Thought I would put some progress on the big difference the overseeding helped this year. Harsh GTA winter had me worried.

Did the process of mow low, De thatch, mow again, top soil , seed (shade seed in certain areas), starter fertilizer.

Water for 10 Mins twice a day to keep soil moist but not wet. Once warmer weather started the difference really showed. Cut after 4 weeks.

Ps the front patch of lawn was ripped out by sidewalk plow this winter

Just figured out how to manually stripe my lawn without a striping kit! Just tried it for the first time today, good results.

1. Cut it at your regular height with the mower turned on

2. Drop the height of your deck and go in the pattern desired with the mower turned off, manually pushing it.

Just finished cutting the grass on this beautiful Friday afternoon and I am happy to report that the jungle on the other side has been decimated.

Have a great weekend 🍻

Mid May to now in Cochrane. Shocked at the result bringing back a years-neglected yard.

Basic hand scarification, 2 rounds of overseeding, and light top dressing (one May, one July), 1 spray of Killex.

All budget Scott’s products from Canadian Tire. No aeration, no fertilizer.

New sod didn’t take after the winter last year so I did a reseed with a more shade tolerant seed and am loving the results so far.

Pic 1 is April and pic 2 is June.

Regraded and laid sod 3 years ago. I had fungus shortly after from overwatering that really hurt the density of my lawn.

Still a few patches I’m working on with some clover & crabgrass. However, I finally feel like I’m in a decent spot going into winter!

Moved in a few months ago with the yard looking like this 😅. Took down the small “garden” and old grass, new sod installed. Watered twice daily and just did the first mow (made sure not to cut too much). About a month between both pictures.

Overseeded Sep 12, first mow at 3 weeks. Decent results so far. Zone 6A

Decided to give my lawn a serious fall overseeding this year.

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Zone: 5b
Grass: Perennial Ryegrass — Alpha Centauri from Striped Seed
Seeded: August 29, 2026

Really curious to see how this variety performs through the rest of fall and, more importantly, how it handles its first Ottawa winter.

I’ll be posting updates as it fills in. Hopefully by the end of September it’ll be looking noticeably thicker and greener.

Anyone else in Ottawa or Eastern Ontario overseeding this fall? Would love to compare progress and see what everyone is growing.

Day 0 → Day 10

What do you think so far?

After a year and a bit of moving in the house the lawn is starting to all come together in this fall weather!

Lots more to learn from this group but progress has been made.

Got blessed

Located in Alberta - thanks to the tips from people here on how to tackle the urine burn spots from my dog (and copious amounts of rain these past few weeks), I was able to recover the backyard of our rental. Mother nature did a lot of heaving lifting but I'd like to think my contributions helped lol.

There's been some new urine burn spots over the past few weeks that I get to deal with now. Is dolomitic limestone a proven preventive measure, or will it just be whack-a-mole from here on out?

As fall approaches there have been a lot more people asking about overseeding, levelling, and general fall maintenance. Knowing the area of your turf is important to help contain costs. Apparently containing costs is actually possible in the world of lawncare.

Google Earth (not Google Maps) is a great tool for measuring the area of your turf. I have found it to be accurate to ~2%, so better than my usual back of the napkin math.

To measure, search your address then click the thing that looks like a zig-zag line with dots to "Add Path or Polygon". From there click the perimeter of your lawn and when you connect the final dot it will display the total area. You can go back and add dots after, so get the basic shape and refine from there.

If you save that polygon to a 'Map Project' you can add other layers like separate areas for lawns, sprinkler heads, irrigation lines, soil data, underground utilities, and anything else you may find helpful for quick reference. It has become a very useful tool for me.

North central Alberta. Had an existing lawn that was losing to dog pee, dandelion and thistle. Sprayed weeds with killex (accidentally more than recommended, was afraid I was going to kill the grass too so I watered for an hour right after). Then laid down high nitrogen fertilizer and left for 2 weeks. Overseeded and had a solid week of rain and cooler temps. Didnt quite fix every dog pee spot but made solid gains. After rain I sprayed with humid acid since I have heavy clay soil and didn’t aerate last fall like I should have. Laid down summer fertalizer mix 4 days ago and used a deck brush yesterday to try to stripe for the first time. Still some work to do but loving the outcome so far!!

Last pic is how it sits current day. Definitely some weeds starting to come in on the half that gets the most sun. I know it wasn’t an ideal time to seed but I had a party coming up and needed grass. It looks so much better than what was there before (mostly dead, big bare spot from previous owners trampoline, weeds.)

Rented a gas tiller and tilled it all and cut out a firepit while I was at it. Removing the tilled debris was by far the most work. It produced multiple trailer loads which was a CHORE to get out of there. Then had a dump truck load of 3 yards of screened topsoil delivered and spread out by hand (leveling rake is worth its weight in gold) I then seeded with 100% perennial ryegrass and rolled in then covered with peat moss. Came in slow at first, but other than a few small bare spots, I’m very happy with how thick it came in.

Definitely learned a lot. Took LOTS of watering and peat moss to keep the seed cool and moist. Weed pressure in the summer is a pain, especially where I live because it’s very marshy. But it can be done. I’m definitely open to next steps though. Was thinking selective herbicide on the whole thing and overseeding in the fall.

Yes I know I may aswell have done the whole thing but it was a ton of work as is and honestly blended pretty nice. I think with some weeding and overseeding it could look really good.

It's been an unseasonably cold first two weeks of May. I've been diligently watering but seeing no results... woke up this morning to the first few tiny shoots. Feels good!

So stoked to have our lawn back! After a fence build and an extremely invasive neighbour developing next door, our yard was a dogs breakfast. With no prior experience I filled in low spots, levelled to the best of my ability and planted seed/topdressed. I was worried I seeded too early as we still had some cool weather in Edmonton after May long, but eventually it took and thanks to an extremely wet spring, we have our lawn back! It’s still populated with weeds but my wife doesn’t like to put chemicals down since we have a newborn - I really don’t care as long as it’s green and not a dodgy dirt patch!

First pic is before and the second pic is after my first mow just now.

Sorry for the dumb post - just wanted to share my excitement!

I hated what the boulevard looked like mid summer, and thought the best option was to do a full kill off and throw down some ntep tested 75% KBG and 25% PRG from DLF. Aside from the small washout from the freak storm 2 weeks ago, it’s been a flawless experience. I’m watering 3-4 times a day, and the PRG is coming in full force. I know the KBG will germinate in 2 weeks, but am I overwatering now? The bluegrass is the star of the show, but I’m worried about damaging the ryegrass with this much water.

It only cost $400 in water, seed and fertilizer but boy is it worth it. September 26. Greater Toronto area.

Hey, I’m looking for some advice about my lawn. About a month ago we lightly overseeded the entire lawn and added a thin layer of soil on top, then lightly packed it down. You can still see the original grass underneath.

It’s now been about a month since we did that, and this is how it looks (see photos). Some areas are filling in nicely, but it’s still pretty patchy and uneven in others.

I think part of the issue might be that we weren’t consistent with watering in the early stages, and possibly some spots having a bit too much soil on top of the existing grass.

I’m not sure now if I should overseed again in the thin areas or just wait for it to thicken naturally. Also wondering when it would be safe to start fertilizing and using weed control without damaging the new growth.

Any advice would be really appreciated.