My wife and I recently finished the construction of our home, and didn't have any landscaping done...we wanted to do that ourselves
The land was farmland, but when we built the house, we used a huge bull-dozer...I was guessing that the weight compacted the ground so much that nothing would grow...
We seeded it around May...nothing grew...
I soaked the ground, seeded, and threw straw on top of it...nothing grew...

Needless to say, I need some advice on the best way to get this grass seed to grow.

I had heard that September is the best time to sew grass...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
J

The best advise that I have is to take a sample of your soil to your local agricultural exchange, have them test it to see what PH it is. They will be able to tell you what additives it needs.

Good luck...we live in a very shady area, and we have decided that we LOVE moss.

Yes moss is fine indeed, it does not grow quite like grass.

Take Michelles advice it's waht she does for a living, allthough farm land should produce grass, and there are other ways of getting grass to grow, ready lawn or instant grass, or a top soil coat before you put your seed down is always an option.

Ours is farmland...tree's to the side and rear of the property. The parts in question that aren't growing grass are where the loader was rolling for over 6 months...so we thought maybe the ground was too compacted for the seed to take root.

Where would I find my local agricultural exchange? Does that mean go to Tractor Supply, local store, or some government building?

Put turf down that should solve your problems.

It may be in your Yellow Pages, if not, a local conservation group, or a nursery should be able to direct you, or charge you a slight fee for the soil test. Ours is based out of a local college.

edit, It may be very possible that you don't need any additives, but that the soil was too compacted to sow the seed. In that case all you need to do is rent a tiller.

plutonium makes things grow fast. omg!

Saw tis on the discovery channel. YES!
here it is:

man put plutonium on farm. GIANT VEGETABLES! omg!
its wicked.

Tomacco?

I have a small garden tiller, other than time consumption, would that work? If so, how deep should I go with the tiller?

Would tilling then fertilizing do any good?

omg. wait. its coming back to me now.

crap.
I don't remember if it was discovery or fox. is not matter. is still very interesting. YES.

You said it used to be farm land, so it would depend on what crop was grown as to what nutrients you need. Whatever it needs would need to be tilled in, not added later. A few inches would be all it would take, so your garden tiller should be fine.

Looks like I'm heading to town tomorrow...
How much dirt do I need to bring with me?

hey, jayrob. i sure u can get it gRowing. just use %100 Plutonium.
is sure thing! Yes!

oh, but once ur farm gets big, you need to keep EYEs out for crop circles and UFOs!

and if u have kids, don't get pets cuz animals usually die when a ufo comes. hmm.

well, I dunno. maybe the plutonium will keep away the aliens. YES! and if you have farm with ox, watch out for coyote!

But you do what you think is best jay.

water it coke and see what happens

If you live where I do A LOT. We have Georgia Tennessee red clay around here and it can be a bear. It probably won't be so bad for you. Just a little bit of additives.

edit:You don't need but a small sample to take to have the PH tested.

Thanks for the tips! I'll let ya' know how it turns out.

It doesn't matter if you till the ground. It doesn't matter if you soak the ground. It doesn't matter really what you do as long as you:

Keep the seed wet until it germinates. That is the key to growing grass seed. Albeit you are a wee bit early. Mid September is the best for Texas perhaps the first for Ohio. What you want is to get it germinated before the cold sets in. The longer in the season you wait, the harder it will be to germinate and once it starts freezing..forget it.

If you are watering by hand, I suggest a wave type sprinkler with some sort of timing device (availabe at Home Depot and Lowes). If you have a lawn irrigation system then it should be fairly easy....if not just do small areas at a time. If you don't keep the seed wet, it will take forever to germinate. If you keep the seed wet it will take between three to seven days. Then just water it once a day until it roots. In order to keep the seed wet you should water it every two or three hours for just a few minutes. It also helps if you till the ground so the seed has something to grow into...but the main thing is to keep it wet. The wetter the better. But not so much that it floats away.

Thanks
I'll give it a try.
I was also thinking of after tilling the ground, mix in some fertilizer with the seed. Will this help or hurt?

The fertilizer will probably burn the new sprouts. I wouldn't recommend it.

Soak the grass seeds in beer overnight before planting.

Seriously.

It doesn't have to be expensive, but don't use the cheapest beer. I've been told Miller or Bud works well.

The yeast helps break down the seed shell, and it stimulates growth in the embryotic plant. As weird as it sounds, it does work well.

Just be sure to rinse the seeds after so they don't grow mold.

Otherwise, if there's a lot of clay in the soil, once it's compacted, you'll have to till it before growing anything.

You know the funny part...I'll try it

i've heard that beer is good for this kinda stuff as well. so long as you don't by a carton of beer and go: "one for me.... one for the grass.... one for me..... one for the grass...etc"

Well there goes that idea...

i wonder if the grass would taste like beer.......

Can I watch it grow? I have some time on my hands

^ you could tell me if it tastes like beer as well, if you'd like

hold, I'll get right back to you on that one. *chews on lawn* hmm

[quote]
It doesn't have to be expensive, but don't use the cheapest beer. I've been told Miller or Bud works well.

The yeast helps break down the seed shell, and it stimulates growth in the embryotic plant. As weird as it sounds, it does work well.

Just be sure to rinse the seeds after so they don't grow mold.

Otherwise, if there's a lot of clay in the soil, once it's compacted, you'll have to till it before growing anything.

[/quote]

You know the funny part...I'll try it

[/quote]

Hmmmm..... there has been many times drunken retarts have spilled tons of beer all over my grass, due to keg parties and so on.... and I dont notice anything.... oh wait... it must be that good grass he was refering to..... ok... havent touched that stuff in years......

Oh yeah now I remember.... I drank heavy and had the good grass....yeah yeah ......