On Apr 20, 11:16*am, Saki wrote:
When we moved into the property, the lawn couldn't be salvaged. There
was a lot of contrasting information as to how you should freshly plant
a lawn form seed but here's what I ended up doing.

Completely turned over existing grass. moss and weeds, removing all.
Flattened out the soil, fertilised with pre-lawn pellets and raked these
in. Dispersed grass seed and gently raked in. I was advised to only bury
around half of the seeds by raking, I now suspect they should all be
gently covered with soil. 6 weeks on, here's what we have:

[image:http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../IMG_1589.jpg]

[image:http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../IMG_1590.jpg]

[image:http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../IMG_1591.jpg]

Should I plant more seed in the spaces and lightly rake in and cover
with soil or is there a better way of filling these gaps out?

Thanks

--
Saki

I assume you are in Canada, since you used Canada grass seed, whatever
that is. Are there any agricultural services available that are
affiliated with the govt or university? Here in the states, many
places they are and they can give you advice that is specific to your
location. Some other points:

You're right that all of the seed should have been about 1/4" beneath
the surface, instead of leaving some on top.

Did you keep it constantly wet while it was germinating? It doesn't
have to be watered deep or flooded, but the top layer needs to be kept
moist to wet. Another problem, especially with seed left on the
surface, is that it can float and redistribute in heavy rains.

Have you checked the PH of the soil and it's around 6.5 -7? What
kind of topsoil is there?

At this point, you have only 2 choices. Do nothing or overseed.
Normally, I'd overseed using a rented slit-seeder. The downside is
that it does some damage to the existing turf. And your turf is not
really even existing yet, so you'd have to use seed quantity close to
what you would for bare soil and expect a lot of what is there to be
lost in the process. If you just throw seed on the surface, there is
little chance for success. Raking is also going to damage some of
what is already trying to grow and a lot depends on how big the area
is. If it's even 1000 sq ft, trying to rake it in is more work than
I'd want to do.

Another factor is that it apparently is in shade. Since you are in
Canada, there still may be time to re-seed. But the problem with
trying to grow new grass is that it needs sun and the more the
better. If leaves are filling in before the grass gets going, it's
less likely you will be successful. Normally, Fall is the best time
to seed, but not for heavily shaded areas subject to leaves. I've
always done those areas as early in the Spring as possible. In the
Fall, you have less sun and leaves starting to cover.

I'd take another look at what kind of grass you used. You want to buy
the best quality seed you can and make sure it's suited to the
application.