Independent Reviews

Kelly Burke
Lawn care expert and author at About.com
http://lawncare.about.com/od/productreviews/gr/grassstitcher.htm
Guide Review – Grass Stitcher Lawn Repair Tool
I’ve been using a garden cultivator to make small lawn repairs for years with limited success, so it was exciting to see the idea re-worked into a specialized lawn repair tool. Garden cultivators break up the surface of the soil but do little else to prepare a seed bed for sowing grass – and why should it, it’s a garden cultivator after all. The grass stitcher is a completely different tool for a very specialized job.

Grass seed requires specific conditions for proper germination; adequate depth, soil to seed contact, and adequate moisture. The grass stitcher’s tines provide the proper depth by creating a perforation surrounded by the disturbed soil. Once the seed is sown, a light watering moves the soil into place over the seed ensuring adequate soil to seed contact and protecting the seed from drying out.

I used the Grass Stitcher on various spots on my lawn, some spots were from neighborhood dogs relieving themselves and others were from a high traffic area where my family walks across the lawn to get to the car. Within a week I had germination and the spots quickly filled in giving my lawn a more uniform look.

Repairing bare and thin areas, and staying on top of them is an effective way to keep a lawn competitive in the battle against weeds, especially crabgrass. An aggressive campaign of seeding can be as effective (and safer) than chemical crabgrass controls.

As an aside from the mandatory con, which I indicated as the $100 price tag, the grass stitcher will pay for itself over time as you eliminate the need for sod, topsoil, seeding machines, and labor.