I had a lot of bare spots in my uneven lawn so I hired a guy to spread a yard of topsoil and seed. The problem was he never showed up so I finally gave up and got another guy. Now I'm afraid it was too late in the season because I think grass seed likes 70-80 degree weather to germinate.
Does anybody have advice on getting something to grow quickly in the fall?
Some good suggestions here. Keeping it simple:
What are you planting? Perennial ryegrass- 7 days germination- ideal conditions
All fine fescues - 14 days ( creeping red, chewings, hard sheeps etc)
Tall fescue - 14 days
kentucky bluegrass - 28 days
Best to plant early September to allow germination and SOME fill in. Warm soil in the fall vs spring. But you can get results with a fall start this time of year. ( don't forget you are losing day length which in many cases is more important than air temp )
Get it started keep it moist. Seed is like a hotdog cooking. It plumps. When it absorbs water it plumps which starts the germination process. If it dries it can kill the seed.
Get some germination this fall. It will look like its been through chemo. The plant will stool over winter and be ready to explode in the spring. In PA you may run into snow mold problems etc but whatever you are planting get it started this Saturday around 7:30 pm!
Note: you may want to use a blend of perennial, fine fescue and kty blue. Packages go by weight but seed count per pound is the difference. ie) kty blue can have 1.2 to 2 million seeds per pound, perennial 300,000, fine fescue 550,000.
Perennial germs first but the others will give you more durability.
Good luck!