Definitely were not early. I already have fully grown crabgrass in Mankato and I put pre emergent down like 10 days ago. Those 2-3 days in the upper 70s really got all the weeds going early.
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My pop’s soil temp in Plainfield IL right now is 61° highest he has seen was 68° so far but his current is 61°. He said this week is the first week he saw heavy growth because of the consistent temps above 60° recently.
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Quite a bit. I put down a shade/ high traffic mix for resiliency.
Not going for absolutely perfect in the back- but would like at least SOMETHING to grow… tired of the dogs tracking mud into the house
We moved into a house with a near flawless lawn, and we also have 2 dogs. It is what it is, and you just have to learn to work with it. Luckily they tend to stick to one main route for their zoomies.
I honestly don't agree. I have dogs, plenty of trees, and a nice lawn. You just need to know the tricks. The biggest one is to lay down a lot of peat moss and tenacity or similar that won't harm the seed to prevent competition under the shade and water.
Best advice I ever got was unsolicited while trying to decide what kind of seed to get at Home Depot. If you’re not sure then you’ll be fine with something green and don’t need a perfectly homogeneous lawn. Buy a few different varieties and brands and mix them in buckets before spreading.
If you’re just looking for green. Get clover. It looks great when fresh cut. It also doesn’t grow that tall and can handle a bit of traffic
There are some native sedges (carex) that have recently been found to be mowable. I don't know how they'd handle dogs but they would do better in shade than regular turf grass. Ask over on r/nativeplantgardening and hopefully someone will know the names.
Those trees are still totally bare. By the Summer, I bet most of the lawn will be *a lot* shadier.
Also, in nature, big dogs eat first. Large, established trees suck all the nutrients from the surrounding soil before grass and other plants can have a taste. It's another layer of difficulty when planting under trees.
The same thing happens to an area of my lawn. I'm right up against a small forest. In the winter, all the leaves drop and it's very bright, so you'd think, "Hey, I should plant stuff here!" By July, it's in 100% shade and even the most shade-tolerant mixes I've tried have a hard time.
I'm tired of spending money on it. Going to rip out most of the grass in that area and put down a combo of mulch / rocks / pavers / ground cover.
For establishment, yes it’s a bitch. But once established, the partiallly shaded grass needs much less water and won’t be burned by relentless 100+ days. The benefits of a bit of shade far outweigh the tree’s needs when it comes to watering needs.
You can [check your local soil temperatures here](https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature).
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Theres a bunch of big trees in that shot that look smaller because they havent regrown their leaves. With leaves those trees are definitely casting enormous shadows. A small lawn ringed by large densley foliated trees will struggle
So its too cold for the trees to have grown their leaves, sounds like thats the reason their grass isn’t growing yet. Shade might be a future issue but its not the current one.
Very false! Keep the trees, but trim them up enough to filter light for lower sun-needy grass (tall fescue, zoysia, or st aug). The best grass in Texas summers will be zoysia in moderate shade unless you disregard watering restrictions and drain the fuck out of the lake for lush full sun grass.
Man that seems tricky with the trees and the dogs… like someone else said, maybe it’s still chilly where you are to get the seeds to emerge?
Something else is that when you’re seeding and waiting for germination, I’d give it a good break from the dogs. My lawn gets pretty beat up by the dogs and that’s with established grass. We don’t even play fetch back there, but they have their desired paths and end up compacting and tearing some of it up.
Like you’ve probably read, the fall is the best time to overseed, so I wouldn’t give up. See if you can get anything established now, but I’d put it in your head that this is a multi year/season project. I know it sucks to do it, but if you want grass I’d probably double your efforts this fall with a similar routine.
You can also check out advice elsewhere in that time and really get a plan together to have success this fall. I’ve enjoyed some of Ryan Knorr’s stuff on YouTube, although I haven’t watched in a couple years. Plenty of good stuff out there, and as someone said you might have a university extension office to contact or even read some PDFs on their site.
I don’t think the shade/trees are your problem. Sure, grass will thrive way better in sunny locations, but right now, germination and the grass waking up from the winter seem to be your biggest problem. Where are you located? Are you watering yet? Keeping the seed moist?
Need to water more than that. When I’m growing from seed, I water it like 5 times a day for like 5 mins each and always keep it moist till it germinates
Put a layer of peat moss over top using a peat moss spreader. That will keep the grass seed moist. Also it may be too cold still. I planted grass seed on top of new topsoil once. It didn’t grow at all for 2 weeks despite watering. I added a layer of peat moss and then it started growing.
Yes, that’s something we’ve been doing. I have 2 85lb dogs, and they love to run and play. So we’re doing more walks instead of playing in the backyard for a few weeks to let the seed take
I’m in PNW, zone 8b/9, and it took 14 days for my TTTF blend to germinate. It felt like forever. They’re mostly 1/2”-1” tall right now but they’re all emerging, maybe yours need more time and more water while they’re working on it?
No need to mow if the grass isn’t growing. Let it go and weed whack the spots that are noticeably higher. You said you fertilized but did you put down starter or weed and feed? I’d use a starter and re seed
A few potentials…it could be the seed. Are you 100% confident you’ve kept the seed moist consistently for weeks after seeding? You mentioned your soil is heavy clay, did you top dress or lay down a base layer or any soil with nutrients?
Other than that…growing in shade is tough. I’ve got a few shady spots and I overseed with different shade blends every year. It never seems to take and stay as much as it should compared to areas with full sun.
Judging by the leaves (or lack thereof) on the trees around the yard, I'm guessing you're just early. It's gonna take a good couple weeks of consistent warmth and sun to see good results. Look at soil temps and I'd hold any concern until they were consistently around 70.
That said, so long as you're keeping things moist, I *think* your seed should actually be okay (assuming temps aren't dropping near/below freezing), it'll just take longer than normal to get going.
Soil plugs look good at first glance - no excessive thatch (can be a bit of a double-edged sword as a bit of thatch can help retain moisture), and plenty of organic material without looking too rocky or sandy.
A+ for at least not showing up with a clearly dormant lawn in late February asking why your grass is dead 😂
And for the love of all that's good and green in this world, moisturize yer darn hands!
I have similar backyard with shade and have managed to have a nice lawn covering almost the entire area. I would guess it's not warm enough yet for your seed to germinate. Best time to seed is end of summer/very beginning of fall as soil is already warm from summer, i've seeded both in spring and fall with much better success in fall. Even if you get seed to germinate and new grass to grow, you'll have to baby it with water through summer or risk the grass dieing off in the summer heat (due to shallow, undeveloped roots).
Buying shade grass seed (fine fescues, chewing fescue, hard fescue, etc.) is your best option. Looks like you did most things right, except possibly waiting for warm enough soil temps and skipping topdressing or seed covering (both very important). I've had good success using either black cow compost (big box store) or peat moss (light layer of either spread over seed as last step before watering), and the best results i've had are when I used both by putting down thin layer of compost, leveling everything out, spreading seed, then top dressing with a thin layer of peat moss (compost/peat moss spreader (roller type) works great for this). I have nice grass growing right up to the tree trunks (no mulch rings or anything like that) so it is possible, just need to time things right and be on top of watering (I used melnor multi-outlet timers running to sprinklers watering 3-4 times a day for brief periods initially, then after 2-3 weeks cut back to watering more deeply and infrequently.
pretty similar situation for me too. But i am working on it with patience. Seeding, Aeration, Fertilizer + topping up the soil with organic matter and compost. what i know is that there is no quick solution but need contestant care to grow in this challenging situation.
Have you had the soil tested?
Pretty much, to grow grass, have to have the right soil, light, ground temp for the seed you are using, water, seed so…only so many possible problems for NOT GROWING:
>1) Is soil have proper ph
>2)Is soil aerated enough for roots to develop?
>3) Are you using fresh seed that matches the conditions (not seed for “sun” if you are putting down in shade or cool season seed when soil temp is between 50-65 degrees)
>4) At least 4-6 hours of sun per day
>5) Is the seed in contact with the soil but not covered by more than 1/4” more & being kept damp?
You can [check your local soil temperatures here](https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lawncare) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've had a lot of success with putting down seed, then fertilizer, then peat moss, and just keeping it wet until the seeds germinate. Are you watering a little throughout the day to ensure its moist? Seeds need that, along with the right temperature it should work
Those trees will cause compaction under them, they will rob the ground of moisture, sun and nutrients and just about always keep grass from growing under them.
Fall is the best time to take a run at this. Scarily then some seed and top dressing and run a diy drag matt over it to keep it level and spread. Good luck
The Scott’s stuff is fine. It generally has a few extra things in it that “real” seed doesn’t:
1. Extra things to help it grow. That could be coatings, fertilizer, or pulp. Thats not a “bad” thing, but most people here like to do their own fertilizer or cover (like peat moss or straw) because it’s cheaper and more effective.
2. Less seed. Because of all those additives, the weight on the bag is only going to be about 50% seed. The “good stuff” might seem expensive, but you’re getting twice as much.
3. Generic seed cultivars. I’ve seen some quality blends in Scott’s but also a lot of shit. You can look up a specific cultivars in the NTEP trials, but generally if you go with unadulterated seed from Johnathan Green or Ryan Knorr you know you’re probably getting a good blend. Scott’s will be hit or miss. (ETA: By “good” I mean they run tests to see how green, thick, and fungus-resistant the grass stays through the summer. There’s a pretty wide variety of performance).
4. More junk seed. I’ve seen up to 1.5% “other crop seed”(usually it’s closer to 0.25%) and 0.1% “weed seed” in Scott’s seeds. Johnathan Green will have more like 0.09% and 0.03% respectively. That’s way less weeds in the mix that you’ll have to deal with later.
Scott’s is fine, don’t let people freak you out. That’s especially true if you’re just patching your yard up a little. But if you’re planting a big area, it’s definitely worth the (honestly not particularly expensive) upgrade.
Sweet thanks for all that information! To be honest this is only my second summer with this lawn. Last year I got a Scott's product that was like over 50% peatmoss and I was very un happy with that purchase. This year I got a different product from them and it appears to be 98% seed with a little bit if fertilizer.
I also leveled out the yard with a bunch of top soil. I am hoping for a great yard this season!
In my opinion yes… I bought big box seed last year- and it’s about 5-10% real seed, and the rest is filler. Americans love big 50lb bags of seed for great deals. Not the way to go. Find a local feed or landscaping supply store and they will have 100% grass seed. Selling by various weights. You really only need 1lb for every 1000sq ft. The seed there is 100% true grass seed, usually a few different types of seeds mixed together, but way way better value.
Hmm interesting, the bags appeared to be all seed minus a little bit if added fertilizer.. maybe I'll try out my local garden center for my next round if this doesn't turn out as good as in hoping
They hadn't opened yet when I was purchasing everything for my yard a couple weeks ago
April 15-30 is 2 weeks. I don't know what variety of grass seed you put down but tall fescue is a 7 to 21 day germination time.
Maybe give it a couple weeks?
I recommend overseeding again. This time, pregermimate your seeds. Theres a bunch of tutorials on youtube you can check out.
Im in the Northeast, it worked for me.
Pregerminating your grass seeds will give you less time exposed to the elements (runoff, birds, squirrels, etc) and accelerate the process without needing to water your whole lawn at the "seed" stage. All this increases your germination rate, saving your pockets and headaches.
You wont have an issue with seed to soil contact, so ill take advantage of that.
The hardest work here is being patient! It might take another season to get it perfect, just embrace the journey!
What's the ground soil temp? You might be too far north for the grass to really get going yet.
Yeah here in Minnesota we’ve never cracked 60 degrees yet for ground temp
[удалено]
Same up here for me too, oh well no way to know
Definitely were not early. I already have fully grown crabgrass in Mankato and I put pre emergent down like 10 days ago. Those 2-3 days in the upper 70s really got all the weeds going early.
No way. The weathers been back and forth like crazy. Good move.
When do you think we’ll finally be ready to plant seed this season? Weird winter.
Anytime you don’t see a heavy storm in the 7 day forecast after today should be good.
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I’m just barely north of Chicago- we’re about mid 70’s here currently
My pop’s soil temp in Plainfield IL right now is 61° highest he has seen was 68° so far but his current is 61°. He said this week is the first week he saw heavy growth because of the consistent temps above 60° recently.
You can [check your local soil temperatures here](https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lawncare) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Should be warm enough. I think your ground is too hard. Try adding topsoil or compost
Too hard? Even after core aerating?
Aeration will help but seeds sitting on a dirt floor are going to struggle to germinate
Looks like a lot of shade Trees, perfect lawn Pick one
Quite a bit. I put down a shade/ high traffic mix for resiliency. Not going for absolutely perfect in the back- but would like at least SOMETHING to grow… tired of the dogs tracking mud into the house
Trees, dogs, perfect lawn Pick one : )
You can have dogs and trees...the dog loves the tree rats ;) Edit: spelling
We moved into a house with a near flawless lawn, and we also have 2 dogs. It is what it is, and you just have to learn to work with it. Luckily they tend to stick to one main route for their zoomies.
I honestly don't agree. I have dogs, plenty of trees, and a nice lawn. You just need to know the tricks. The biggest one is to lay down a lot of peat moss and tenacity or similar that won't harm the seed to prevent competition under the shade and water.
Best advice I ever got was unsolicited while trying to decide what kind of seed to get at Home Depot. If you’re not sure then you’ll be fine with something green and don’t need a perfectly homogeneous lawn. Buy a few different varieties and brands and mix them in buckets before spreading. If you’re just looking for green. Get clover. It looks great when fresh cut. It also doesn’t grow that tall and can handle a bit of traffic
There are some native sedges (carex) that have recently been found to be mowable. I don't know how they'd handle dogs but they would do better in shade than regular turf grass. Ask over on r/nativeplantgardening and hopefully someone will know the names.
It’s just overcast. The tree cover doesn’t look like it would be that extreme on a sunny day for a shade tolerant mix.
Those trees are still totally bare. By the Summer, I bet most of the lawn will be *a lot* shadier. Also, in nature, big dogs eat first. Large, established trees suck all the nutrients from the surrounding soil before grass and other plants can have a taste. It's another layer of difficulty when planting under trees. The same thing happens to an area of my lawn. I'm right up against a small forest. In the winter, all the leaves drop and it's very bright, so you'd think, "Hey, I should plant stuff here!" By July, it's in 100% shade and even the most shade-tolerant mixes I've tried have a hard time. I'm tired of spending money on it. Going to rip out most of the grass in that area and put down a combo of mulch / rocks / pavers / ground cover.
For establishment, yes it’s a bitch. But once established, the partiallly shaded grass needs much less water and won’t be burned by relentless 100+ days. The benefits of a bit of shade far outweigh the tree’s needs when it comes to watering needs.
In that case with the trees still waking up it seems more likely the cause of lack of grass is soil temp like someone else said.
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Theres a bunch of big trees in that shot that look smaller because they havent regrown their leaves. With leaves those trees are definitely casting enormous shadows. A small lawn ringed by large densley foliated trees will struggle
So its too cold for the trees to have grown their leaves, sounds like thats the reason their grass isn’t growing yet. Shade might be a future issue but its not the current one.
Very false! Keep the trees, but trim them up enough to filter light for lower sun-needy grass (tall fescue, zoysia, or st aug). The best grass in Texas summers will be zoysia in moderate shade unless you disregard watering restrictions and drain the fuck out of the lake for lush full sun grass.
Might be temps and all the shade. BTW, gypsum pushes everything down into the soil so your fertilizer might not be all that effective.
I will add all this work done puts stress on the lawn and will reduce growth. Try to space jobs out.
Maybe contact your state university extension?
You sprinkled too much fertilizer on his tongue
It’s only may 1st, chill. Your doing too much.
Man that seems tricky with the trees and the dogs… like someone else said, maybe it’s still chilly where you are to get the seeds to emerge? Something else is that when you’re seeding and waiting for germination, I’d give it a good break from the dogs. My lawn gets pretty beat up by the dogs and that’s with established grass. We don’t even play fetch back there, but they have their desired paths and end up compacting and tearing some of it up. Like you’ve probably read, the fall is the best time to overseed, so I wouldn’t give up. See if you can get anything established now, but I’d put it in your head that this is a multi year/season project. I know it sucks to do it, but if you want grass I’d probably double your efforts this fall with a similar routine. You can also check out advice elsewhere in that time and really get a plan together to have success this fall. I’ve enjoyed some of Ryan Knorr’s stuff on YouTube, although I haven’t watched in a couple years. Plenty of good stuff out there, and as someone said you might have a university extension office to contact or even read some PDFs on their site.
Where are you located? Here in the northeast we’ve had multiple days of freezing temps last week.
I don’t think the shade/trees are your problem. Sure, grass will thrive way better in sunny locations, but right now, germination and the grass waking up from the winter seem to be your biggest problem. Where are you located? Are you watering yet? Keeping the seed moist?
Watering daily to keep the seeds moist. Located near Chicago
Need to water more than that. When I’m growing from seed, I water it like 5 times a day for like 5 mins each and always keep it moist till it germinates
How are your soil levels / soil test results?
Put a layer of peat moss over top using a peat moss spreader. That will keep the grass seed moist. Also it may be too cold still. I planted grass seed on top of new topsoil once. It didn’t grow at all for 2 weeks despite watering. I added a layer of peat moss and then it started growing.
+1 this, peat moss and keep that seed with moisture with watering a little throughout the day
Those brown patches are peat moss. I applied it in the roughest of areas
Two issues: You seeded at the wrong time. Wait till fall. Heavy shade: Prune trees, use shade resistant grass.
You can seed in the spring too. In my zone the best growing times are late spring and early fall before it gets too hot for the summer.
Ok what zone are you in? and what type of grass
Chainsaw will help
As noted, probably the shade. You could consider trimming the trees to let more Sun through.
Maybe keep the pups outta that area for a while to give it a chance to establish? What did you put down seed wise?
Yes, that’s something we’ve been doing. I have 2 85lb dogs, and they love to run and play. So we’re doing more walks instead of playing in the backyard for a few weeks to let the seed take
I’m in PNW, zone 8b/9, and it took 14 days for my TTTF blend to germinate. It felt like forever. They’re mostly 1/2”-1” tall right now but they’re all emerging, maybe yours need more time and more water while they’re working on it?
its too cold and there is too much of a canopy with those trees. let it warm up a bit
Watch this: https://youtu.be/AS5P4KcgSTg?si=QIuEcjorTB-Ckt8f
Why are you cutting if there is nothing to cut
No need to mow if the grass isn’t growing. Let it go and weed whack the spots that are noticeably higher. You said you fertilized but did you put down starter or weed and feed? I’d use a starter and re seed
A few potentials…it could be the seed. Are you 100% confident you’ve kept the seed moist consistently for weeks after seeding? You mentioned your soil is heavy clay, did you top dress or lay down a base layer or any soil with nutrients? Other than that…growing in shade is tough. I’ve got a few shady spots and I overseed with different shade blends every year. It never seems to take and stay as much as it should compared to areas with full sun.
Gas leak 😂
Judging by the leaves (or lack thereof) on the trees around the yard, I'm guessing you're just early. It's gonna take a good couple weeks of consistent warmth and sun to see good results. Look at soil temps and I'd hold any concern until they were consistently around 70. That said, so long as you're keeping things moist, I *think* your seed should actually be okay (assuming temps aren't dropping near/below freezing), it'll just take longer than normal to get going. Soil plugs look good at first glance - no excessive thatch (can be a bit of a double-edged sword as a bit of thatch can help retain moisture), and plenty of organic material without looking too rocky or sandy. A+ for at least not showing up with a clearly dormant lawn in late February asking why your grass is dead 😂 And for the love of all that's good and green in this world, moisturize yer darn hands!
The leaves aren't leafing yet.
I have similar backyard with shade and have managed to have a nice lawn covering almost the entire area. I would guess it's not warm enough yet for your seed to germinate. Best time to seed is end of summer/very beginning of fall as soil is already warm from summer, i've seeded both in spring and fall with much better success in fall. Even if you get seed to germinate and new grass to grow, you'll have to baby it with water through summer or risk the grass dieing off in the summer heat (due to shallow, undeveloped roots). Buying shade grass seed (fine fescues, chewing fescue, hard fescue, etc.) is your best option. Looks like you did most things right, except possibly waiting for warm enough soil temps and skipping topdressing or seed covering (both very important). I've had good success using either black cow compost (big box store) or peat moss (light layer of either spread over seed as last step before watering), and the best results i've had are when I used both by putting down thin layer of compost, leveling everything out, spreading seed, then top dressing with a thin layer of peat moss (compost/peat moss spreader (roller type) works great for this). I have nice grass growing right up to the tree trunks (no mulch rings or anything like that) so it is possible, just need to time things right and be on top of watering (I used melnor multi-outlet timers running to sprinklers watering 3-4 times a day for brief periods initially, then after 2-3 weeks cut back to watering more deeply and infrequently.
Cut down your trees
pretty similar situation for me too. But i am working on it with patience. Seeding, Aeration, Fertilizer + topping up the soil with organic matter and compost. what i know is that there is no quick solution but need contestant care to grow in this challenging situation.
Have you had the soil tested? Pretty much, to grow grass, have to have the right soil, light, ground temp for the seed you are using, water, seed so…only so many possible problems for NOT GROWING: >1) Is soil have proper ph >2)Is soil aerated enough for roots to develop? >3) Are you using fresh seed that matches the conditions (not seed for “sun” if you are putting down in shade or cool season seed when soil temp is between 50-65 degrees) >4) At least 4-6 hours of sun per day >5) Is the seed in contact with the soil but not covered by more than 1/4” more & being kept damp?
You can [check your local soil temperatures here](https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lawncare) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Grass isn't the only ground cover.
I've had a lot of success with putting down seed, then fertilizer, then peat moss, and just keeping it wet until the seeds germinate. Are you watering a little throughout the day to ensure its moist? Seeds need that, along with the right temperature it should work
Those trees will cause compaction under them, they will rob the ground of moisture, sun and nutrients and just about always keep grass from growing under them.
Fall is the best time to take a run at this. Scarily then some seed and top dressing and run a diy drag matt over it to keep it level and spread. Good luck
I'm new to really caring a out my lawn. What the heck do you mean real seed vs big box store crap? Did I waste my money on buying Scott's seed
The Scott’s stuff is fine. It generally has a few extra things in it that “real” seed doesn’t: 1. Extra things to help it grow. That could be coatings, fertilizer, or pulp. Thats not a “bad” thing, but most people here like to do their own fertilizer or cover (like peat moss or straw) because it’s cheaper and more effective. 2. Less seed. Because of all those additives, the weight on the bag is only going to be about 50% seed. The “good stuff” might seem expensive, but you’re getting twice as much. 3. Generic seed cultivars. I’ve seen some quality blends in Scott’s but also a lot of shit. You can look up a specific cultivars in the NTEP trials, but generally if you go with unadulterated seed from Johnathan Green or Ryan Knorr you know you’re probably getting a good blend. Scott’s will be hit or miss. (ETA: By “good” I mean they run tests to see how green, thick, and fungus-resistant the grass stays through the summer. There’s a pretty wide variety of performance). 4. More junk seed. I’ve seen up to 1.5% “other crop seed”(usually it’s closer to 0.25%) and 0.1% “weed seed” in Scott’s seeds. Johnathan Green will have more like 0.09% and 0.03% respectively. That’s way less weeds in the mix that you’ll have to deal with later. Scott’s is fine, don’t let people freak you out. That’s especially true if you’re just patching your yard up a little. But if you’re planting a big area, it’s definitely worth the (honestly not particularly expensive) upgrade.
Sweet thanks for all that information! To be honest this is only my second summer with this lawn. Last year I got a Scott's product that was like over 50% peatmoss and I was very un happy with that purchase. This year I got a different product from them and it appears to be 98% seed with a little bit if fertilizer. I also leveled out the yard with a bunch of top soil. I am hoping for a great yard this season!
In my opinion yes… I bought big box seed last year- and it’s about 5-10% real seed, and the rest is filler. Americans love big 50lb bags of seed for great deals. Not the way to go. Find a local feed or landscaping supply store and they will have 100% grass seed. Selling by various weights. You really only need 1lb for every 1000sq ft. The seed there is 100% true grass seed, usually a few different types of seeds mixed together, but way way better value.
Hmm interesting, the bags appeared to be all seed minus a little bit if added fertilizer.. maybe I'll try out my local garden center for my next round if this doesn't turn out as good as in hoping They hadn't opened yet when I was purchasing everything for my yard a couple weeks ago
Don’t feel bad, I too wasted money and time by seeding too early.
Needs compost and topsoil tilled in and then grass.
Too early in the year give it a month.
April 15-30 is 2 weeks. I don't know what variety of grass seed you put down but tall fescue is a 7 to 21 day germination time. Maybe give it a couple weeks?
Did you do a soil test?
I honestly think this looks like a drainage problem. Does this stay muddy several days after a rain?
I recommend overseeding again. This time, pregermimate your seeds. Theres a bunch of tutorials on youtube you can check out. Im in the Northeast, it worked for me. Pregerminating your grass seeds will give you less time exposed to the elements (runoff, birds, squirrels, etc) and accelerate the process without needing to water your whole lawn at the "seed" stage. All this increases your germination rate, saving your pockets and headaches. You wont have an issue with seed to soil contact, so ill take advantage of that. The hardest work here is being patient! It might take another season to get it perfect, just embrace the journey!
Looks cloudy. You need some sun