Overseeding?

Hi, I haven't used this forum for yonks but I just rediscovered it!!

I want to get my front lawn really lush and green. I get so envious when I walk past people's beautiful lawns
Anyhow, I have used feed weed and moss killer on my lawn and have spent a couple of days raking it all out (I can feel the blisters raising on my hands after today's session!) and I think I am now in a position to put some seed down.

I'm not a fantastic gardener but I do try, so what do I need to do? I saw someone overseeding their lawn and then covering it in soil (wasn't soil but not sure what it was) and now it looks gorgeous.

I know it's a bit late in the day but I am going to keep it well watered (if the great British summer doesn't do it for me!)

I am going to get my seed tomorrow so any pointers and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Lesley x

 

Hello.

Get a sack or two of sharp sand at the same time if you can. Mix the seed with the sand and scatter it about. Alternatively, I sometimes chuck the seed down, then scatter the sand over the top.

The significance of the sand is twofold in my opinion (some will say threefold but I'm not convinced by the common argument that it helps you see where you've been). Firstly, it keeps the rooting area nice and loose for the new seed, and secondly it keeps the moss from quickly filling any gaps.

The stuff you saw your neighbour putting down that looked like soil could have been lots of things. They were top dressing their lawn. This is basically about enriching the soil at the surface, to help the grass. They could have been using a commercial mix, which is quite expensive, or ordinary compost, which is cheap but not that much point to it (for this role) in my opinion, or top soil which, again in my opinion, is a bit pointless unless the soil underneath is particularly poor.

The main point of top dressing is to provide nice loose, nutrient rich soil at the surface, because grass is not very deep rooted, and it spreads at the very surface. I tend to use either just sand for this purpose, or more recently, spent mushroom compost. Both a lot cheaper than commercial lawn dressing mixes.

 

Wow clueless, you do love your sand!
Sand doesn't contain any nutrients as it is just ground up rock. Grass seed won't germinate in it either because it doesn't retain any moisture
You use sand to help keep the soil well drained, if it is needed, but too much and you'll just have a beach, which nothing will grow in!
If you've got a sandy soil already there really isn't any point in putting down more.

Back to Lesley's question, to re seed, make sure the soil is exposed where you are sowing the seed, and spread a good quality topsoil, or a john innes soil-based compost over the top of the seed. This ensures the seed has a good medium to root in and will be well away in no time.

 

Its brilliant stuff. But in fairness, my garden is heavy clay, so sand works well for me. I probably should have said that when I do it, the seed is always on the soil, with the sand over the top, which has always worked very well for me. I probably should also have said that I only go for a light dusting at a time, although more than once I have completely buried the grass under sand, and its been ok (made sure I rescued it within a few days though).

 

Thanks guys!!

I am off to get some decent topsoils and seed today and the weather did its job last night and 'watered' my lawn really well!

It's not raining now so I plan to get it done today.

Here is a picture of the lawn as it is.

 

Excuse the fence!! I need to get it replaced. It's on my list of things to do!

 

I think you might want to look at new lawnmowers too. It could well be my eyes playing up, but it looks to me very much like your mower has scalped the lawn.

 

The mower is ok. I normally use a higher setting but when reading about overseeding it said to cut it short so the seed doesn't get lost so I out it in the lowest setting!! Maybe it was too low!!! Ah we'll, it'll grow back and I will make sure that I use the higher setting when mowing.

 

Ah, that makes sense. Its been scalped ready for overseeding. I thought that was just a normal cut. I had a mower once that used to pick the grass out by the roots rather than actually cutting it. It was so blunt.

 

Will 35 litres of topsoil be enough to cover the lawn? I haven't a clue. I'd say the lawn is around 16 sq metres

 

35 litres is about half a sack of compost. Doesn't sound like much. I found this online calculator:

http://www.rolawn.co.uk/product-calculator.html

But it seems to be aimed at much larger lawns because it calculates how many cubic metres of dressing you'd need.

 

Agreed

An inch on 16 sq.metres requires 400 litres - which is close to half a tonne.

To do the calculation adjust this and stick it into google:

16 sq metres x 1 inch in litres =

 

Well, I managed to get it done. Probably could have done with a little more topsoil but hey, we'll see how it goes. I've just watered it which made the seed show through the soil. Hoping it rains for a few days now, it's forecast anyway for the ret of the week where I am.
Can't wait to see how it looks in a few weeks....good I hope!!!

Tanks for all your help guys, I will report back!!

 

Wow, I didn't use nowhere near an inch!! More of a sprinkling I'd say....ah well, I suppose some is better than none!

 

Don't think you needed an inch ... I was just doing the sums in round-number units Thus if 1" would be 400 Litres then, say, 1/4" would need 100 Litres ...