How to Plant Grass Seed

A beautiful lawn starts with a lovely bed of nice green grass. Planting grass seed is a fairly simple process, but there are several steps and precautions that need to be observed to ensure an evenly distributed result.

The first thing you’ll need is a rototiller, which is a machine designed to mix up your soil in preparation for seeding. Rototillers are relatively expensive to buy, so you might choose to rent one from your local home improvement store instead. Because the tiller has a tendency to sling a lot of debris around, you should clear your yard of rocks, and anything that might become a projectile. You should also wear safety goggles and gloves, along with long sleeves and pants. Make sure and till the whole yard evenly to insure good distribution around the property.

The next step is to plant the seed itself. Ideally you would use a device called a broadcast spreader, but these are a bit expensive and a little harder to find at tool rental places. If you don’t have a spreader, you can easily do the job by hand. Make sure and spread the grass around as evenly as you can. After you’re finished planting grass seed, you’ll need to add the fertilizer. Some broadcast spreaders can handle fertilizer as well, or you can do it by hand.

Next, you need to rake the whole area using a heavy duty garden rake. This will cover the seed with dirt, and mix the fertilizer into the soil. As a final touch, you might want to throw a little more grass seed on top, just as a precaution to help insure an even spread.

Now it’s time to water your whole yard. Sprinklers will make this much more effective, but you can also rely on handheld watering if necessary. For the first few weeks, you should water the grass about 3 times a day. This will help give your grass a good solid start.

Follow these steps precisely, and you’ll have a pretty green lawn before you know it.