It felt like having my own personal Alcide—yes, a True Blood reference. I kept calling John “Alseed” the whole time he spread seed across our newly leveled backyard. I’m corny like that. He rolled his eyes, but I think he liked it. I tend to prefer tall, dorky, handsome men, so John is even better than Alcide for me (and yes, that’s how his name is spelled; Alseed was just for the pun). But back to the freshly cleared yard — you can read about the earlier phases that led to this in the linked posts from our renovation series.
We get a lot of questions about how we seed, what products we use, and how we spread it, so here’s a clear walkthrough of what we did. First we raked the entire area to loosen the soil and remove acorns and debris. This helps the seed make good contact with the soil and improves germination.
Next we added topsoil to a few spots that weren’t as level as we wanted—areas where we’d removed liriope or dug out weeds. That helped even out the surface and provided a better bed for the seed.
Then John—my resident seed-spreader—got to work. He used a broadcast spreader we bought from Home Depot a few years back. He’s got a casual, almost theatrical way of going about it (see the carefree leg-in-the-air technique).
We used Scott’s Tall Fescue Mix, a blend formulated to perform well in our region, especially in shade. It’s the same seed we used at our first house after clearing and prepping the yard. We seeded not only where we’d recently dug, but also went over the entire backyard to fill in thin or bare patches—this is called overseeding.
Overseeding each fall helps thicken turf naturally, which in turn crowds out weeds so you don’t have to rely on lots of chemicals. A denser lawn is much better at preventing weeds than a thin one, which is why we made sure to cover the whole area evenly.
When seed landed on the brick paths, we simply swept it back into the dirt so we wouldn’t end up with grass shooting up between the bricks. If your broadcaster sprinkles seed where you don’t want it, sweep it into the soil or away from walkways—easy fix.
We kept watering lightly for about 15 minutes each evening to keep the soil moist while the seeds germinated. About four days later we started seeing green.
Usually it takes about a week to notice sprouts, but we had near-perfect conditions—mild nights, moderate days, and plenty of rain—so the lawn looked surprisingly lush a little over a week after seeding.
The after photos are unedited besides resizing and labeling; that bright neon-green color really is fresh baby grass. The day I took the after pictures was after some rain and under less harsh sunlight than the “before” shots, which also helped other plants look greener and less washed out.
Every day Clara and I watch the backyard from our big living room window. She’s thrilled about the “play grass” and checks it constantly. That large window in the photos is our watching-the-grass-grow window—perfect for keeping an eye on progress.
Here’s the view back toward the house from the end of the path. You can also see the vine on the tree that we trimmed earlier—it’s thinning out nicely.
One more before-and-after because I can’t resist. New grass just looks extra vibrant, doesn’t it?
So that’s the result of four phases of backyard upgrades that added up to a big change. We’ll overseed again in the spring to keep the lawn thick and healthy and to help prevent weeds naturally. After that it’s mostly maintenance—occasional hand-pulling, regular mowing, and routine care—the same approach that worked well at our first house. What are you working on outside? Any last-minute grass seeding plans or multi-phase projects wrapping up? We’re glad to close this chapter of the yard as we move on to basement and bathroom projects next.