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[Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to lawn care. I'd rather have goats mow my lawn for me and would prefer having native, low maintenance, drought tolerant plants.]

I recently moved into a newly constructed house. Of course, during construction, the backyard became pretty chewed up (i.e., lots of mud). Over the past few days, we had warm weather and the snow and ice began melting. Because I have dogs, I chose to buy several bales of straw to lay down on top of the mud. While I was at it, I decided that I'd put out some bluegrass seed before laying down the straw.

Because this is Montana, there is 100% probability that the temperatures will fluctuate between <32F and >32F for at least several more months with a high probability of continued snow. My question to those in the know is whether or not my tossing out of grass seed was completely useless. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks,

Steve

I used to seed the lawn in late fall/early winter when I lived in Michigan. After the spring thaw, the seed was well established. By Memorial Day, it was healthy, mature grass like the rest of the lawn.

you'll be fine.

you'll still likely want to seed more in the spring.

some nice straw hay each year over the lawn when it gets freezing time might be a good idea?

bloke wrote:There is a product that consists of seed, fertilizer, and pulverized straw. It is blown out over an area with a machine. You might look into it.

I'm pretty cheap (i.e., grad student) and probably couldn't afford that. Besides, three bales of straw and 0.5 bags of seed are already on my "lawn".

Thanks for the tip though.

Steve

bloke wrote:There is a product that consists of seed, fertilizer, and pulverized straw. It is blown out over an area with a machine. You might look into it.

Hydroseeding! we do lots of it at work (a landfill)....it's good for large areas, not cost effective for most backyard areas (less than 1/2 acre)

Do you have nearby a regional office of your state's conservation department, or does one of the state universities have an extension center near you where you can get the best information on what kind of seed and fertilizer to use, and when to plant and apply?

What's a "lawn?" Is that a northern states name for gravel? Gravel is what we got in the desert; it even comes in colors. We seed only rarely as it takes a while for it to get worn out.

MA

SRanney wrote: Because I have dogs,

Steve

Maybe you have broadened your perspective but I never figured you for a dog person.

MaryAnn wrote:What's a "lawn?" Is that a northern states name for gravel? Gravel is what we got in the desert; it even comes in colors. We seed only rarely as it takes a while for it to get worn out.

MA

Do you find RainBird ot Irritrol more effective on your type lawn?

tbn.al wrote:Maybe you have broadened your perspective but I never figured you for a dog person.

Are you kidding? I LOVE dogs! We always had a cat growing up but secretly I always wanted a dog, too. Now we have two (8 year old hound and 1.5 year old border collie mix) and they're fantastic. Plus, the border collie keeps me company while I'm running.

SR