While it is important to amend the soil with organic material, the tilling of the soil wakes up the seed bank which encourages weeds.  Annual rye grass is intended to give your ground protection while the Dog Tuff establishes. Weeds are opportunists. All of that bare soil between the Dog Tuff plugs is prime growing territory. The annual rye will hopefully out compete the weeds.  Annual rye can be over seeded now. It germinates in 3 - 7 days when soil temperature is around 65 degrees. it must be kept moist and is short lived.



Good Luck

Here is an information sheet you may find helpful.
 https://plantselect.org/learn/dog-tuff-grass-everything-you-need-to-know/

Thanks so much for this reply! I’m a little confused now because I also received a message from High Country Gardens where we bought the dog tuff plugs that said: “Please do not plant annual rye this year. Your plugs have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks as they establish and start to fill in. Several products can be used for weed control but the annual rye is not the right one for this application.” 

I have seen annual rye as an option on the Plant Select website, but what are the pros and cons of it overseeing with it?

Thanks!

Hi Kate,

As a homeowner with dog tough grass, I feel your pain with getting the grass established and trying to keep other weeds at bay.  This process can take 2-3 years.

One of the cons for using annual rye grass this year it that it does grow fairly "tall" and may cause both some competition and potential "shade" to your plugs slowing down its establishment. Dog Tough definitely does not thrive in shady environments.

Now being a bit later in the season it is a bit too late to utilize any pre-emergent, so you may have to perform the tedious chore of mechanical removal of the weeds by hand:

Corn gluten: If using, apply in late October in Denver area, late February and early May to cover most weed seed germination times. It can be applied through a fertilizer broadcast spreader or is available in a liquid form that is applied through a hose-end sprayer. Corn gluten has not been scientifically proven to be effective in all cases.