Question
I used a fertilizer/weed killer recently for a heavy crab grass problem. It killed the crab grass in 15 foot diameter area. I removed most of all the dead crabgrass and re-seedeed with some fresh top soil. NOT one blade of grass has sprouted! Now I have a large unsightly DIRT area. How and how long before I can get grass growing there again. Can I apply another layer of top soil and re-seed? Can I get Grass to grow there ths summer, I live in New Jersey. Thanks, Greg.

Answer
Hi Greg;
What was my experience when I was using chemicals, and what I have heard from a lot of other gardeners is, crab grass killers that are not supposed to kill other grass, kills EVERYTHING, grass and all.
If you put top soil on top of that, there will still be the crabgrass killer in the other soil,and when the roots get down to that, if it is still there and has not been leached out, the grass will die.
Are you sure the seeds have had time to germinate and come up?
I would flood the area well, and let it soak through, and do it several times, to try and wash that junk out of the soil.
Water to at least 6 inches each time, wait a few days and water that much again.
What you could do is, water it well, till ot is really soaked at least 6 to 8 inches down, wait a few days for it to drain through, then put in a few grass plugs, and water them in.
Take good care of them, and if in a week, they are still alive, and esp[ecially if the are growing, you could feel safe to put down some more.
It is a little late to seed if you are in the south or southwest, and any other area where it is very hot, and in the colder states, you wouldn;'t have time to get a really good, deep root system built from seed, to weather the grass over the winter.
I would go with sod or grass plugs.
Charlotte