Now that's a new method of winter sowing or should I say sowing in winter. Congratz on you grass.

I've done this and it works like a charm! Because it's after autumn anyone should be able to get grass seed at a discounted price> I don't have a spreader so I take a coffee cn and punch several holes into the lid, put in the grass seed and put on the lid and use it like a giant shaker and walk up and down on the lawn shaking the can. A seeder does it much better, but the coffee-can shaker works okay enough that you get the seed scattered where you want it. You do need to pay attention that you don't shake seeds into your flower beds, but if you stay a good distance from them it's unlikly to get much grass seeds onto their tops.

T

my dad always did that too,however, i was lead to believe it can be a problem when you put down pre-emergence stuff for crabgrass etc. in the spring ... and nothing at all germinates for a certain amount of time after that ... no?

i would really be interested in knowing, cuz i have to reseed the lawn this year too! ... what say you?

thanks, phyl

Phyl - you're correct. 'Weed and Feed', applied in the Spring (in this particular scenario), can either halt seed germination or burn new grass (lesson learned, heavy sigh).

But gardening teaches us patience, right? ;)

Ilsa

Phy/ilsa, that is a good point, it says right on the label of W&F NOT to put on new grass!
This is how I look at it, if you have good grass bed it stops a lot of the crab grass and other weed types from getting established.
However if you have crab grass really bad then it would make a lot of sense to get rid of it first before planting good grass seed (expensive stuff). If the crab grass is really, REALLY bad you should consider killing it all and replanting the lawn. Up front this sounds expensive but in the long run it would probably be cheaper, especially if you can do the work yourself and have the equipment.

((Then one day I started thinking of when I was a kid (about 13 I think, my father told me we were going to get the yard ready to plant grass seed! It was January! The next morning we /dad dragged this thing (by horse) called a "hair" (spelling?) I think. It was a metal thing about 6 or 7 feet by maybe 4 feet with iron spikes sticking out of it! all over the yard (BIG yard) and then that was it.))

The machine was probably a Harrow--or spring tooth

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:457302}}

Oh, wow! Never thought of it like that!
As if my neighbors don't think I'm crazy enough as it is...!

changeling, That sounds like a great method to sow grass seed. If only I had known that some years back when we planted grass here, I think it would have been better. You asked about the spelling of that metal thing that your dad used years ago to drag around the yard. It's called a harrow. I suppose most people these days pull them with tractors. I don't envy the farmers with the drought we had this year. :-O

I have a very small yard in the front so I really wanted it to look better because this year it was at least 30% crabgrass so I asked around on some other forums and they suggested that I spread some compost or CM on the lawn and then throw the seed on top of that in the fall. Well this fall I bought about 10 bags of cow manure (as I said it's a small yard) and spread it right on top of the lawn and then put the seed on top of that. Well I didn't expect to see any results until this spring but wow much to my surprise I'm getting lots of little sprouts already! So I would think if it continues to at this pace I should have a much better looking yard next year. I still have some areas that I'd like to do so I wonder if I could combine these 2 methods and spread the CM and put the seed on it just before our next snow and get some good results?

Strouper

strouper2 that cow manure is not a very good idea. The manure is absolutely full of grass and weed seed (undsireable kind). Thats why people don't just through it on there yard for fertilizer because you can get the stuff free from about any farmer. If it's CM that has been sterilized you are probably OK though.

As for my method of before a snow, it is the best way to over seed an established yard I have seen short of having someone hydro seed it, which isn't cheap.

Changeling

i would think purchased cow manure in a bag has seen some time and heat and composting. Wouldn't any seeds be destroyed?