Fall Seeding: Kentucky Blue Grass - September 2019

I have always tried to put down grass seed in the Spring.  And have had mixed results.  But, the experts tell you - if you're willing to listen - that the best time to seed your lawn is in the Fall.  They say 60-75 days before the first hard frost in your zone is the ideal time to sow seed in bare spots and to overseed the rest of your lawn.  

Why?  Because the soil temperatures are high (70 degrees or so) and the air temperatures are moderate (not too hot, so it won't dry things out). 

This is the first season that I've tried this and I'll tell you:  ummmm...it worked?!?!  

According to this post, our first frost in Zone 5b is right around October 16th.  That means that 45-60 days ahead of that is between the middle and end of August.  That's when I put seed down.  

I used a bag of PURE Kentucky Blue Grass seed.  No other types of grass - and no weeds in the bag per the certification on the bag.  KBG is very slow germinating and my experience this Spring took about 3 weeks to get to germination - which based on this experience - I'm pretty sure has everything to do with soil temperature.  

You can see in the photo at the top, I have some Kentucky Blue Grass seeds that have germinated in short order.  I decided to use the compost from our compost tumbler as the base for this seed - so I'm using all the advantages that I could possibly have:  warm soil temperatures as as pure of a 'base' as I can give the seed in my own home-grown compost.  

I seeded some bare spots in the back and a few small ones in the front.  The photos in this post are both in the back and are (I think....) spots that were created when I dug out the Wild Onion clumps this Spring.