How to seed a lawn from scratch

Setting up a lawn is usually a lot of fun. At every stage of the work, you would think about the beautiful, lush green grass that will soon appear in the garden. In order for the effect to be truly impressive and last for many years you must follow all stages with due care. Here’s a step by step guide on how to seed a lawn from scratch!

Step 1 – choosing a place for the lawn

The lawn usually plays a representative role in the garden, it becomes a showcase of our garden. Therefore, it is extremely important to choose a place for the lawn where the grass will have optimal growth conditions. First of all, it should be a sunny place, possibly slightly shaded only for part of the day. In the shade, the grass will grow poorly and cause trouble.

If you want to turf shady places, e.g. under trees, consider whether setting up a lawn in such places is a good idea. Perhaps it is better to use ground cover plants, which prefer shade locations.

Densely growing grasses, creating a compact turf, also have great water needs. If the place designated for the lawn gets very hot and the soil dries up quickly, it is worth to install irrigation system.

This will save you a lot of trouble in the future and will avoid having to break the turf for later irrigation. The same applies to the assembly of the electrical system. If you want the garden to be illuminated by garden lamps, all cables must be laid before lawn is set up.

Step 2 – preparation of the substrate

Before sowing grass, you’ll need to properly prepare the ground. When preparing the ground for the planned lawn, check whether it has a humus layer or not.

In the first case, if, for example, until recently there was a vegetable garden in this place, the soil should only be dug, stones removed and carefully weeded.

In the second case, which concerns especially the areas around newly built houses, where the top layer of soil is the so-called necrosis, fertilize the soil by adding organic substances. For this purpose, a few centimeters of compost or garden peat should be spread.

It is good to add a layer of sand to heavy clay soil, which will increase its permeability, while on sandy soils, you can add soil from arable land.

Another step to precede when setting up a lawn is to test the pH of the soil. Grasses generally require a slightly acidic substrate. When the soil pH is below 5.5, it should be limed to slightly increase its pH, while on soils with a pH above 7.0, acidifying fertilizers, e.g. ammonium sulphate, should be used. Pre-sowing mineral fertilization is recommended on very poor soils. You can use urea in the amount of 3 kg per 100 m² of lawn.

The fertilizing ingredients and fertilizers should be mixed with the soil to a depth of 5-8 cm. Then the entire lawn surface must be perfectly level and compacted. You can do it by raking ground several times. Then use special roller to compress it. You will know if the soil is hard enough when if it does not collapse under human weight.

In order to avoid the lawn drying out, especially on light soils, it is worth adding a hydrogel to the soil before sowing. It will store water, keep moisture around the roots and prevents the grass from drying out.

Step 3 – grass seed selection

Before starting a lawn,consider how you will use it. The right choice of grass mixture depends on it. Mixtures containing grass seeds can be divided into:

• decorative (carpet, lawn) – they allow you to obtain beautiful compositions or a suitable background for flower beds. It is a delicate and soft turf, but for its beautiful appearance it requires regular care, watering and frequent mowing, it does not tolerate trampling,
  
• universal – much easier to care for and more resistant to trampling, sufficiently resistant to home lawns, hence most often used in amateur gardens,
  
• sports – combining the beauty of a decorative lawn with resistance to intensive use, unfortunately, sports mixtures are slightly more expensive than universal ones, and require more careful care.

It is important to sow only one type of grass seed mixture and to mow the existing lawn with the same species. If you cannot buy the same grass, you should choose regeneration grass or a special lawn mixture for seeding.

Step 4 – how to sow grass

The optimal time for establishing a lawn and sowing grass is from mid-April to June and from mid-August to October. During these periods there are favorable conditions for seed germination, related to the amount of moisture and temperature from 10 – 20 ° C.

At other times, the success of sowing depends on the possibility of artificial irrigation. To obtain a sufficiently dense grass, sow 1 kg of seeds on 30-40 m² of land. Reducing and increasing the seeding rate has certain consequences.

Too little plant density per m² will slow down the turfing of the lawn, and empty spaces will be quickly taken by weeds, while too much sowing will make many plants unable to grow and weakened plants can be easily attacked by diseases and freeze during winter.

Sow the grass by hand or using a special seeder. It is good to divide the seeds into two equal portions and sow them crosswise, covering the area twice with seeds, which will reduce the possible error of uneven distribution of seeds.

Then cover the seeds with soil 1 cm deep by raking quite hard. It is good to cover the seeds remaining on the surface with peat. Finally, the area can be rolled lightly, but this is not necessary if you plan systematic watering.