Just spent the better part of a day prepping soil (raked, fertilized, seeded) for a new lawn. What was supposed to be light showers turned into heavy, sustained rain and I suspect much of the seed has washed away.

So, I'm prepared to do it all over again. A few questions:

1) Should I wait to see what germinates and seed accordingly? Or, do I assume a "total loss" and re-rake the yard and re-seed.

2) I had originally added starter fertilizer to the loam prior to seeding. the yard slopes, so I'm pretty sure this has washed away too - but not sure how much. Should I re-fertilize?

3) Next time i do this, I'll put some straw down. How much straw is enough vs. too much?

Thanks

I planted my seed a week before the pain washed it all away so I had some sprouts. And during the week of rain we got the whole area at the base of the hill (which is a driveway for me) started sprouting grass which just proved the seed had washed away! The point? Without anything weighing it down there is a very good chance your seed is gone so reseeding is a good idea in my opinion.

So, of course, I reseeded and it's raining with no end in sight. I am in Reno NV. It NEVER rains this much - let alone in Summer! :) Anyways - I re-fertilized because I could see that the soil I had put down before was also washed away by looking along the base of the hill and seeing the white nodes of vitamins, small pieces of mulched bark, and overall black colored soil. It stands out on my sand! And of course I laid straw as well. I laid just enough to cover the ground - with about half an inch more at the top 6 feet of the slope because I wanted to weigh it down more up there. Then I got wood stakes (the ones used to tack down sod while it takes root) and put stakes in ever square foot to keep the straw from sliding down. It's been 4 days of rain and everything has stayed put:)

Good luck!