Hi All,
There is an area of my plot I would like to sow a lawn in. Its not very big but will provide a nice area to sit out on as its beside my shed and in the side of my plot i am not using for veg.
I was wondering if anyone has good websites about sowing a lawn? How compacted do you need the soil to sow? Whats a good variety of grass-seed to choose for slow-growing, hard-waring lawns?
Thanks,
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
don't know about web sites for sowing a lawn but we put a new lawn (turf) down last year and I think the preparation is more or less the same - we dug it over taking out stones and as many weed roots as possible then we raked it and raked it and raked it..... till it was level. We hired a roller from the local hire shop (about £7 for the day I think) and then rollered it and raked it another couple of times before we laid the turf. We decided to hire a roller cos its a fairly big area but I would think if its not too big you could tread it down till its firm.
Most of it has taken really well apart from an area which was damaged by our dogs, we were thinking of returfing it but one of our neighbours gave us some 'Canada Green' grass seed which I put down on Tuesday and lots of it had germinated by Saturday which is really good going.
We are going to grass an area at the lottie for us to sit and have a beer and we'll be using this seed but won't bother with as much preparation as we did at home. I think if you don't compact it well enough the grass can be a bit uneven so it depends how good you want your lawn to be.
Hope this helps a bit,
claire n paul
Not sure about websites either - but we have grown our lawn in about 6 weeks.
Removed roots and stones and raked - we didn't have a roller so stamped on the soil. We used a fast growing seed - with a mix for sunny and shady areas and hardwearing. Used some Rooster chicken poo fertiliser pellets on the soil - spread the seed and it has grown like no-bodies business! From bare soil to lawn in about 6 weeks - amazed with very little attention (we haven't walked on it yet). In fact it has grown so much we are doing our first cut this weekend ! ;D
Hi Thomasb,
You'll find a useful tipsheet on lawn sowing here...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/lawns_sowlawn.shtml
I'm just preparing a large area here - needs a bit more treading down, one more rake, then go.
Not an expert certainly, but I lawned big areas in my previous garden successfully using the above tips for starters.
Good luck!
CLx