Question
Hi Kenneth:
I live in Detroit,MI and I have kentucky bluegrass . I just recently put down fetilizer to help my lawn. I am trying to get my lawn to be nice and thick. I wanted to know would some scotts lawn soil help? I have lived in this home for over 20 years and never added anything to the lawn. The lawn is not bad but its not thick. I have even tryed to add seeds to the lawn . but every year it looks the same. please can you give me some helpful tips.

Marcia

Answer
If you are going to topdress, then I recommend compost. Spread a 1/2" layer over the surface of the lawn. Compost can be purchased in bags (like gardensoil) or usually available for free or for a nominel fee at county recycling centers. Personally I question the effectiveness of topdressings, but some people swear by it.

I recommend following plan to thicken up the lawn:
- core aerate the lawn once per year (early fall preferably)
(you can rent core aerators at equipment rental stores or have a landsaper do it).
- spread grass seeds containing high percentage (or 100%) perennial ryegrass after core aerating. Apply thickly. Make sure you buy a brand which has same basic color as your KGB (e.g. typically dark green. Normally you differentiate between light green, medium green and dark green).You can also sow seeds in spring, but fall is a much better time.
- fertilize once in late spring (May) and then again in september and early november. Avoid fertilizing too early in spring and during hot summer months. I prefer to postpone fertilizing from april to late May. Don't forget the early november application even if the grass is no longer growing (it is actually the whole point).
- mow the lawn frequently and mow tall. Avoid cutting the grass too low (scalping) and try to cut it frequently so that you never have to remove more than 1/3 of the length of the grass (golden rule). That means mowing once every 1-2 weeks in summer and at least once per week in late spring and early fall.
- rake fallen leaves promptly in fall.

When establishing new grass (overseeding) keep the seedbed slightly damp by watering frequently (daily) until new grass is up and growing well. The normal watering pattern for a lawn is infrequent and deeply (such as once per week for 2 hours rather than 15 minutes every morning). This makes for a better lawn. During seed establishment, however, change the watering patterns around and water shallowly and frequently (10 minutes twice per day) as to keep the soil consistently moist (must not dry out) until the grass is well established. Then gradually over the next 2-3 weeks start to increase the time between watering and the amount of water you apply. The goal after 4 weeks is to be watering infrequently and deeply again.

Note: it helps to rough up bare spots before seeding. You can mix some gardensoil (bagged) or compost into these bare spots to avoid the soil dries out too quickly.