Again, don’t overdo this as seeds also need light. You could choose to make a feature of this or to blur the difference by using a combination of the two seed types over the part where the two areas join together. Whenever you repair lawns, the unpredictable nature of our weather means you are taking a chance. Over Christmas I was busy sowing grass seed. Tips for Planting Grass You can find us not only on this site but on the social media channels below. Seed warm weather grass seeds in early spring and into the summer. The Grass People Superstar: best grass seed for large areas. There are grasses for damp or dry soil, shady as well as sunny situations. We were lucky. There’s a good chance most of them will die back in the autumn in any case. This may seem like a long time, but you need every trace of the chemicals to be out of the soil before you sow your grass seeds, otherwise it will very probably kill them. BIG guy with a big heart, super warm and friendly guy. Give it a few weeks and all the weeds will be dead and ready for removal. Choose warm-season grass such as bermudagrass or bahiagrass, if you live in a hot Southern region. When to plant grass seed in the UK. Don’t go crazy and scalp your lawn, it won’t be nearly strong enough to take this sort of treatment yet. Many are ideal for gravel gardens, prairie planting, wildlife gardens and are great to add to the cutting garden; others perform well in containers. Eliminate perennial weeds such as couch grass or bindweed well before beginning to prepare the seed bed. Before laying a new lawn, take some time to think about the part it will play in your overall garden layout. Although Guy did mention they do sell a grass seed 'Anytime’, which was launched recently, composed of three types of rye, which will germinate at 2-3C. Divide the area to be seeded into segments. Seed Head: This is the flower of the grass plant. Whether you’re sowing a new lawn or overseeding an old one, you want to do it at the right time and in the right way. Ornamental grasses can be planted all year round but ideally plant them in spring or autumn. If you sow in autumn, weeds are far less likely to be an issue, but if they do pop up then either ignore them or remove them by hand. While planting grass seed in November is too late to make the fall growing season, there is a method called dormant seeding. If you are using hard-wearing grass seed and doing everything properly and still finding that you regularly get bare patches in the same places on your lawn, then you should probably take this as a sign that the traffic is too much for any form of grass and that you either want to look at an alternative such as paving or at the very least give your lawn some help, for example, by putting down stepping stones. If you are going to use residual weed killer or moss killer, then it’s preferable to use one which also feeds your lawn as this will help to add the nutrients the grass seeds will need to grow. Again, keep a light hand, use a manual watering can with a rose on or a hose gun with a mist spray (or a sprinkler with a mist setting). Some types of grass seed will rot if left in cold, wet ground, fescues are particularly prone to this, whereas rye grass is more tolerant. Well, when you bring in the mower in spring, most will hopefully be out-competed by your thickly growing lawn - fingers crossed! He also stresses that you should not to sow too deeply. Here are some grass-seed related FAQs and the answers to them. It costs from around £2/m sq. Test Your Soil (Optional) Fortunately, you can get beautiful results without a soil test as long as … We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. The reason why late summer to mid-autumn has the edge over mid-spring is because most weeds have already been and gone, so there will be less competition for resources. When you sow the seed it will be at marginally varying depths and not all germinates exactly at the same time so it is unlikely for it all to be affected by frost. These finest quality grass seed mixtures are designed to look perfect but still be versatile. For best results, lawn seed should be sown in spring (from March to May) or early autumn (September to mid October), when the soil is moist and warm. This will help prepare the soil and give your grass the best chance of growing. These are: choosing the right grass seed, preparing the lawn area, sowing the grass seeds and aftercare. If sowing in autumn, the seed will germinate quickly as the ground is warm and moist. Ideally, you should finish by going over the area with a garden roller, but if you don’t have one, just walk over it, if possible put a cover down first, a plank will do or a tarpaulin, to give your seeds a bit of protection. You should never roll it immediately after sowing. If you sow your grass seeds in spring, you’ll probably find that you get a lot of weeds in your lawn. For the sake of completeness, if you have an area of really deep shade, then you’ll struggle to find any form of grass which will grow there, or anything else for that matter. Use weedkiller, or hand weed. A blend of grass seeds guarantees durability throughout the seasonal changes. 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No weeds can compete and the mower restricts its spread. Stolon: This is a horizontal above-ground stem or runner. Dig or rotovate the site to a depth of 20-25cm (8-10in). This means that, in practice, you should really aim to use up grass seed within one year. From this point on, you stay off the area until you are actually read to sow your grass seeds. The exception to this is if the packaging specifically says that the grass seed needs to be fertilized, in which case follow the instructions. You can find out when to sow grass seed by checking the weather forecast, as heavy rain and strong winds can drown the seeds or wash or blow them away. You may want or need to skip this step if you are using grass seeds which come with a fertilizer treatment, check the instructions on the packaging. For example, you might need to add a soil improver or top soil, or if your soil is very sandy, you might want to add some lawn soil or sharp sand to help improve the drainage. This not only protects the grass but also provides a safety surface. Another trick beloved of experienced gardeners is to put a heavy covering over the ground, basically anything thick enough to block out all the light (it’s important that all light is blocked). Through dormant seeding, grass seed can be planted in November when the weather is cold enough to keep it dormant until the weather warms up in the spring. Usually the packaging will tell you exactly how much grass seed to use, but if, for some reason, it doesn’t, here are the standard guidelines: Grass seed for top-quality ornamental lawns : 30g per sq m  (1oz per sq yd), Grass seed for standard ornamental lawns: 20-25g per sq m  (¾oz per sq yd), Grass seed for standard utility lawns (with rye grass): 15-20g per sq m (½oz per sq yd). Often soil temperatures on the surface can warm up remarkably quickly with a bit of sunshine. If you’re lucky, there will be a measure in the pack. If you have a cylinder mower, remove the front roller as it will be a bit too much at this point. Specific features: 10 kg bag; covers … Bald patches created by leatherjackets and chafer bugs seem to be on the increase in lawns. This is a heavy duty polyethylene grid, which is simply installed by laying it over mown grass and pinning into place. Hard Wearing Grass; High Quality Lawn Lawn UK is known for top quality premium lawn seed. There will also be fewer weeds for the grass to compete with at this time of the year. Guy Jenkins, consumer manager at Johnsons Lawn Seed, says many gardeners in the south do sow in winter, but ideally the ground temperature should be 6C at least. I checked with experts to find out what risks I am taking by sowing at a time of year when we could have a sudden freeze. In either case, you want to get down to about 15cm. Planting 1 or 2 seeds into a seed pod is a slower method, but works in the long run. As a general rule, plant cool-season grass seed at least 45 days before the estimated date of your first fall frost, before soil and air temperatures drop to less favorable levels. Grass seed usually takes up to 30 days to germinate, or even longer if the weather’s particularly cold, so it’s best to be prepared! For the most part, however, what you see on the packaging is likely to be a shortened version of the following instructions. Stepping stones are another way to toughen up your grass paths. There are an infinite number of patterns you can use enabling you to create curvy or straight paths. Pro tip, while you might think that “grass is grass” in actual fact when you see two types of grasses side by side, the difference between them can be very obvious. In a perfect world, I would prefer to sow in September, but this is not always possible. Browse our selection at https://www.telegraphplants.co.uk/. Grass reinforcing meshes (terram.com) can offer a soft solution. Award-winning garden designer Charlotte Howard said, “Grass seed can take between 5 and 30 days to germinate, depending on the variety.There are many different types of grass seed mixes depending on the sort of lawn you want. Repeat and then finish with a rake to get rid of any footsteps or any other hollows which have formed and leave a perfectly flat surface. Knowing when to sow grass Sowing season in the UK is generally from mid March - September, this is when temperatures are 8-10 degrees and above consistently, which is required for germination to occur. A soil thermometer is an extremely handy bit of kit and the results can often surprise you (a great guide to sowing early veg, too). Large tracts had to be sown with grass. Try to make them as close to 1M by 1M as you possibly can the quantity of seed to use is generally given on this basis. Starting ornamental grass seed by planting 1 or 2 seeds per growing cell will work, just not as fast as method #2. 1 At this time, the ground is still warm enough to aid germination, but the days are cool and sometimes rainy. If you can’t, then, as a minimum put a fork through it to aerate the soil. I like laying a square slab at 45 degrees to the path and then alternating this with a long thin slab. If young seed starts to chit and grow and so is full of moisture and extreme cold hits it, the water in the cells freezes, expands and then can rupture them. Lightly tickle this in with the rake just raking in the top 10mm, then sow the other half of the seed on the same area and lightly tickle it in again. Place fine-meshed netting over your seeded area to deter birds and for bonus points give your garden birds an alternative source of food which is easy for them to access. Turfing is an option, but is far more expensive and often doesn’t give you the right seed mix. Ornamental grasses can be used to great effect in our gardens, from providing a calming presence to more exuberant flowering plants to being the only focus of the design. Dig or till the area. If in doubt, sow grass seed which requires little maintenance, because it will still look better than high-maintenance grass seed which hasn’t been properly maintained. Many ornamental grasses can be grown easily from seed.Increase or refresh your stock by collecting seeds in autumn, for sowing in spring. Bald areas in your lawns can creep in from too much shade as trees expand their canopies. It’s really important to keep your soil moist, so if you don’t get rain, then you will need to water manually for at least the 7-10 days after sowing. For example, premium shade, which is a fine quality lawn mixture also grows well in the shade. That said, no matter how well you store grass seed, the quality will deteriorate over time, meaning fewer seeds will germinate. Grass seed is best sown from late summer to mid-autumn; there is less competition from weeds, and the soil is warm, and damp from rain. Join us, join in, save and live in luxury, for less, Enable registration in settings - general, When and How to Sow Grass Seed – Planting & Preparing Expert Guide, Best Drain Unblockers UK – [DIY Guide & Product Guide], How Much Does It Cost To Run A Hot Tub – [Complete Expert Guide], How to get rid of foxes in your garden – [UK Expert Guide], How to Sharpen Garden Shears – [Step By Step Guide], Best Cat Scarer – Complete Buying Guide and Review, When to Scarify the Lawn – Lawn Care an Expert Guide. If you want to plant grass seed, then your first step is to choose the right grass seed for your area and your lifestyle. For grasses that do best in a dry soil, improve drainage by digging in … So that just leaves the moss invasion. Thirty years ago I worked with an experienced 70-year-old head gardener, Les Jones, on the gardens at Stapleford Park. Since then I have heeded his excellent advice. Thankfully, with the mild temperatures, in two weeks it was greening up and now it looks almost lush. Grass seed can survive the winter, and planting during the winter season is known as dormant seeding. The mesh is invisible once the grass has grown through and maintenance is as for normal grass. When you’ve finished rake over the area so that the grass seeds are in the soil rather than just on the soil. Soil temperatures are still warm (55° to 65° F), which is necessary for optimum seed germination, and cooler air temperatures are better for grass growth. A common cause of failure arises from sowing in spring. Les surprised me by saying that he would sow grass seed at pretty much any time of year and it pretty much  always germinated and grew. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. This will allow the warm weather grasses to get the benefit of warm temperatures that come with summer while giving them time to become established prior to cooler weather in the fall. If it builds, screws or fixes, Jeff knows all about it. Whatever you do, you want to end up with soil which is free of lumps. Leave your grass to grow until it hits about 6-8cm and then, if possible, go over it gently with a garden roller. In principle, if you store it properly, then good-quality grass seed can last for up to three years. Another possibility would be if one part of your garden gets a lot of traffic but the other part is mainly ornamental. Depending on the nature of your garden, you may want to plant different types of grass seed for different areas. Now would be a good time to make any adjustments. If you put down grass seed in November or December, the seed will just lay dormant until the soil starts to warm in spring. 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