Sowing a new Lawn
Lawns are a traditional way to create large soft surface spaces to enhance the landscape and provide a green and inviting place for family activities and provide a setting for your garden areas.
Consider the following design options
Preparing a new lawn.
Consider the following design options
- Lawns and borders need to be in scale and complement each other
- The edge of the lawn and border interface should be sweeping creating a sense of space
- Lawns can enhance a view and create a sense of space.
- Planting trees and borders in the middle of the lawn has to be carefully considered if at all.
Preparing a new lawn.
- Ensure the area is free from perennial weeds. This can be manually completed by digging by hand or by using weed sprays. Always follow the directions on the packaging.
- Check the area for good soil drainage. Poor soil drainage is caused by hard and compact soil which needs to be cultivated to break up any hard layer of soil to improve drainage. Where very damp or wet areas exist drainage pipes may need to be laid to collect and discharge the water to a drain or soak pit. There are various commercially available products available complete with instructions.
- Level the soil roughly. Sometimes the removal of top soil is required and the subsoil is releveled and the topsoil is laid over the top at an even depth.
- Cultivate the topsoil to ensure it is nice and friable. Remove any debris and stones.
- Firm the soil. It is really important to firm the soil to create an even and level lawn. For small lawns ‘heeling’ is the process of walking on your heels in an even pattern across every part of the lawn to make sure it is all firm. Soft spots may need topping up with more soil. Note: this process may need to be used when leveling the sub soil. To get a really good surface this may have to be repeated.
- Rake the soil level and smooth. This work is important to create a nice level surface and a great friable soil seedbed for the grass seed to be sown. Rake the soil level in different directions which helps to make it easier to get a level surface.
- At this stage it is not necessary to add any fertilizer.
- Seed selection. Today suppliers have developed lawn grass mixtures especially for different lawns and situations. Check these out at your supplier. Choose a mix that is good for your situation. As usual better seed and better mixes cost more.
- Seed sowing. Choose a day with little wind to blow your seed away. Sow the seed evenly by hand in a sweeping motion to get about 30grams of seed per square metre. That is about one squeezed handful of seed per square metre. The biggest mistake made is to sow too much seed.
- Use a rake to work the seed into the soil surface up to a depth of about 30mm. Again another mistake is to leave the seed sitting on the surface to dry out in the sun or get eaten by birds. Remember that it isn’t necessary to cover every last seed. Leave the soil rake marks as these are helpful to conserve water and help shade the seed encouraging germination.
- If conditions are dry regular watering is required and as soft and fine as possible. Soak hoses or hand watering is good and should be done between 6am – 10am or 4pm – 9pm.
- After seed has germinated and reaches about 60mm high it is necessary to use a light roller to push down the soil that has lifted up slightly during germination; the roller being an ideal tool because of even weight distribution.
- Young grass should not be cut until about 75mm high at which time the mowing blades on the mower should be raised up to 60mm the grass topped. This leaves the individual grass plants with plenty of green leaf to continue growing into strong plants.
- Regular mowing over the next few weeks should slowly involve reducing the mowing height to about 50mm to encourage strong grass plants to grow good roots and leaves.
- Regular watering to prevent the soil drying out may be required for up to 3 months depending upon rainfall and conditions.
- Once the lawn has established the application of fertiliser can be spread at a rate of 30 grams per square metre spread evenly over the turf surface. Today suppliers offer special prepared fertilizer mixes for lawns.
- If weeds occur spraying with a special lawn weed spray can be undertaken to remove these weeds.
- Keeping the grass a little bit longer than older books advise also reduces the incidence of weeds as the grass smothers out these weeds. It also conserves soil moisture reducing the need to water as often.