New lawn, what next?

Redgirl82

Ok so just got my lawn full dug up and reseeded. I am just wondering should I do something additional to the lawn or just sit and wait for grass to grow?

Really I am wondering if I put something on it will it help it grow better?

My sons birthday is on in about 4 weeks, I am just wondering is that too early to have a large number of kids on the lawn?

Mooooo

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Ok so just got my lawn full dug up and reseeded. I am just wondering should I do something additional to the lawn or just sit and wait for grass to grow?

Really I am wondering if I put something on it will it help it grow better?

My sons birthday is on in about 4 weeks, I am just wondering is that too early to have a large number of kids on the lawn?

Did you put fertiliser on it? If not a product called 10 10 20 would be good for reseeded grass for root development and growth. Conditions are perfect for grass at the moment so it should come ok you'll just have to judge at the time of the ground is ok for kids to be running on without doing too much damage, a small bit would be easily rectified

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

Did you put fertiliser on it? If not a product called 10 10 20 would be good for reseeded grass for root development and growth. Conditions are perfect for grass at the moment so it should come ok you'll just have to judge at the time of the ground is ok for kids to be running on without doing too much damage, a small bit would be easily rectified

Husband says he heard of 10 10 20 but thought it was used for agriculture and not standard garden

Mooooo

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Husband says he heard of 10 10 20 but thought it was used for agriculture and not standard garden

It is used in agriculture, but it can be used on lawns as well, grass starting out needs a bit of feeding along with regular cutting to take hold. It is regularly used when reseeding grass fields. The numbers 10.10.20 represent the units of N(nitrogen) P(phosphorus) and K (potassium) in that order. Nitrogen help growth with phosphorus and potassium important for root development. A 50 kg bag is likely cheaper than a specific gardening fertiliser a quarter the size and once it's kept in a dry spot in the shed the bag will last fine

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

It is used in agriculture, but it can be used on lawns as well, grass starting out needs a bit of feeding along with regular cutting to take hold. It is regularly used when reseeding grass fields. The numbers 10.10.20 represent the units of N(nitrogen) P(phosphorus) and K (potassium) in that order. Nitrogen help growth with phosphorus and potassium important for root development. A 50 kg bag is likely cheaper than a specific gardening fertiliser a quarter the size and once it's kept in a dry spot in the shed the bag will last fine

Got a 50kg bag today in local supplier. 25 euro, no idea if cheap or not.


Spread it around on the lawn so that will give it a bit of a hand

Thank you for advice

_Brian

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Got a 50kg bag today in local supplier. 25 euro, no idea if cheap or not.


Spread it around on the lawn so that will give it a bit of a hand

Thank you for advice

How much did you spread and how big is the lawn ??

Pious14

I would imagine the lawn is too young to feed yet. It would need a year at least to establish before fertilising but I'm no garden expert. Be careful in case you ruin the lawn

_Brian

Pious14 wrote: »

I would imagine the lawn is too young to feed yet. It would need a year at least to establish before fertilising but I'm no garden expert. Be careful in case you ruin the lawn

Commercial reseeding always gets 10:10:20 at time of sowing, seed will strike fast now and having feet available helps get grass established ahead of weeds.
Biggest mistake in Irish lawns is lack of feeding.

Pious14

_Brian wrote: »

Commercial reseeding always gets 10:10:20 at time of sowing, seed will strike fast now and having feet available helps get grass established ahead of weeds.
Biggest mistake in Irish lawns is lack of feeding.

Cool wasn't aware you could do that with a new lawn. My lawn is definitely in need of a feed.

Redgirl82

_Brian wrote: »

How much did you spread and how big is the lawn ??

Spread about half the bag, probably way too much but I just sprinkled around with my hand. The garden is circa an acre

Redgirl82

The garden has a nice showing of green shoots in sections. I guess it is helping it. How long does anyone know before it would be safe to let the kids on it? having the in the house is driving me nuts

looksee

I would not let them on it till after the first cut at the earliest.

Redgirl82

looksee wrote: »

I would not let them on it till after the first cut at the earliest.

I only have a tractor mower, will it be ok to use that for first cut once I wait for it to be dry? or should I get push ?

Mooooo

Once it's dry the tractor mower will be fine, a test we use before letting cattle on to graze fresh reseed would be to pull a few leaves and once the root doesn't come up you could work away and cut it. On the fert you didn't put out too much, on grass fields which have been reseeded there would be 3 of those edit 50kg bags per acre put out at setting, you could put out the rest of the bag when it's up and after cutting if you wish,

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

Once it's dry the tractor mower will be fine, a test we use before letting cattle on to graze fresh reseed would be to pull a few leaves and once the root doesn't come up you could work away and cut it. On the fert you didn't put out too much, on grass fields which have been reseeded there would be 3 of those edit 50kg bags per acre put out at setting, you could put out the rest of the bag when it's up and after cutting if you wish,

Thanks, I will wait another few days and maybe fire out the rest of it....

_Brian

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Spread about half the bag, probably way too much but I just sprinkled around with my hand. The garden is circa an acre

That's fine, you could do that every 4-6 weeks during growing season.
I would spread my own at twice that rate and it's very manageable.

Don't spread that after mid August to avoid growing a mop of grass over the winter season. There are Autum feeds for lawns, 0 nitrogen, just P and K, 0-7-30 or 0-10-20, helps strengthen roots and fight moss.

Redgirl82

_Brian wrote: »

That's fine, you could do that every 4-6 weeks during growing season.
I would spread my own at twice that rate and it's very manageable.

Don't spread that after mid August to avoid growing a mop of grass over the winter season. There are Autum feeds for lawns, 0 nitrogen, just P and K, 0-7-30 or 0-10-20, helps strengthen roots and fight moss.

Lots of green shoots but nothing major, I know we are getting very warm weather soon(well hopefully). Should I look at watering if very warm?

Mooooo

Shouldn't need to, plenty moisture, in recent weather. I'm afraid it's the old a watched kettle never boils, it's only in a week or so yes? Time is all it needs now, 2 months time you'll be hoping it would slow up ha

Redgirl82

Just checking does this look right? it is all strips in garden with grass in section and then others with just dirt still.

In some of the lines you can see really really small buds....It will be 2 weeks on Saturday since reseeding.

I know I am a bit crazy but just concerned there is no grass seed in sections and I will be sitting here in a few weeks no further on

The landscaper used a little stand on machine that flew around to put on grass seeds, it was like 2 barrels with pins coming out of them

_Brian

Have to say he made a bad enough job of spreading the seed, its "likely" that it will even out over the next two weeks but it was put on very uneven.

I can understand why you might be a bit worried, I'd be getting tempted to call him back and seed the bare patches again.

The big risk with bare patches is they are leaving the ground open for weed growth.

Mooooo

Agree with Brian, if bare patch was in one spot you may say could be differences in soil but looking at that I'd wonder how well it's put out, the idea of any machine to do it would be an even cover

Redgirl82

_Brian wrote: »

Have to say he made a bad enough job of spreading the seed, its "likely" that it will even out over the next two weeks but it was put on very uneven.

I can understand why you might be a bit worried, I'd be getting tempted to call him back and seed the bare patches again.

The big risk with bare patches is they are leaving the ground open for weed growth.

Called him earlier today just after I posted as I was concerned. He said it was just some of the grass growing quicker and it would fill in, if patch's then he will seed again in 3 weeks

Odelay

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Called him earlier today just after I posted as I was concerned. He said it was just some of the grass growing quicker and it would fill in, if patch's then he will seed again in 3 weeks

I'd be slow to accept that, think you should ask him to visit now. That's not patchy, there was something wrong with the spreading.

_Brian

Hard to tell from photo but is one side very even and one side very uneven ??

Possible the spreader got blocked or something.

You'll know yourself, get down and examine the bare patches, is the grass coming on there at all ??

Redgirl82

_Brian wrote: »

Hard to tell from photo but is one side very even and one side very uneven ??

Possible the spreader got blocked or something.

You'll know yourself, get down and examine the bare patches, is the grass coming on there at all ??

Its stripes. so one stripe grass and then the next clay. So we have stripes of grass and then clay. Same on front and back. Looks like grass seed on one stripe and next missed

If you get what I mean. The issue is it is the same around the whole garden. Front and back. Would you normally seed this way? I would have expected patch's but not clear stripes of grass and no grass

Redgirl82

Bit of disaster, I talked to landscaper earlier.

After I left message this morning he had a look at machine, looks like one side was not releasing grass seed. That is why the lines are in the ground.

Not sure how the guy who was using it never noticed that but anyway.

Means I have missed 2 weeks of growing....now how do I manage different growths?

_Brian

Different growth will average out with time.
Get him to seed the bare ground as soon as he can, water it and it will strike.

Few weeks you can mow it and it will soon blend in.

Redgirl82

_Brian wrote: »

Different growth will average out with time.
Get him to seed the bare ground as soon as he can, water it and it will strike.

Few weeks you can mow it and it will soon blend in.

Reseeded yesterday, which was great. Really wasn't guys fault and I should have noticed before

Anyway, no harm to everyone but I am hoping for a good 2-3 days of down pour to water it in

oleras

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Reseeded yesterday, which was great. Really wasn't guys fault and I should have noticed before

Anyway, no harm to everyone but I am hoping for a good 2-3 days of down pour to water it in

Who do you hold responsible ? How wasn't it the guys fault who seeded it ?

Redgirl82

Ok so grass is growing. I talked to 2 different people both gave advice.

First said collect grass and do not mulch.

Second said mulch and it will help the grass grow

What is recommendation?

Mooooo

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Ok so grass is growing. I talked to 2 different people both gave advice.

First said collect grass and do not mulch.

Second said mulch and it will help the grass grow

What is recommendation?

I would collect the first few times and cut low, this will help the grass tiller and collecting the cuttings allows light down to all the plant, mulch towards the end of the year just don't leave it go very long when mulching
Are there weeds showing? If so and if they are big enough to spray now is the best time to spray them, but you would want to leave a week between spraying and cutting to allow the weeds time to take in the spray and kill the root

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

I would collect the first few times and cut low, this will help the grass tiller and collecting the cuttings allows light down to all the plant, mulch towards the end of the year just don't leave it go very long when mulching
Are there weeds showing? If so and if they are big enough to spray now is the best time to spray them, but you would want to leave a week between spraying and cutting to allow the weeds time to take in the spray and kill the root

I seen a few popping up. I had some Salt/vinger mix left over so gave them a quick squirt. I didn't want to use Roundup yet

Probably another question, there is a good few small stones etc on garden. I have collected as much as possible but still a few left. Don't want to ruin lawnmower so would I be better renting one out for first few cuts?

Mooooo

Don't use roundup, use a selective herbicide that won't kill grass such as grazon pro. On the stones if they are pick I'm afraid picking them up is the only way to get rid of them job for the kids! If they are only small stones I wouldn't worry about them,

Redgirl82

The following is coming up in one section, you can see the now famous line of grass, then clay and then grass but this weed seems to be coming up between grass.

Should I cover with grazon?

Redgirl82

Ok, last question on this, its 2 week today since the reseed was done, not a huge sign of grass yet. It didn't really rain that much till 2-3 days ago when we got a good couple of down pours.

The section that had been seeded originally are flying but would the new sections not grow without much rain? Or should I be worried?

phkk

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Ok, last question on this, its 2 week today since the reseed was done, not a huge sign of grass yet. It didn't really rain that much till 2-3 days ago when we got a good couple of down pours.

The section that had been seeded originally are flying but would the new sections not grow without much rain? Or should I be worried?

Give it time I'd say, you probably won't really see it thrive and green up properly til September. If you have a hose or watering can, I'd keep wetting ground because from the photo, ground is cracking and drying out. Expect plenty of weeds at the start but keep cutting and eventually, many of them will die off

Mooooo

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Ok, last question on this, its 2 week today since the reseed was done, not a huge sign of grass yet. It didn't really rain that much till 2-3 days ago when we got a good couple of down pours.

The section that had been seeded originally are flying but would the new sections not grow without much rain? Or should I be worried?

It will come fine, conditions have been drier and a bit colder since the new bit went in so the strike may not be as fast. did you spray the weeds on the bare patch?

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

It will come fine, conditions have been drier and a bit colder since the new bit went in so the strike may not be as fast. did you spray the weeds on the bare patch?

Thanks,a few wee shoots today

Havent sprayed yet as I don't want to affect the grass growth, should I spray? there is a lot of weeds in sections with little grass!!!

Mooooo

Redgirl82 wrote: »

Thanks,a few wee shoots today

Havent sprayed yet as I don't want to affect the grass growth, should I spray? there is a lot of weeds in sections with little grass!!!

Follow the instructions on the spray container, it may be no harm to do them as they will block light getting down to new grass, dont go very heavy as the spray may check the grass

Redgirl82

Mooooo wrote: »

Follow the instructions on the spray container, it may be no harm to do them as they will block light getting down to new grass, dont go very heavy as the spray may check the grass

Thanks, I have party at weekend so going to leave it for the min....

I was about to buy Grazon Pro but it says don't use on grass is less than a year old....will it be ok?

Mooooo

Perhaps ask in the garden centre or coop, the sprays other than that which I'm familiar with tend to come in bigger containers such for farming and faster growing grass

Redgirl82

Ok, so about nearly 8 weeks on. I have some lovely sections of grass but then section which are just pure weeds and some grass coming up between them

I was getting the hubbie to cut and the first few times he collected but it would nearly fill up the bins. So last 2 times he has mulched.

Someone said he should collect till I get rid of weeds or it might help them grow? Is this correct?

He is running the mower over it twice a week at the moment, at setting 1 on mower. Should he let it grow a bit or keep it low?

Mooooo

Keep it low., I would collect all the time to allow as much light as possible down to the base. How strong are the weeds? They will most likely have to be sprayed as only a few types of weeds can be gotten rid of with persistent cutting. Of chance the grazon spray it's the best one for weeds. Leave them grow a bit spray them then don't cut for a week to 10 days to allow the spray to get down to the root