The Grass Doctor

Need to reseed my entire lawn and kill crabgrass... lots of questions?

Hi, My entire lawn has been overrun by crabgrass. I've gotten two quotes on redoing it for $1000 and $2000 respectively. I think I can do it myself, though. My gameplan is to kill everything using roundup. Then wait 2 weeks, mow very very low, rake and throw down lime, starter fertilizer and a hybrid seed. Water twice a day for 15 minutes at a time for 7-10 days, and then twice a week for 30 minutes at a time until the first frost. I live in Westchester NY, about 20 minutes from NYC (so you get a sense of my climate). Figure I will kill the lawn this weekend (the 20th) and reseed Oct 4th. By mid Oct I should have grass and hopefully it will continue to strengthen into mid-Nov. My questions are: I see lots of people using peet moss. Do I need to use it for something? What about top soil? When would I use that? Same thing with hay. Can I just leave the dead crabgrass that doesn't get raked up or mowed? Or do I need to dig it completely out? If I do what I initially wrote, do I need to even worry about peet moss, topsoil or hay?

Public Comments

1. find someone with a rota tiller, till your yard, and use a fertilizer-seed covered in a thin layer of top soil to protect the seed from wind. And water as planned, just be sure your not causing puddles