Bare patches / thin grass coverage

Hi,

I seeded a lawn from scratch in May last year and considering it was my first attempt it went quite well. The coverage however was thin in places and 2 subsequent purchases and application of seed in Sept/Oct 07 does not appear to of improved anything. With the winter months some areas of the grass have also died back to leave bare patches.

Having done some reading I have now done the following at the end of March 2008

1. Aerated the lawn
2. 2 weeks later Applied moss and weed killer and feed (mid march)
3. 2 weeks later Cut the lawn very short and raked
4. Aerated the lawn AGAIN!!(used garden fork to spike 6 inch deep holes all over the lawn) - Probably overkill but compaction is not a problem!!
5. Added organic soil improver, sharp sand and some fertiliser (from wormery) to the lawn and raked in.
6. Applied half strength miracle grow to the lawn/soil
7. Next day I overseeded the entire lawn and raked into the recently added topsoil.

I have kept the lawn/soil constantly moist since doing this but so far I have no signs of new grass or improvement of the bare patches. As of today (17th April 2008)it has been exactly 3 weeks since I seeded the lawn (step 7)

It says that I should be seeing growth after 7-14 days on the packet so I am a bit perplexed to where I may be going wrong.

Im hoping that it is simply a case of the colder temperatures we have experienced recently not allowing the germination to occur but then on the other hand I may be doing or have done something wrong.

Can anyone help me?? Do I need to seed again or is just a bit of patience required??

Thanks

Justin

 

perhaps the seed is stale, also could be the weather although the grass this side of the Severn is growing fine!

Give it a few more weeks then if nothing seed again with fresh seed. Remember to mix your seed in a bucket with a few handfulls of compost so as to help it stick.

 

Thanks

I bought the seed from B and Q about 8 weeks ago and its been in the shed ever since so dont know if thats the issue. The grass I have there already is growing fine - its just the seeds so not sure its too cold to germinate.

Ill wait until May and the re-seed with the compost mix as suggested

 

I used some 'shady area' seed from B&Q autumn 2006 to fill in a patch where a stump had been removed. The seed took ages to germinate. There was little to see after 2 weeks, but it did eventually come through quite well.