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In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook shows how to breathe new life into an old, tired lawn.
Pro Tip: When reseeding, use a blended seed mix rather than a single grass variety. A blend typically includes bluegrass, rye, and fescue, which serves two purposes: if a disease strikes your lawn, it will only affect one type of grass rather than wiping out the entire lawn, and different varieties thrive in different conditions—bluegrass prefers full sun, while rye and fescue tolerate some shade.
Steps:
1. Use power rake to de-thatch the lawn and remove old, dead grass.
2. Fill slice seeder with grass seed.
3. Run the seeder back and forth across the lawn to plant the seed into the ground.
4. After first pass, run the seeder around the perimeter of the lawn, and any other areas missed during the initial pass.
5. Next, run the seeder across the entire lawn again, but this time, make perpendicular passes to the initial pass to ensure 100 percent coverage.
6. Apply starter fertilizer to lawn using a walk-behind broadcast spreader.
7. Thoroughly water the lawn.
Pro Tip: When using the power rake, overlap each pass by a couple of inches to avoid leaving gaps. As Roger Cook advises on the job: “Don’t leave any spaces. I want you to overlap by a couple of inches. That way, we’ll get the whole job done efficiently.” The machine not only pulls out debris but removes the thatch layer, opening the grass up so it can absorb water and nutrients.
Tools
Pro Tip: Roger Cook, This Old House landscape contractor, explains how the slice seeder works: “These steel knives physically cut a groove down into the soil.” Up top, a bin holds the seed, and an agitator pushes the seeds out and down through a tube where they land on a disk that turns and pushes the seeds into the groove. As Roger puts it, “The machine ensures that a seed gets into the soil… And when you’re done, no cleanup, no raking.”
