Sometimes you may need to fill in some bare spots in your lawn, or maybe even start over with your lawn.

Want to jump start your new lawn, or your lawn repairs? Want to make your neighbors wonder how you got a new lawn in just a few days? There is a way to do it! It is done by germinating seeds, before you apply them to your lawn. This gives you an advantage over the weather, and hungry birds.

It will require:

• A new plastic trash can.
• Your seed.
• An air pump from an aquarium.
• Water.
• A cloth strainer of some type.
• Pelleted dolomitic limestone.

This is how it’s done:

Make sure that everything that comes into contact with the water and the seed is clean.

1. First, rinse out the trash can, to make sure that it is free of any chemical residue.
2. Add fresh clean water, to the halfway point.
3. Put the air pump air outlet inside the can, so the pump will circulate the air evenly. You may need to weight it with a clean heavy object. It should be circulating the water a little, and have a lot of air bubbles when plugged in and turned on. This air and circulation is very important. If you don’t do this part, your seed will rot, and you will have a stinky rotten mess!
4. Slowly pour in the seed, and stir with a clean utensil, until all the seed are wet. The amount of seed that you can process this way at one time, depends on the strength of the air pump. Put only as many seed in the tank, as the air pump you use can easily agitate.
5. The waiting is the hardest part. It will take several days. Use this time to prepare your planting area. Till, rake, add amendments, do whatever it takes to get it into shape for planting the seed.
6. Check this concoction every day, to make sure that it is well agitated, you may need to stir it occasionally, and make sure it smells clean.
7. When the seed coats start to swell and crack, you are about ready to apply them.
8. Strain the water through a cloth strainer of some type. A new paint strainer is what I like to use, cheese cloth will work, so will many other types of cloth. Just drain the water and save the seed.
9. Carefully mix the seed with the dolomitic limestone, continue to add limestone  until the mixture is dry enough to work in your spreader. Your planting area should have been prepared ahead of time.
10. Now spread the seed out evenly over the area.
11. A light dusting of sand and organic matter spread out over the top will help. In a very short time, you will see the seed begin to grow.
12. Water the seed lightly as needed, do not let the seed dry out!

If you have done everything right, you should have a good stand of Bermuda grass in your new lawn, or once bald spot, in only a few days. Then just kick back and watch the neighbors scratch their heads!

When it comes to mowing lawns, size matters! There is an appropriate lawn mower size for every area.

A small push mower would not be appropriate for a 2 acre lawn, unless you are mowing for exercise, and a large, heavy riding mower is not appropriate for a 200 square foot space.

Large riders are great for mowing large spaces, but can cause problems in smaller spaces, especially in areas with slopes, and many turns. Sharp turns with heavy mowers, can cause the tires to dig into the turf, which weakens the turf in that area. If these turns occur on slopes, this often results in erosion. Mowers often have to cover the same ground several times for turning in small lawns, and this results in compaction. The result is a problem that has become so common that it now has its own term and acronym: Big Mower Blight, or BMG.

Big Mower Blight can cause lawn damage due to compaction, erosion, and increased weed problems because it weakens the turf. No amount of increased irrigation, fertilization, or weed control can solve this problem.

There is a simple answer to the problem of BMG, simply use a smaller mower!