How To Sow Grass Seed

If you want a brilliant, lush and healthy lawn but don't want the huge costs attached to purchasing turf, your best bet is to sow your grass from a seed mixture. The best time for sowing is in late summer to early autumn when the soil is typically damp from rain yet warm from the milder conditions - creating the perfect environment for your seeds to germinate. To take you through the crucial steps, South West Seeds have put together a guide on everything you need to know about sowing the perfect lawn.

The Seeding Process

• Soil Contact: To create a friendly environment for your grass seed to grow, start off by raking the soil surface, remove any weeds, big stones or rocks and level out the surface. Begin by evenly distributing the seeds and gently raking them into the soil so it mixes together successfully.
• Distribution: Either sow your seeds by hand or use a professional fertiliser spreader to split the seeds into two directions for enhanced evenness. A good rule is to set aside a bit of seed, just in case you miss a few areas so you'll be able to go back and fill them in later.
• Watering: Moisture is absolutely key after your seed is sown - to begin with, set your garden hose to a soft spray and a couple of times a day, gently go over the soil, being careful not to create any puddles and damage the seed distribution. After a week, begin watering once a day or so, but if you notice the seeding area getting dry, increase the watering frequency until things start improving. After a month you can reduce watering to only a couple of times a week, using more water on those occasions.

When it comes to nurturing a newly sown lawn it's important to resist the urge to start using the mower too soon into the grass growing process.  It can take up to two weeks until green shoots start appearing so wait until the grass is roughly 5 cm before you consider cutting it and only mow on the highest setting to begin with. When grass gets to the fourth or fifth cut, start bringing the mower blade setting down incrementally. Depending on the time of year adjust the number of times you mow according to the season; once a week in spring and autumn, twice a week in summer, and, in winter, only if the weather is mild - don't cut it in wet or frosty conditions.

Managing Weeds

If you find that a few weeds have managed to grow through with your newly growing grass seed - don't panic! Usually after a few mowings, most of the weeds will die off, but if you're finding that some are persisting, you can individually remove them from their roots or look out for some lawn friendly weed killer, but make sure you read the directions and apply directly to the weeds as instructed.

Lawn Aftercare

Following the three initial months of your new lawn, you can bring the maintenance down to a more natural level - watering and mowing as the seasons and weather conditions dictate. However, it is important to bare in mind that your lawn is still relatively new in its inception, so for the first year you should not do anything to shock your lawn such as raking away moss or using spiked aerating tools, which can damage overall growth quality.