Fescue germinates fast enough that I would lightly rake up any hay that is completely covering the ground, and overseed. There's no reason to remove everything you've already done since you mentioned the decent amount of grass coming up.

In my personal case of overseeding last year with a fescue blend I had great results with freezing and thawing my seed prior to putting on the lawn. I'd have to dig up my old thread but I think I had germination in something like 3-4 days.

Whatever you do, get new seed down ASAP. I'd love to be in your situation right now. I'm in the same situation (spotty due to all the rain), but I'm planting KGB, and I just don't have the 2-3 weeks to wait JUST for germination.

Goodluck.

Thanks so much for responding enigma. Two quick clarifications if you don't mind.

#1- In your opinnion, when raking like you suggest, should I be sure to rake up even the hay that has kinda become part of the soil at this point? What I mean is, there's kind of two layers of hay. One on the surface that a light rake can get, and another that's embedded in the soil. Raking the second layer (which isn't ridiculously thick btw) would allow complete soil contact for the new seed, but requires more elbow grease and comes at the expense of removing some of the already germinating grass (but not all).

#2- I've heard of this freezing/thawing process before. Just freeze the seed overnight, thaw for 5 hours and disperse seed? Or do I throw it down frozen and let it thaw on the ground?

Finally, I have a roller. Would you suggest using that in my situation? Perhaps if I only rake the top layer of hay and not the second, I could roll? Anyhow, thanks so much for your response. Very helpful!

#1, I would not mess with the hay that has become embedding in the soil. As you said it would probably destroy a good bit of the germinated seed as it doesn't take much to rip up or knock over the seedlings. You're kind of in a pickle; no matter what you do you are either going to damage existing seedlings, or have a poor overseeding. I would definitely recommend trying your best to AVOID damaging the new seedlings at the expense of putting down the new seed so the less prep the better. And that includes limiting your walking to the bare minimum!

#2, Freeze for a couple hours (or overnight), let thaw to room temperature in the seed bag (or other closed bag), and then apply as you normally would. It is very important to thaw keeping the seed away from constant air flow as moisture will build up and make the seed hard to spred (think of a cold glass of water on a warm day). If you can get away with not walking much on the lawn that would be preferrable, but I know it's difficult depending on the dimensions. They sell small broadcast spreaders that you operate by hand that would be perfect if you have a narrow lawn. If just patchy in a couple places you could seed by hand.

Again because of your situation a roller would not be advisable. You have to sacrifice great seed/soil contact for the good of the existing grass. I would at the minimum water the area well a couple times to at least get the seed somewhat in contact with the soil, and if it's feasable to maybe put a VERY thin layer of something like peat moss down before watering in (which is extremely fine and easy to spread thinly when dry).

Goodluck

This is great advice. More than anything, I'm pumped that you seem to understand the "pickle" I'm in. :)

BTW, I went back and read about your KBG situation. There was a long thread on that which had some helpful things in there. How did that turn out?

Thanks again!

Not so great. I'm in PA and we had some really bad soaking rains for the month before I seeded. That started me VERY late for KGB in my zone and so I'm up against the frost date (still lucky so far). We got more big rains after seeding, which caused all of the worms (I was organic prior to this seeding) to come to the surface and all of the birds in the area to flock to and tear up my mudpit. The rains washed a lot of the seed and soil away. So my overall germination rate was very poor and I've got some extremely bare spots all over the yard. But I'm stuck because there is no time to reseed, and I'd like to avoid using another seed (rye/fescue).

So I'm going to try to weather the winter using a combination of anti-rain/frost dance and if needed use some form of erosion-retainer (straw/netting) if it doesn't fill in a bit.

Good news for me is KGB will creep and fill in, but I think it's a bit much to ask a single blade to fill in a foot section over the winter. :)

Eww. That's a tough situation, and very similar to what I'm dealing with. I'm in Georgia so have a bit more time on my side, but since fescue doesn't spread...maybe we're even. :)

Good luck and thanks for your help.

:) You shouldn't have a problem unless we get a freak frost. I actually planted some of my left over fescue that I found in the fridge the other day. We lost a bit of soil on a slope at the back of the house during the heavy rains and I forgot to reseed this area until 2 days ago. It's only a small area and so I did it by hand and then covered with a very fine layer of compost, then patted down. This may not make it since it's so late but I don't really care. It was worth the shot and I'll be able to tell exactly how many days from seed to sprout. Here's hoping it's 3. :)

To follow-up, I tackled the job late yesterday into the evening, and I'm really pleased and optimistic about the results. First off, I put my bag of fescue in the freezer for about 2.5 hours then let it defrost for about the same. Hopefully that was long enough on each end.

Our 10 day forecast still shows no risk of a frost which is really good. I was able to successfully rake the vast majority of the hay while still retaining most of the grass. After a moderate seeding and light watering, I spread some peat moss like you suggested.

Last night and basically all day today we've had this wonderful misting rain that is probably exactly what the seed wants. Your last couple a posts were a good reminder that germinating seed doesn't like to be walked on, which I needed to hear again. Thanks so much for your help. I was kinda freaking myself out and all your advice got me back on track.