Below is an excerpt from a book titled “The New Lawn”. I’ll be adding more to this entry as time goes by, because having a little knowledge about lawn seeding can be valuable to anyone cares about lawn maintenance or lawn care. You don’t need a professional lawn service, per se, to appreciate these tips:
HANDSEEDING AND SOD
The two most common ways to turn prepared soil into a lush green carpet represent the extremes of expense and patience. Sprinkling seeds over the ground is inexpensive, but you’ll have to wait at least two weeks for the seeds to germinate and several more before the area even begins to resemble a lawn.
You can seed bare spots by hand, but an area larger than a few hundred square feet calls for a drop spreader or a broadcast spreader. Make two passes at right angles to each other in order to even the application, but don’t waste seed; Spreading more than the seed bag instructions call for won’t make a lawn fill in any faster or grow any better.
(“And use this year’s seed,” says Cook. Last year’s seed might seem a bargain, but may not
Propper Landscaping 