your grass going. Put down some seed ASAP and start watering it. You should have grass in 2-3 weeks, same as you have in the spring. I just layed about 100 yards of sod this weekend so again, I feel your pain.

 

Seed!!! Seed the whole lawn every yr in the fall IMO.... After 3 yrs do every other... Then evey 3 yrs after that.

 

I hope this works for you, it's cool enough that I'm not certain there's enough time for seed to germinate yet this fall. My normal rule of thumb is to plant right after the heat of summer breaks and within a few days after Labor Day at the latest.

Daytime temps right now are good, just a question of whether it will last the three weeks it takes the bluegrass seed to germinate - your rye should come up just fine so you'll have grass, just not necessarily the one people generally want.