Labor Day is the time to aerate and overseed your lawn with grass seed. This gives the grass seed time to germinate and get well established before frost and freezing temperature hits and otherwise puts the seed into dormancy. With the dry summer in WNC, there’re some extra precautions to enable your grass seed to germinate. Without water, the seeds will die.
Watering recommendations for Lawns
We recommend giving your lawn a drink at approximately one inch of water a week. To measure this, set several cups out in the area you are watering and watch how long it takes to fill up 1 inch. Use that as a measured time to water.
Grass Seed Germination Time
Seed takes between 10-14 days for tall fescue and shade blends to germinate. The soil surface must stay moist at all times but not sopping wet. If the soil dries out, the grass seed will die. A gentle stream (not hard blasts) will keep the seed in place. If the grass seeds move or float away, then back off on the amount of pressure that’s applied and or length of time watered. Several times a day might be appropriate with the summer heat still lingering. Seeds will not sprout all at once because some may be buried at different depths and absorb water differently since you may have a blend in your yard of sun and shade. Just remember to keep the surface area constantly moist for all the seeds to germinate. Until the planted area is showing lots of new green growth, keeping watering.
Grass Seed & Automatic Timers
We recommend setting automatic timers for 5-10 minutes, early in the morning and again at mid-day. If you are watering by hand, it must be 
consistently applied and use the light rain gauge on your spout handle.
Watering the grass can be a tedious task, but before long the lawn will be lush and green. Scheduled fertilization for the soil health will also give your lawn the added nutrients need for a healthy root system. We have a four and a seven system program that we offer in addition to the aeration, dethatching and overseeding. Call us today for more information. 828.774.1590
May your grass be greener on your side of the fence!
