Re-seeding a patchy lawn

BigAl81

Update from Day 14

Hi sorry for the delay in posting this, but here is the update from back at day 14. This is a day 7 by day 14 side by side...



Plenty more growth to report, and the first batch of new weeds have popped up! The grass is getting thicker, but still a few patches with the compost still sitting on top of the old grass.

BigAl81

Day 18 Update

And here is the update from Day 18. The grass is finally greener on my side

New Home

\o/

Congratulations on your new, luscious lawn!

how.gareth

Excellent stuff, well done!

notfromhere

Re-seeding a patchy lawn, is it still to late to start this, Well done BigAl81, am jelous.

GreeBo

BigAl81 wrote: »

Day 18 Update

And here is the update from Day 18. The grass is finally greener on my side

Looks great....time for a mow!

BigAl81

notfromhere wrote: »

Re-seeding a patchy lawn, is it still to late to start this, Well done BigAl81, am jelous.

I'm no expert, but the weather for the next 10 days looks good for grass. Highs of 17 degrees and lows most days of 8ish with some rain.

I see Saturday night will be cold, but looks like it could be worth a punt! Be sure to keep the seeds moist on the days it doesn't rain and keep the birds away!!

Good luck!

BigAl81

GreeBo wrote: »

Looks great....time for a mow!

Hum, I was wondering about that. I would normally mow it at that length, but I'd be nervous about pulling up the new thin grass. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow that I sowed the seed.

If I mow it it will be at a high setting.

Would I be better leaving it to grow and get stronger, or would mowing it allow more light down to the smaller new grass do you think?

GreeBo

BigAl81 wrote: »

Hum, I was wondering about that. I would normally mow it at that length, but I'd be nervous about pulling up the new thin grass. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow that I sowed the seed.

If I mow it it will be at a high setting.

Would I be better leaving it to grow and get stronger, or would mowing it allow more light down to the smaller new grass do you think?

It looks primed for a mow in my opinion.

Mowing will encourage it to grow and wont damage it in any meaningful way.
Anything with that has rooted will be fine, anything that hasnt is dead anyway.

uncommon_name

Great job. I need to do my own lawn too, its a new house and the builders done a terrible job of the back lawn. I have got them to rip up the front and put tar mac down as the front was an even worse job.
This thread will be very helpful for me as I didn't really know how to approach it. So thanks for sharing the process.
(",)

BigAl81

Update from Day 25

Time for a mow last weekend. I did it on the second highest setting of the mower. Here's the before and after....

Before...

After....

Pretty happy over all, I'll do a better before and after pic later on. Still a few patches where the compost is sitting on top of old grass so I might put a bit more seed down in those patches and hope for the best!

Thanks,
BigAl.

GreeBo

Looks good, but I reckon you could go a good bit lower with the mower, still seems pretty long (albeit from a wideshot)

BigAl81

GreeBo wrote: »

Looks good, but I reckon you could go a good bit lower with the mower, still seems pretty long (albeit from a wideshot)

Yeah I mowed it high as I didn't want to take too much off the top of the new grass.

My working theory (completely made up by myself) was the longer the blade of grass, the more photosynthesis it can do, and the more energy it can put into root growth?

Do you think I should mow it low-ish over the weekend so? Would that let the light down to the smaller grass then is it?

Thanks for the advice,
BigAl.

GreeBo

BigAl81 wrote: »

Yeah I mowed it high as I didn't want to take too much off the top of the new grass.

My working theory (completely made up by myself) was the longer the blade of grass, the more photosynthesis it can do, and the more energy it can put into root growth?

Do you think I should mow it low-ish over the weekend so? Would that let the light down to the smaller grass then is it?

Thanks for the advice,
BigAl.

You never want to remove more than 1/3 of the length in a cut as it will over stress the plant.

Whats your desired cutting height and whats the current height?

helimachoptor

this has been very informative, my garden (about 5500 sq foot) got really patch during the summer so will need to replicate this, thanks op!

BigAl81

Hi all,

Just to reiterate, I'm by no means an expert and this was more of a trial / experiment and (appart from the flower bed you can see in the photos) was my first go and anything in the gardening space.

It seems to have worked very well and I'm very happy with it, but others may have different or better ideas as well.

I'll cut the grass when it's dry and I'll get another photo up then.

Thanks,
Al.

BigAl81

Quick update,

Hasn't be mowed since mid October, I haven't been home for a dry enough day! Looking good, certainly much better than before!

It's come a long way

eoin.d

I was looking forward to an update ,Well done it looks great.

BigAl81

Hi,

Would there be any harm in leaving it a bit longer and not mowing it?

My thinking is the more length there is in the grass, the more sun each blade will capture and the more energy it can soak up and the more the roots will grow? This might allow the newer grass to get more established? Or maybe I'm overthinking it!

The fuller grass might also drown out the weeds?

Or would long wet grass not be good over the winter? I've spotted the odd mushroom growing in there already!

Thanks,
BigAl

viewer

What is it looking like this year?