Have you checked the cool season guide sticky; specifically about seeding or over seeding, fertilizer, and herbicide recommendations?

It sounds like you don’t have irrigation keep keep new seeds alive through summer heat?

 

I am south of you. I think this year was a rough start in our are. We had almost zero snow cover , the ground was wet and cold all winter. 1st week of april was warm then somewhat cold and dry until a week ago. I got 5” in 2 days here last weekend but my ground is dry as a bone already.


If I where you ( been down this road myself) Starting seed in the spring is very hard and as you seen miss a few days in the summer and tour fresh shallow rooted sprouts can not make it through.
For your exsisting lawn
1. Raise your mower up to at least 3” cut it when it teaches 4”
2. Get your watering in check. Keep up the watering on the new sprouts once its mowed go to 1” a week
4-7 am for watering NO watering after 1pm or before 4am its just a waste of water and invites fungus
Make sure your putting enough water down
620 gallons is 1” for 1000 ft2
I like to do 1/2” at a time with a few days between watering and try to water after I mow.
Put a rain gauge out and see how much tour putting down when watering

my water oulet puts out 5g a min at 40 ish psi and my old school impact sprinkler puts out almost 1/2” in a hour or so.

the cool season guide is extremely helpful.

Cool Season Lawn Guide

Cool Season Guide We would like to welcome you to the forum. We are a group of lawn enthusiasts (aka. obsessed) that like to share our knowledge and experiences. This article is meant as the how-to guide to lawn care for cool season lawns. The intent is to provide a high level summary of the...

www.thelawnforum.com

 

Thank you for replies. I am now thinking about hiring a professional.

 

Thank you for replies. I am now thinking about hiring a professional.

 

Sometimes thats the way to go.
I can not afford a pro anymore they all priced themselves right out of my reach back in 2019.
For what I was getting quotes amounts for to do basic “4 step “ type service was just to much for me
18k ft2 a basic spring feed/weed prevent , summer grub and spot weed control and then fall feedings …..
Well lets just say for what they quoted I did. A more detailed feeding program, pre emerg , post emerg , insect control , fall feedings , aeration , over seed and some compost spreading and still had some money left,

 

I did a complete lawn renovation this spring in NYC. I forced myself to till my yard knowing the resulting won't be good without tilling the soil. I also used Jonathan Green black beauty ultra and it's coming in well. I'm doing the cool season renovation guide and cutting the grass at 3 inches every 2 days. I'm also spoon feeding .03 rate of 10/10/10 fertilizer. I'll raise the deck in June. I suggest for u to till the dead areas. Use a shovel and till the depth of the shovel. Ull get great results trust me. These pictures are from a week ago. It's got thicker and darker since then

 

Your doing the cool season Guide but seeding in spring, lol
Just being a smart ***. We have to do things when we can sometimes.
Good thing : what ever survives the summer should do well in the long run.

 

Did you cover the seed with straw?? That makes a TREMENDOUS difference. As you've learned though, seeding in the spring can be very tricky, usually with poor results once the heat of the summer starts building. I've done it successfully but it wasnt easy and probably due to more good luck with weather than anything else. Last fall i reseeded an area with Black beauty original and i'm having mixed results. It came in great but this spring it's a little thin so i'm trying to get it back into shape but i'm not overly impressed with this seed.

 

Timing always seems to be against us