Sowing Lawn Seed
Kweegly
Posts: 101
My lawn is heavily shaded and is 95% made up of a thick layer of moss. I recently removed all the moss with a scarifier leaving a large mud lawn with very little grass.
I'm going to seed the lawn after this weeks cold snap and was wondering if there are any tips you can offer? the lawn is quite large at 325sqm.
I've never seeded a lawn before.
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It's still pretty early to think about seeding. The seeds will struggle to germinate and the hungry birds will no doubt take an interest. I would wait a few more weeks, weather dependent of course. Ground temperature needs to be c9C for successful germination.
Thanks for the advice,
I've seen some guides where people mix the seeds in with a little soil then scatter over the surface of the lawn, is this required?
No. When it's warm enough - usually April in the UK - mark out a square metre of the area to be seeded and weigh the amount of seed recommended to cover it and then scatter it. This will help you make sure you give the right coverage when spreading the whole area.
In the mean time, you can spend some useful time poking in a lawn aerator at frequent intervals - several times per square metre - and as deeply as possible - hire or buy - or use a large garden fork to do the same job. Wiggle it back and forth to widen the holes and then spread sharp sand all over and brush it into the resulting holes. This will help open up the soil and improve aeration and drainage so the new seed can grow well.
Make sure you buy seed for a shaded lawn or you'll be back to moss and weeds in no time.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Thanks, great advice.
I completely agree with the other advice - it's a bit early to be working on the lawn.
Seeing as you've got this far though, it's a good chance to evaluate whether you need to amend the soil before you reseed. When the weather's warmer you may want to dig in soil conditioners to adjust the pH or improve drainage. This website has everything you need to know about lawns:
https://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/topic/creating-new-lawn/preparing-the-ground
As a rule of thumb, April and Sept are the months for working on the lawn, i.e. when it's warm (not hot) and damp, so the grass is growing well.
You might want to read up about iron sulphate too (it'll be in the link above). It's a good moss killer and you can buy it in bulk on Amazon etc.
Last edited: 26 February 2018 20:23:41
You should visit the garden near you to take some advice and ideas from there for next season. Apart, April will be good for sowing new seeds.
Last edited: 27 February 2018 06:58:56
When did you scarify? What part of the year? Was it under 10 degrees mostly after you did?
The concern is you did this in winter, when your grass can't grow back from the roots you may well have.
your lawn will look like mud only after scarifying (with electric). that's normal.
If this is the case, no panic. it'll be fine! your lawn probably will return fine, it takes 8-10 weeks of weather which includes 1) temps above 10degree and 2) enough light and 3)enough rainfall. this typically is April as pointed out above.
the website pointed to above lawnsmith is a great resource.