- 1). Dig 1 quart of soil with a shovel from between six and 10 locations across your yard. Mix these soil samples in a bucket, and spread them out over newspaper to dry. Scoop a cup of the dried soil sample into a plastic bag for testing. Take this sample to your nearest county extension service. An agent with the extension service can assist you in sending the soil sample to your nearest agricultural university soil laboratory. The test costs a nominal fee, but will reveal your soil structure and pH, as well as show what soil samples can improve your soil.
- 2). Break up your soil to a depth of 12 inches with a rototiller. Spread soil amendments that are recommended by your soil test over your soil's surface in a 4-inch thick layer. Good amendments to prepare a seed bed for lawns include compost and peat moss along with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. If your soil is acidic with a low pH, add a sulfur amendment to the soil. If your soil is alkaline with a high pH, mix dolomite limestone with the soil amendments to lower the pH. Turn these amendments into the soil with a rototiller.
- 3). Smooth out the surface of your soil with a landscaping rake. Remove any debris such as branches, sticks and large rocks. Gradually slope the soil away from foundations of structures such as your home to carry water away from these structures, and avoid leaks or seepage around your foundations.
- 4). Choose a type of grass seed based on your USDA hardiness zone. Warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass or zoysia do well in the southern region of the United States. Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass or ryegrass do well in the northern United States. You can ask your county extension agent for recommendations of varieties and cultivars that do well in your particular region. Each type of seed is planted at a different rate of seed per square foot.
- 5). Sow your grass seed after the soil has warmed. In warm, southern regions of the country you can sow seed in late spring if you provide irrigation throughout the summer. In the northern part of the country you should wait until early fall to sow grass seed.
- 6). Mix one part grass seed with five parts moist masonry sand to ensure that the seed plants at an even rate. Grass seed is very small and may not spread evenly when you use a seed spreader if you do not mix the seed with the sand. Place one half of the sand in a broadcast fertilizer spreader. Push the spreader over your lawn in an even grid pattern. Then place the other half of the seed into the spreader and push it over the lawn in a grid pattern that is perpendicular to the first route you took.
- 7). Rake the dirt across your lawn with a landscaping rake to lightly cover the seed. This process is known as scarification.
- 8). Roll over the lawn with a lawn roller.
- 9). Water the lawn up to four times daily with the equivalent of 1/4 inch of rain to keep the seed bed moist. Use a rain gauge to monitor the amount of water that you use. Once the grass sprouts, gradually decrease the amount that you water until you use only 1 inch of water every seven to 10 days.
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