How to grow grass ?

Z

zag

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Might seem like a silly question, but I am interested in how to efficiently grow the stuff.

I have a small area of garden (about 0.5m*2m) which needs to be re-seeded and I am trying to work out when is the best time to do it.

Summer makes sense I guess since presumably grass thrives that bit better like everything else with the extra sun and warmth so it should get established reasonably quickly. Downside is that there will be a big off limits line through the middle of my lawn at the time the kids most want to play on it.

Spring also makes sense since many other things get planted in spring, and are well established by the summer. Downside is that spring is a long time away.

Autumn makes sense since I can just do the work after the garden has been abused for the summer and let it establish itself (slowly) over the Autumn and Winter. Downside is that since it will happen slowly it may well not establish at all or it may become quite weedy as the weeds grow better than the grass.

From what I have seen (but I tended not to pay too much attention to grass sowing up to now) grass will pretty much grow whenever you sow it Any grass experts out there know the best time to sow ?

z
 
Zag,

Not an expert but i have laid lawns over the years. the best ones were always sewn in Autumn , sept or oct. cos they need the rain to grow. i sowed a small lawn in june a few years ago and there was the driest spell in years didnt rain for about 4 or 5 weeks, ended up with a lawn of weeds. But with a few runs of the lawn mower, the weeds died off, and it turned out ok.

But if i do one again it will be definetely in the autumn.

Jack
 
I planted some grass seed in a few bald areas of my lawn a few weeks ago. Most of it hasn't grown yet. I don't know whats worse looking at the bald patches or looking at the bald patches with dead grass seed sitting there. In previous years I had no problem just this year. A clue maybe that I am using last years grass seed, maybe only the fresh stuff works!
 
I have had ignition on a large stretch off newly sown grass seed over the last two days. It was planted exactly a week ago. You should go for a tough grass, I'm using some American grass seed, a good watering regime, and nets to keep the sparrows off. 1 week to sprout and another 3 for a decent show.
Any questions?
 
I suppose you should sow as soon as the topsoil get spread - if you've your in "da big heap in front of the house" then you wont want to delay any more than have to in getting the heap spread. However if you are getting in topsoil then maybe feasible to delay.

Anyway, the longer you leave topsoil unseeded then inevitable weed cover. Get the grass in there competing. I understand many weed are "annual" or something like that which grow from seed not roots, therefore if you keep them cut before they seed they wont come back after the first year (all the original seeds blown in are used up and not replaced).

Other tips, I hear, are:

have the ground a bit solid before seeding so roots have some support - dont want the soil too spongy. Shake a bit of fertilizer (10-10-20 or that) either shortly before or with the seed. Roll again after seeding.
Seed fairly "heavily".
 
Sorry betsy og, but you should never feed a new lawn as it deters the roots from searching for its own nutrients. Yes you should lawn as soon as you have ground prepared. If not,let the weeds grow to a healthy state, then spray with ' roundup' and sow lawn two weeks later. This will minimize weed infestation. When you start cutting the lawn, most of the weeks will not survive frequent cutting, and remember to keep the lawn cut tight. This is the secret to a good lawn.
 
you should only plant lawn seed if the month has an "r" in it.
 
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