"Tim Challenger" "timothy(dot)challenger(at)apk(dot)at" wrote in message
s.com...
On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:01:40 +0100, Victoria Clare wrote:

nmorgan wrote in
s.com:

I need to repair my lawn which has a burnt crater in the middle of it
from a bonfire and the rest has been damaged with washed out paint
trays being thrown across it etc.
I was thinking about rotorvating it and then laying turf but my dad has
told me it will be a lot cheaper (and easier!?) to just seed it on top
of the existing grass. He has suggested raking it thoroughly to remove
the dead grass and weeds and then sprinkling grass seed around and
re-raking it into the ground. He also suggested a very light covering
of sand to keep the birds off. Just wondering if any of you can shed
any light on this as to whether it might work or what else i should do.
I have thought it is worth a shot and if nothing happens within a few
weeks i can always resort to the turf?

Depends how high your standards are! If you want a perfectly flat, even
lawn, and your existing one actually has holes in, I suspect you need to
re-do it from scratch
....snip....
This is a good time of year to do it too, though you will need to water
well if you are in one of the dry parts of the UK.
...snip...

Right, I agree. If you just want a nice lawn, not a bowling green, I think
re-seeding would be enough, but it depends what you want your lawn to look
like. If it's large, then hire/borrow a scarifier/de-thatcher (or whatever
they're called) to do the removing of the weeds etc. As your dad said,
I'd
recommend a layer of either sand or fine soil/peat to keep the seeds out
of
sight from the beady-eyed birds. As long as they can't see too much seed
they'll mostly leave it alone. A thin layer of something also helps you
see
when it's drying out, so you can give it a watering, that's very
important.

I'm doing my lawn tomorrow, as it happens.

--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we
would
be so simple that we couldn't.

Actually the experts recomend mixing lawn seed with some fine soil and a
little water and allowing it to germinate for exactly 3 days .........then
spread it over bare patches etc ..........this means no seed for birds to
pinch
you can also cover the area with polythene for 2 to 3 weeks to keep it moist
and warm