Well Mr. King, I too am over-seeding parts of my lawn this fall. I intend to core aerate, drop and broadcast seed, top-dress with compost, fertilize and water until new growth is established. I would suggest that plan for you as well. Bedazzeled and Midnight IIshould work real well with Best O the Blues. A good late fall feeding and next Spring you will have a great lawn. Good luck with you Autumn project.

I think you're missing the obvious. No offense intended, but that's the way it is.

You have managed to overseed, or kill and re-seed. Great. You have already surpassed 'very good' and have far out paced the 'average' lawn owner. Very much surpassed.

But if you have those cultivars sprouted, growing, and a year old, the only problem you are likely to have is FERTILITY.

You don't have enough fertilizer down. That KBG is not agressive, not dark green, not spreading out, but instead is just barely holding it's own?

What kind of sod farm are you?

Could you really imagine yourself as a sod farm? "Hey, we're gonna get this seed to sprout, we're gonna keep it from dying, when it's a half inch tall, we're gonna get it tall enough to mow, and we're gonna have it spread out, be aggressive, choke weeds, and be very very dark green, and fill in any weak spots."

Serious?

Sod farms do it EVERY year. Dry year? Sod is grown, spreads out, and is ready to cut, by August. Wet year? Same thing.

The weeds don't stand a chance. The crap grass doesn't stand a chance. That KBG is gonna spread, baby, spread.

Because we add Milorganite, or some other mild fertilizer, (probably sewage based), about every two or three weeks.

But you're not doing that. No. You've added the bare minimum of fertilizer, and your grass (hey, you've already done all the work....) is just barely hanging on.

Give that lawn two shots of Milorganite, in the next thirty days. Turn your operation into a sod farm.

Let us know what's different, a month from now. My guess is, it will be a lot.

A first year lawn can require up to 50% more fertilizer input than an established one. If you haven't been doing that, then Philes is right. Unless you have patchy areas that did not get established, I would question why your new kbg lawn isn't thick. I would guess that most newly seeded KBG lawns do NOT need overseeding the following year. Certainly in many parts of the country, it has been a very dry, but hopefully you have been watering--new lawns do not have a deep root structure. Regular routine mowing is also important for tillering. Your soil also may be compacted and in need of core aeration.

Philes you maybe right, I've been deployed for the last 6 mos. so I haven't had the time to take care of the lawn like I wanted and I didn't want to burden the wife. It didn't get maintained like I wanted. I also have a spot were my builder had to fix my walk way and tore up a big piece of my lawn. I thought reseeded would continue with getting my lawn thicker.

You are undoubtedly in a better position than me to diagnose those 'bare' spots, because you're standing there looking at it.

But put a dose of Milorganite down this weekend. Over the whole thing, bare spots and all. If you decide to seed to fill in a spot or two, well, do it.

But three weeks from now, you're going to put down another dose of Milorganite. Doesn't matter if it's hot weather, Milorganite won't burn the lawn.

But in the fall, you're going to put down a big-first-number fertilizer. Milorganite's 6-2-0 can't compete with a first number of 19, or 25, or 30. You can't put down a big-first-number fertilizer in the summer heat. But in the fall, that's what's needed. Nitrogen, baby, nitrogen.

Thanks for serving our country.

As a little thank-you, our group is gonna kick your lawn in shape. Sgt. King, UP AND AT 'EM. Where's that Milorganite?

Philes thanks again for the help, I have to bug you with one more question. Next year what schedule would I use with the Milorganite? Even though my lawn isn't in the best of shape, it beats the heck out of looking at sand for the last 6 mos.

Sand? Did somebody say 'sand'?

Let's back up a tad: let us know what part of what state you are located in.

But assuming KBG will grow in your area, you want your biggest application of nitrogen to be in the fall. That's when you put the big-first-number fertilizer down. If you fertilize in the spring, which I recommend doing, use Milorganite. So the schedule is Fall, with a big number, then May, June, (skip July) and August.

Sand...as in the stuff the Middle East is covered in, that's what I've been looking at for the last 6 mos. Only fertilizer that I could find though was Espoma, so I used that. I still plan on reseeding, if I use a broadcast seeder than cover with compost I believe I should be good. I didn't want to use a slit seeder because it may tear of the lawn. What do you think?

Works for me. If you cover the seed with compost, make it a very thin (half inch or less) layer.