Your time is definitely running short. Especially being in Green Bay. You can try overseeding but it has to be done.... NOW! I see our temps are about to dip into the mid 30s at the end of the week. You can try but dont get your hopes up. Best time to tackle this is late august or the spring. I recommend the august one because you will get better results. Not to say that spring wont work but you are going into the worst time for grass being the summer vs with the late summer the grass is transitioning into its best time.

 

This is a great video guide that will help you when you chose to do this.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. My concern now is that I will overseed now and then the leaves will drop (we have a ton of trees) and I will start blowing leaves soon and blow all the seed away.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. My concern now is that I will overseed now and then the leaves will drop (we have a ton of trees) and I will start blowing leaves soon and blow all the seed away.

What cultivar are you planning on overseeding with? Something like Perennial Ryegrass germinates with like 4-7 days so anytime after that you would be good to blow the leaves off the seed won't go anywhere because it would have already sprouted and started root development. Definitely do NOT do Kentucky Bluegrass as you certainly won't have enough time for it to germinate.

The bigger thing I would be concerned about regarding blowing off the leaves is how much you will have to be walking all over your brand new seedlings, it's generally best to avoid walking on new seedlings as much as possible for the first ~2 weeks after germination.

That being said, you will still likely have decent results overseeding if you do have to walk on the new seedlings, just try to minimize sudden turning with your shoes and definitely don't use a ride on leaf blower or something.

Also have reasonable expectations that you are doing this pretty late in the season for your area, so have the expectation (and leave yourself some extra seed) that you might need to overseed some thin spots in the spring.

 

I am just using Scotts sun and shade mix. I could spread it today and stay off it for a couple weeks. When I blow leaves, I just walk the yard with a backpack blower. After I spread the seed with a broadcast spreader do I need to cultivate it into the soil or rake or something or can I just water it in?

 

I am just using Scotts sun and shade mix. I could spread it today and stay off it for a couple weeks. When I blow leaves, I just walk the yard with a backpack blower. After I spread the seed with a broadcast spreader do I need to cultivate it into the soil or rake or something or can I just water it in?

Yes I would get the seed down ASAP if I were you.

And yes I would at the very minimum rake the seed into the soil, or ideally you would put a light (1/4") layer of peat moss or topsoil overtop the seed to ensure seed to soil contact and to help with water retention to keep the seed moist