When to sow grass seed

mattgarden

Hi all,

With the weather forecast to be so mild this week. Is now a good idea to scarify, feed and sow seed?

I can envisage the lawn getting really well used due to the social distancing. So want to give it it's best shot at germination before it gets lots of use!

Thanks

Fairygirl

I'd say it's a bit early, but if you have nice free draining soil, and the temps are high enough, it might be ok.
It needs to be around 16 to 17 degrees for seed to germinate, and if you get a lot of rain, and it's not warm enough, it'll just rot or simply not germinate at all.

You can certainly do the other things, assuming the ground's dry enough to work on 

Obelixx

Scarify, aerate, rake it level and apply some topsoil or compost in any dips so that you're ready to sow grass seed when temperatures are reliably a bit warmer.

April and September were always viewed as the best times to sow new lawns but maybe with global warming you'll be a bit earlier where you are but even here temps are set to go down near freezing this week and that won't be good for grass seed. 

mattgarden

Very useful both thank you. I had read it was a good idea to scarify then seed as it will expose the seed bed more. Should I hold off doing this till it's best to seed? 
We are forecast a high of 15 low of 2 tomorrow. I was hoping the 15 was going to give me something to do!

The lawn is going to be used a lot with us all staying at home. The kids love it out there

Obelixx

Use the 15 to scarify then wait for the 2s to be over before you sow.  You can always rake the surface again to loosen it for the seed.