Hello everyone, I'm new to lawn care so any advice is greatly appreciated.
My family and I moved into a new home in St. Louis, MO this past October. Our bermuda sod was installed late september last year and it took pretty well throughout the yard despite our yard being very dense clay.
Since we didn't have any lanscaping at all, we installed a concrete patio and a few small retaining walls around the house to plant flowers. After the construction was finished I put 13 yards of compost/top soil in the flower beds and spread the rest over the yard. With all the construction and foot traffic, the yard is looking pretty thin and beat up.
In addition, my neighbor is also a lawn newbie and cut his lawn at his mower's lowest setting all season long. Despite his paying for weed and fertilizer services, his weeds and lawn disease has started creeping into my yard. He's since started cutting higher and we believe we have the diseases under control. So brighter days should be ahead.
Now that fall is around the corner, I'm preparing to overseed the entire lawn to bring back the luster and thicken it up a bit. We purchased a blend of Rhambler, Faith, and Firecracker LS tall fescue grass. Before I put it down, I'd just like to make sure I'm not missing anything.
- Scalp lawn (Cut twice reducing to lowest setting possible.)
- Aerate (3 passes in different directions.)
- Spread compost about 1/2" thick over entire lawn.
- Spread starter fertilizer
- Spread seed
- Roll yard to ensure soil to seed contact.
- Water light and frequent
- Begin mowing as new grass reaches about 3"
I'm trying to get my soil ecosystem on the right track and farther away from chemical dependencies. Are there any steps, tips, ideas that I might include when overseeding?