INDIANAPOLIS — With several inches of snow still on the ground and Indiana still in the throws of winter, Pat Sullivan's 13Sunrise segment about grass seed might have felt a little too early.
But the window to start planting spring seed is actually now just weeks, not months, away.
"Grandma says always put to grass seed on the final snow," Pat said. While you don't argue with grandma, the final snow in most of Indiana is still too early to put down grass seed.
But late February and early March is a good time to assess your lawn for bare spots and come up with a plan to address them with spot seeding.
Over-seeding is best done in the fall to establish new grass. But spring rains will nourish new seeds if you are trying to fill in or repair your lawn.
Pat gave us a tour of the grass seed aisle at Sullivan Hardware and Garden, showing the variety of seeds available for most lawn applications.
He recommended a "Shady Nooks" variety for bare spots that form under trees, but said most seed needs three or four hours of sunlight to germinate and grow. One a tree gets its full canopy of leaves, the grass underneath naturally thins.
Lawn repair pellets that contain seed, fertilizer and mulch are good to address bare spots in the spring.
But be careful when picking your seed variety and try to match new seed as closely as you can to your existing lawn to avoid patches of different colors.
Watch Pat's full segment from 13Sunrise in the video player.