Tips / Do's and don'ts laying a new lawn

smokie2008

Hey, I'm laying a new lawn in the back garden. There used to be a decking there so I've ripped that up and the soil was kinda ok
but I went ahead and put down 3 tons of screened soil yesterday. I'm just wondering when and how to plant the grass seed. When the soil is dry/damp or whatever and how much I need to rake after I plant the seed. Just thought I'd ask for tips before I went ahead and made sh!te of all the work I've done. Cheers

unkel

If I had to do my lawn again, I would rotavate the soil and use grass rolls rather than growing the grass from seed. This really isn't that expensive unless of course you have a huge lawn

smokie2008

Thanks so much for the reply. I've spent an absolute fortune so far so was hoping to just seed the lawn as I priced the rolled turf an it was just about €200 so gonna go with the seed.

doyled7

I've worked with my dad landscaping for a good few summers now and sewing grass is our bread and butter. Here is our general regime-

1. Harrow (if ground is hard)
2. pick off large rocks etc.
3. rotivate.
4. roll the ground using blec seeder.
5. level ground via raking
6. roll, lay seed and roll again.

Laying turf can be tricky and if not done right will look terrible.

Your doing this yourself so you probably don't have a seeder. I think you need to

1. rake (use the back of the rake head as well as the teeth) out your top soil make sure it's as level as you can get it - the more level the better it'll look. (soil should be dry!)
2. spread the seed by hand quite liberaly...it's a little bit more than a sprinkle but definitely do not totally cover the ground with seed.
3. then just a very very light raking with the back of the rake should do
the trick.
- oh and a sprinkle of fertilizer would be pretty necessary too!

I could be corrected by the way...I'm only 19, I'm not trying to steer you wrong or anything..this is just my limited knowledge! AND KEEP IT CUT ONCE IT GROWS!

smokie2008

Hey, thanks for the reply. I'm eager to get the seed down but the forecast is for rain all week. Was hoping I could seed when the grounds damp but I don't mind waiting. If its better for me to go and buy a seeder I'll go get one, last thing I need after all that work is it all patchy. I've leveled the ground an rotavated and put on my top soil and left it for a few days to let the rain at it before I rake more stones from the top.

doyled7

Cool well if it's a big enough area a seeder(Blec) would be needed really. You're just gonna have to wait until it drys out. And try rake off the medium to large pebbles only..you don't want it to be like silt - leave the smaller ones (that proably would'nt fit through a rake anyway) for airation of the soil....if it's too fine and then it rains heavy like today it's a disaster.

but if you were gonna pay for a seeder you'd be better off just pay a professional do it - sounds good coming from a landscapers son but I'm sure there's a good one in your area - just avoid the cowboys...there's plenty!

smokie2008

Cool will do thanks man. Its not so bad at the moment with stones but it definitely could do with another rake ran over it. Jus gotta wait till it stops raining to rake it. hope the garden doesn't fill up with weed in the mean time.:mad:

doyled7

Ah it should be okay! Weeds won't have great growth from now on anyway! Good luck!

davenewt

A load of useful tips/threads over here, some of which I followed

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/forum-15.html

Sonnenblumen

and more here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=67246414

smokie2008

Cool I'll have a rumage through tose now, thanks a mill

Horsey

Or ya can always ask your Da to do it...:)