I live in northern New Jersey and love a lush green lawn! I only use Scotts products for lawn care. I use their Weed and Feed fertilizer in early spring and late fall. When we mow, we always use the lawnmower mulcher that grinds the grass clippings that get returned to the lawn. I use Scotts Ezseed Patch and Repair, for any bare spots; I use this in the beginning of September. Whenever you plant seed, you must keep the seeded area watered / damp. These actions keep my lawn looking good! Look at Scotts website: lots of information there for lawn care. Best of luck in your journey to a beautiful lawn!

First, your timing is just about dead on!! Now is an ideal time to seed for new patches of lawn or to overseed. Second - and probably more importantly - you need to identify the type of grass you are growing. What you seed with should be the same or very similar to what you already have growing so that the overall look of the lawn is consistent. Taking a sample plug into your extension service office for ID can help with that.

I am not very familiar with zoysia as other than in the South, it has a very limited area of suitability. But I do know most zoysia lawns are planted from plugs or sodded, not grow from seed. Zoysia seed IS available but it may not match or be compatible with what you have. Again, the extension service will help with that. Your local extension service should be your go-to for any lawn care questions. Penn State has published various handouts that outline the best lawn care practices for your area.....here is just one to get you started: https://extension.psu.edu/lawn-management-through-the-seasons

Finally, Scotts is about the worst purveyor of lawn care products you could choose! They are expensive, they recommend far too frequent applications of both chemical based fertilizers and herbicides and they are environmentally unfriendly, especially any weed and feed products. Remember, this is the same company that supplies Round Up!!

gg, did Scott's buy RU from Monsanto? It would not surprise me, as they seem to have bought up everyone else.

Lawn care is not nearly as complicated as Scott's would have you believe. You probably have a county agriculture extension agent as an outreach program from Penn State. If you take a 5x5 inch plug of grass to them they can ID the grass you have. Zoysia would be unusual, but not impossible. Does it all turn brown in the winter? Does any of it remain green? Most lawns in the north have fescue, rye, and/or Kentucky bluegrass. Many people read the ad for Zoysia in Parade magazine and buy that, so your county agent can clear that up for you. Once zoysia becomes established it is very difficult to get rid of, so I'm thinking you don't have that. As with other sod forming grasses, zoysia spreads to fill and never looks thin.

What is the cause of the big hole in your yard? It looks like there was a swimming pool there. Is the area perfectly level across and into the lawn? If not then the first thing to do is to level it. Otherwise you'll hate yourself forever for not doing that when it's easy. Leveling involves moving soil from high spots to low spots and removing soil if you start making mounds of high spots. You might need more topsoil, but I would warn that is almost always unnecessary. You don't want to create a low spot that holds water.

dchall, Scott's did not buy/does not own Monsanto but they did enter into a 1999 marketing agreement whereby they hold the exclusive right to sell all consumer RU products in the US, Canada, the UK, France and a few other countries. Scott's is the bad boy of the horticultural world, promoting the brands serious gardeners love to hate - Ortho, Miracle Gro, RoundUp, etc.

...Vigoro...the list goes on. Thanks. I buy the generic concentrated stuff about once every 5 years.