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When to Overseed a Lawn in Connecticut

Seeding
5 min read

With expert help from the professionals at Jonathan Green, you can learn when to overseed your Connecticut lawn, how to prepare the turf and correct problems, and how to choose the best grass seed mixture for your environmental conditions.

The Jonathan Green name has represented genetically superior grass seed, innovation, integrity, determination, and a commitment to excellence since 1881. Today, six generations later, we remain committed to producing superior lawn and garden products.

What is Overseeding?

Overseeding is the process of planting new grass seed over an already existing lawn. When combined with proper aeration and fertilization, overseeding fills in thin or patchy spots and improves the overall health of the lawn, making it thicker, greener, and more likely to fend off weeds, insects and diseases.

When Should You Overseed?

The best time to overseed your lawn in Connecticut is in late summer/early fall (mid-August to mid-September).  The soil is warm, temperatures are cooler, autumn rains are more plentiful, and weeds are less active, creating an excellent environment for seed germination before leaves start falling and the winter cold arrives.

Which Seed Should You Use?

If your goal is to have the best-looking grass, be sure to choose the highest quality grass seed. Jonathan Green Black Beauty® grass seed mixtures look and feel so much like Kentucky Bluegrass that even the pros have a hard time distinguishing Black Beauty® from Bluegrass.

Jonathan Green Black Beauty® grass seeds are:

  • Deeply rooted (up to 4 feet)
  • Disease resistant
  • Drought tolerant because of the invisible waxy leaf coating that preserves moisture in the plant (similar to the wax on an apple).
  • Dark green in color
  • Uniform in leaf texture
  • Contain Endophytes for natural insect resistance

How Should the Soil Be Prepared?

Whether you are overseeding or seeding a completely new lawn, the seed you use must make good contact with the soil or it won’t germinate properly.

If your soil is very hard or compacted, Love Your Soil®  will loosen and aerate it. It will also feed the soil microbes, making the lawn soil more alive and porous, and enhancing root development. The new grass roots will grow much deeper when you spread Love Your Soil®. It can be applied the same day as the grass seed and works best when the soil temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer.

Now it’s time to test the soil pH with a pH tester from your local hardware supply store. The pH should fall within the range of 6.2 to 7.0. You can either raise the soil pH with Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Acidic & Hard Soil or lower it with Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Alkaline & Hard Soil.

Our Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Alkaline & Hard Soil will help you rapidly balance the soil’s pH and, at the same time, help the lawn grow greener and healthier. It can be used immediately before seeding, but keep checking your soil because more than one application may be required to reach the ideal pH.

After overseeding, you will need to keep the seed bed damp for a few weeks while the seeds germinate. Water daily and possibly twice daily (unless it’s raining) until the new grass is about two inches high. You should also fertilize with our Veri-Green Starter Fertilizer for Seeding & Sodding to get your new grass plantings off to a fast start.

Look no further than Jonathan Green for information about when to overseed your lawn in Connecticut and how to get the very best results. Visit us online or find your nearest independent retail store where you can find excellent lawn care advice.

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