Need Some Advice on Seeding New Lawn

[pyromaniac guy]

ok, so my wife and i's house is almost complete. they are finishing the grading and rest of the digging in the next week or so. we live in central PA, and the average high has dipped into the 50's.

when should we seed the area around our house? i have decent topsoil (my property used to be a cornfield) and work for me is slow right now. do i go ahead and seed and straw coat the yard now? or should i wait for spring?

i don't mind either way, i just don't want my seed to get wet and rot over winter. or is that not even a valid concern? my yard is basically level, just sloped enough for drainage. no hills except the sand mound.

anybody have any suggestions to help me out?

 

[sawinredneck]

Erosion wil be key, if there is a lot of area with a little slope heavy rain and snow will push the seed into gully areas.
I have seeded this time of year with great succes on flat or gentle sloped ground by covering it with straw. If you have the time you have nothing to loose but some seed. Might even get enough warm days this winter to get it to germinate and start taking roots before the spring showers set in.
Really it's a crap shoot depending on the slope, rain and snow fall amounts.

 

[Adkpk]

Sod at this time of year. Seed might start to come up but unless it has enough time to harden off the first hard freeze will kill it. Might give it a try and hope for warm weather. Put a layer of salt hay to keep the birds from eating it and keep it a little warmer. And if your willing to spend some more money peat moss will make it come up a week earlier. It's gardeners gold to seed germination.

 

[hanniedog]

I would wait until spring to seed the yard. It is easier to do it once than to plant now and hope it takes.

 

[trimmmed]

I would seed it now. It might come up thin but it will be weed free and give some cover if reseeding is needed.

 

[masiman]

You don't say where you are. Where I am in NoVA, it is late but I would still seed now per what trimmed said. If you live somewhere further north and colder, I'd say wait. Maybe consider sod. My neighbor just tore up his lawn, amended, tilled and sodded. It looks great.

Fall is the best time for seeding a lawn, but spring can be okay. Check with your local extension on what you should do.

 

[Lawnmowerboy48]

Wait until spring to seed. Take some soil samples and send them to a university extension, you're in PA they are not that far off. They will be able to give you info on how to amend your soil for seeding. As for straw it does help with erosion and most importantly moisture retention. When a seed has gotten wet it needs to stay wet in order to germinate. When buying seed look at the pure live seed percentage, the higher the better and you will also need to adjust your seeding rate accordingly to that. Good luck in the spring.

Tyler

 

[woodchuck247]

here in ohio the latest i would have planted it would be in mid december. I have done this already this year and it is almost in full. Just put straw ontop and ur good, but allow sun to get through. it also would help if it is not really cold out.

 

[OilHead]

Not the best time of year to do it but either way be sure to use scott starter fertileizer .

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Doubt you are warmer than here, and the last week of October is the final week that I've ever considered for spreading seed.

Still a couple of weeks for sod left.