Having a beautiful, lush, green lawn is relatively easy to accomplish and inexpensive. It will require quality grass seed, a little elbow grease and patience.
Purchase quality grass seed that is zoned hardy for your area. Determine if your lawn will be mostly shady or in full sun and buy grass seed suited for your lawn. This information will be on the grass seed bags, a qualified salesperson in the lawn and garden department at Lowe's or Wal Mart should be able to give you helpful information as well. The best time to sow grass seed is in the spring or fall.
The first thing you must do before you sow grass seed is prepare the soil. The soil will need to be raked and slightly broken up. This is true if you are sowing grass seeds where there is no grass at all or if you are over seeding a sparse lawn or filling in bare spots in an established lawn. The easiest way to break up the soil is to wear golf shoes while you are raking. There are special aerator shoes that can be purchased at most home and garden supply stores if you don't have golf shoes. If you are dealing with a huge lawn, there are lawn mower attachments that will de-thatch ( removal of dead grass clipping build up) and aerate the soil. What you rake up from your lawn, the leaves, grass clippings, etc. throw onto the compost pile for later use.
If you live in an area where the soil is very compact or rocky, adding a shallow layer of topsoil or potting soil after you have prepared the existing soil will help the grass seed sprout and take root. This step is usually only feasible for small lawns.
Fertilize the area with any dry fertilizer that is high in nitrogen, add 3 pounds of Epsom Salts to each 50 pounds of dry lawn fertilizer that you use, the Epsom Salts stimulates root growth. Apply the dry fertilizer/Epsom Salts mixture according to the manufacturer's directions with a broadcast spreader to your prepared soil and water in with the garden hose, or do this step when rain is predicted for the day.
After the fertilizer/Epsom Salts mixture has soaked into the ground for 24 hours, sow your grass seed, again using a broadcast spreader. Water well, cover with light covering of straw or potting soil to hold in the moisture. Water daily, in the early morning to prevent evaporation.
Now it is time for patience In a few weeks, the straw will decompose and you will see the beginnings of a lush green lawn. It will take more than one growing season to have an established lawn from grass seeds, but by following these steps, you will be well on your way.
