Where are you located? Does the area receive full sun? Ideally you would want a good soil test before seeding to determine what amendments your soil might need to support a lush green lawn.

I'm located outside of Philadelphia. The area is on the south side of the house and receives full sun.

Here is my soil test from last year:

Philly means cool season grass. The best time to seed a cool season grass in your area is at the end of the summer. I'm sure that's not ideal, since that means no grass this summer around the pool, but that's the truth. You can seed in the spring, but your results will not be as good as the late summer. The issues with a spring seeding are several; weed pressure, heat stress, disease, and drought will all be a factor. It can be done, although you might need to overseed in the fall if you lose a lot of grass. To deal with weeds prior to seeding I would just spray them all with round-up a week before seeding, then mow them as low as possible before seeding. If you want to hand pull them instead, go for it, it's your time. I would also use Tenacity prior to seeding to keep weed pressure low, especially crabgrass. Seeding in spring should be done when soil temps are at or above 55 degrees. In late summer you have a pretty good window but around Sept. 1 is a good time, although thundershowers will be your enemy. If you are going with all Kentucky bluegrass I would seed a bit earlier, with tall fescue or perennial rye you can be a little later. You soil looks pretty good. I would probably put down some calcitic lime at some point, but not right before seeding. Starter fertilizer will raise your K and P levels, which are a bit low, but nothing to really worry about. If you decide to wait till fall, then I would kill the weeds, put down a preemergent, add the lime, and some organic fertilizer/matter, and cover the area with a mulch till you are ready to seed.

I'd love to wait until the fall but thats not going to work unfortunately. I can't have a mud pit throughout spring and summer. We have people over to use the pool and our pup will be covered in mud each time we let him out.

I'm going to have seed this spring and follow up in the fall i guess.

Anything is better than the weed jungle there existing now.

Any other suggestions?

If you are going to do a spring seeding then I would lean towards using perennial rye. It germinates and matures very quickly, making it more prepared for summer's stresses. Tall fescue is pretty quick to germinate, but it takes longer to mature, and will be very susceptible to brown patch this summer due to it's young age. Kentucky bluegrass takes much longer to establish and mature, so I would expect some stand loss as well. Of course if you manage whatever you plant like a golf course super, you can get very good results with a spring seeding, but that would require daily monitoring, a lot of watering, and probably a good fungicide program.
For a spring seeding, I would recommend using Tenacity right before you lay the seed, as it will suppress a lot of weeds such as crabgrass.

Have you thought about sodding the area? It will cost more, but you will have an instant lawn that will probably do better this summer than a lawn established from seed. Just a thought.

I'm open to sodding, although I hadn't really looked into it. The idea of having an "instant" lawn is intriguing although cost is a factor.

I would be concerned about the expenditure for sod if the chances of it surviving weren't great. What kind of prices are we talking about and will it have a good chance at success?

What are the deminsions of this U shape area?

its approx. 1000 sq ft. roughly 6 feet wide by 55 feet long at any given spot

I would call a local sod farm for pricing. Sod should do better than a lawn started from seed this spring. Just be on the lookout for disease, and I would not let it go dormant the first year.

I'm calling around for pricing but at this point I'm about 90% certain we're going for the sod. I've been reading up on installation etc.

What amendments and how much, if any, should be added when we start the prep for the sod?

I've never owned a pool, but is there a chance the pool water is drenching the area and killing the grass? Is it a salt water pool?

Sod will survive because it is already dense and the roots were established last year. Spring seed will not survive for the opposite of the reasons sod will.

There is a current discussion about pools and water on a different lawn forum. It should be okay for regular turf grasses.

What kind of grass will be in the sod?

DO NOT rototill in preparation for the new sod.

This post was edited by dchall_san_antonio on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 16:55