Have I made a mistake or am I just impatient?

Hello
We had a really patchy lawn and the existing grass seemed to be of all sorts of different varieties - none of which was particularly nice. We have a big tree which puts lots of shade on the lawn so that's not helped. So I decided to grasp the nettle so to speak, and redo the lawn. So, I rotovated the whole thing which nearly killed me - especially as I hadn't noticed the handle hight adjustment on the rotorvator until the last 2m on the 2nd pass. We cleared all of the old grass roots, weeds and other bits and then proceeded to do an initial level. I ordered 2 tonnes of lawn topsoil and laid that, raked and leveled the lot. We used B&Q pre-lawn fertiliser on it and left it for a week before seeding with B&Q shady lawn seed.

I should have checked the weather because after about 10 mins into seeding, it started raining. I'd already hired a garden roller after reading that it's a good idea to roll after seeding, so thinking the downpour wouldn't last very long I proceeded to roll and it started to turn into a bit of a mud bath. I got the rolling finished without too much problem but the downpour lasted for about another 6 hours. And then it rained every day for a week for between 2 and 4 hours. The whole thing got a good soaking but the bits not under the tree got quite waterlogged.

Now after nearly 2 weeks, I can see that some of the new lawn has started to come through - the bits under the tree that are most protected from the rain. I can see a fair bit of the seed we put down sitting on top of the soil so I'm worried that the waterlogging has killed the seeds or at least not allowed them to germinate some how.

We've been watering it this week because it's been warm and dry and the soil looked like it was drying out. However the bit that's not protected by the tree (about 2/3rds) doesn't seem to be doing a lot. Our plan is to keep an eye the lawn (watering on days without rain) until next weekend(6th august) and see what happens, but realistically what are my options if the lawn doesn't grow in the unprotected areas?
Would it be best, given the size of the area that hasn't taken, to rake it over and re-seed? Or is there a better option?

Thank you in advance
David

 

I'd give it another week just in case it's slow to get away. Keep it watered though. If by then the grass still hasn't shown, then I'd think about re-seeding.

 

Hello Sheal

Thank you for your response. Where we had a dry spell last week some of the soil has formed a bit of a crust as such. We've kept it watered but the crust like texture is still there. Where there is no crust, the grass has come through so I'm just wondering if the crust could be what's stopping the grass from coming through. Does this sound reasonable or am I talking from where the sun doesn't shine? :-)

Cheers

David

 

No don't worry about the 'crust'. Grass is pretty strong stuff and will push up through it. Just make sure you keep it watered and see how it goes.

On another note, plants are surprising things. Many years ago I spotted some mushrooms that had pushed their way up through a tarmac footpath.

 

Thank you for your replies, the lawn is really coming on now.

I decided to give it a gentle rake on the completely bare patches and put a bit more seed down all over and what a transformation! The wet weather helped I'm sure but now it's pretty much sorted. There's only the odd patch here and there so I'm going to give it another week and then cut it as it's already nearly 3 inches long.

We've got clay soil and I read that around autumn time it's a good idea to aerate the soil and scatter sand over the top - would you agree? If so, how much sand are we talking about i.e. a light dusting or something more substantial?

 

I'm still learning, but have seeded several gardens .... I personally would not aerate right now, nor would I add additional topsoil right now

also be very carefull with mowing as the grass will be very fine and roots are still developing ... do not mow until the grass is 3 inches high, then only remove 1 inch, and make sure the blade is sharp

comes spring, then you can aerate and add additional topsoil and a spring lawn feed

also check before using weed and feed .... some say you should not use this on lawn that is younger that 6 months

there are some ex-groundsmen on this forum and I'm sure they will be along shortly to give the correct advise

 

Hi Bravid,
I've never done anything to a lawn in it's first year. It needs a chance to settle and get it's roots down properly. I think if you were to put sand down now it may scorch the young shoots.

When you mow the first couple of times adjust the mower to give it a slightly higher cut, otherwise it will probably tear out the young grass.