Yes, you can plant grass seed in the rain!
As I’ve alluded to before, I’m a big supporter of laying down grass seed when it’s raining or about to rain. Whether you’re simply over seeding your lawn for the year or you’re filling in some bare spots in your lawn, I think rainy days are some of the best times to plant grass seed.
Rain for the next three days? Let’s plant some grass!
The advantages are actually pretty obvious:
- Planting grass seed in the rain obviously saves you water and money. Even if you have well water, there’s still a cost associated with running the pump to get the water and there’s no reason to pump water up from the ground at a cost when it’s coming down from the sky for free.
- Planting grass seed in the rain helps the seed get started sooner. The key to growing grass and keeping your grass looking green is really simple: water. The more water, the better. I like to go out in the rain and sprinkle around grass seed because I know that seed is hitting the soil and getting mixed with water almost immediately, which speeds up its growing time.
- When it’s raining my fresh grass seed is less likely to be eaten by birds or blown away. If you’re just tossing your grass seed on the ground then the rain will usually act as a “sticky” agent and keep the seed on the ground. Ideally, you should still mix your grass seed with soil or at least spread a thin layer of topsoil over your seed if you’re trying to grow new grass on a bare patch of dirt.
Obviously, there can be too much of a good thing. Very heavy downpours and long torrential rains can make bare dirt muddy and slippery and your new grass seed could easily wash away. If flooding is expected, maybe you should hold off on the lawn maintenance and get to higher ground!
I have lots of good tips for mowing the lawn, but it’s never a good idea to cut grass in in the rain. You’ll just gum up your lawnmower with wet grass, you might rip up your yard if it’s muddy and wet grass is just slick enough to cause you to slip and fall, which isn’t a lot of fun when your hands and feet are inches away from a running lawn mower.
Generally, I’ve found that three or four days of on and off rain is usually the perfect weather for planting grass and getting a good start on a new lawn. So the next time you see a rainy weekend in the forecast just smile and get ready for a little grass planting on Friday night! A month from now you’ll be glad you did!