New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

Hi All, Hope you can help me here, we have just purchased a new-build and as such have taken the onerous task of seeding the garden. It had a 4" deep topsoil layer, so we levelled out as best we could, broke the hard topsoil down into a decent surface, rolled it and then added the requisite amount of feed, before laying grass seed down.

2 weeks later, we find that the shoots are not coming through as we had hoped, with patchy areas all over, and 'pools' of decent clumps here and there. I don't think that more shoots are going to appear, so we are stuck with large areas with 2" or so between shoots and seed that hasn't germinated.

I want to give a go at applying extra seed, but do not have a clue as to how to go about this. I am a beginner, so would very much appreciate it if someone could give me a step-by-step 'how to' in adding extra seed.

The weather is fairly warm at the moment (Czech Republic) but I do have plenty of water, but would need suggestions as to how often to water the areas, what to do to prepare the existing patchy areas, whether to use more feed (and when), etc, etc.

Here's hoping for some creative responses! :-)

New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

On May 29, 7:23*pm, tony w wrote:
Hi All, Hope you can help me here, we have just purchased a new-build
and as such have taken the onerous task of seeding the garden. It had a
4" deep topsoil layer, so we levelled out as best we could, broke the
hard topsoil down into a decent surface, rolled it and then added the
requisite amount of feed, before laying grass seed down.

2 weeks later, we find that the shoots are not coming through as we had
hoped, with patchy areas all over, and 'pools' of decent clumps here and
there. I don't think that more shoots are going to appear, so we are
stuck with large areas with 2" or so between shoots and seed that
hasn't germinated.

I want to give a go at applying extra seed, but do not have a clue as
to how to go about this. I am a beginner, so would very much appreciate
it if someone could give me a step-by-step 'how to' in adding extra
seed.

The weather is fairly warm at the moment (Czech Republic) but I do have
plenty of water, but would need suggestions as to how often to water the
areas, what to do to prepare the existing patchy areas, whether to use
more feed (and when), etc, etc.

Here's hoping for some creative responses! :-)

--
tony w


Did you rake it lightly after applying the seed to get good soil and
seed contact? Keep it constantly wet until it germinated?
Applying a light covering of weed free straw is also beneficial as it
helps keep the seed damp, lessens chance of runoff, etc.

At this point, I would go with what you have for this summer. Not
only is it too late to seed effectively, but it's also impossible to
do now without damaging what you already have that just sprouted.
I'd wait till early Sept, then use a slice seeder to overseed it.
Make sure the grass is a high quality seed, appropriate for the
conditions.

New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

On May 30, 8:05*am, wrote:
On May 29, 7:23*pm, tony w wrote:





Hi All, Hope you can help me here, we have just purchased a new-build
and as such have taken the onerous task of seeding the garden. It had a
4" deep topsoil layer, so we levelled out as best we could, broke the
hard topsoil down into a decent surface, rolled it and then added the
requisite amount of feed, before laying grass seed down.

2 weeks later, we find that the shoots are not coming through as we had
hoped, with patchy areas all over, and 'pools' of decent clumps here and
there. I don't think that more shoots are going to appear, so we are
stuck with large areas with 2" or so between shoots and seed that
hasn't germinated.

I want to give a go at applying extra seed, but do not have a clue as
to how to go about this. I am a beginner, so would very much appreciate
it if someone could give me a step-by-step 'how to' in adding extra
seed.

The weather is fairly warm at the moment (Czech Republic) but I do have
plenty of water, but would need suggestions as to how often to water the
areas, what to do to prepare the existing patchy areas, whether to use
more feed (and when), etc, etc.

Here's hoping for some creative responses! :-)

--
tony w

Did you rake it lightly after applying the seed to get good soil and
seed contact? * *Keep it constantly wet until it germinated?
Applying a light covering of weed free straw is also beneficial as it
helps keep the seed damp, lessens chance of runoff, etc.

At this point, I would go with what you have for this summer. * Not
only is it too late to seed effectively, but it's also impossible to
do now without damaging what you already have that just sprouted.
I'd wait till early Sept, then use a slice seeder to overseed it.
Make sure the grass is a high quality seed, appropriate for the
conditions.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Forgot to mention, you should also get the soil tested, particularly
for PH. If it's fresh topsoil like frequently found at new
construction, the PH can be low and needs to be adjusted with lime.

Many thanks, I will look into testing the soil.

Well, I re-seeded the lawn yesterday, did it properly, added some compost as a light overlay, and the heavens opened this evening and washed most of the seed away! I now have nice little 'battle lines' of compost at various stages on the back garden, and am not hopeful that much of the seed will sprout.

All that hard work for nothing...... and it was looking pretty good, kept it all wet, now I don't know when I can start again as storms are forecast for pretty much the whole of the next week......

New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

tony w wrote:
Well, I re-seeded the lawn yesterday, did it properly, added some
compost as a light overlay, and the heavens opened this evening and
washed most of the seed away! I now have nice little 'battle lines' of
compost at various stages on the back garden, and am not hopeful that
much of the seed will sprout.

All that hard work for nothing...... and it was looking pretty good,
kept it all wet, now I don't know when I can start again as storms are
forecast for pretty much the whole of the next week......

Been there, done that. My sister has been helping me clean up
my yard and the last seed that was put down was followed by
very heavy rains within about 6 hours. Looks like 75% of the
seed was washed away based upon what came up.

One thing that works well to cover new seed is peat moss.
It will stay wet for quite awhile, so you do not have to
water constantly.

New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

On Jun 1, 9:33*pm, "Mark Jones" wrote:
tony w wrote:
Well, I re-seeded the lawn yesterday, did it properly, added some
compost as a light overlay, and the heavens opened this evening and
washed most of the seed away! I now have nice little 'battle lines' of
compost at various stages on the back garden, and am not hopeful that
much of the seed will sprout.

All that hard work for nothing...... and it was looking pretty good,
kept it all wet, now I don't know when I can start again as storms are
forecast for pretty much the whole of the next week......


If you had waited until Fall and then used a slice seeder, as I
recommended, that would not have happened. The slice seeder cuts
grooves that the seed drops into, so it's much harder to wash away.
Trying to grow grass from seed now is a losing proposition. The
seeding should have been done 2 months ago and even then it's not the
best time.

Now you're trying to grow new grass in summer, which is the worst
possible time. You have to keep a seeded lawn constantly wet, and
with warm temps, that is an invitation for fungus, disease, etc.
Plus it takes many times more water, you have intense competition from
weeds, and you're trying to make grass grow when higher temps are
telling cool season grass to slow down. In early Sept you have
everything in your favor.









Been there, done that. My sister has been helping me clean up
my yard and the last seed that was put down was followed by
very heavy rains within about 6 hours. Looks like 75% of the
seed was washed away based upon what came up.

One thing that works well to cover new seed is peat moss.
It will stay wet for quite awhile, so you do not have to
water constantly.

New house, have seeded the garden but very patchy
 

On Jun 1, 9:33*pm, "Mark Jones" wrote:
tony w wrote:
Well, I re-seeded the lawn yesterday, did it properly, added some
compost as a light overlay, and the heavens opened this evening and
washed most of the seed away! I now have nice little 'battle lines' of
compost at various stages on the back garden, and am not hopeful that
much of the seed will sprout.

All that hard work for nothing...... and it was looking pretty good,
kept it all wet, now I don't know when I can start again as storms are
forecast for pretty much the whole of the next week......

Been there, done that. My sister has been helping me clean up
my yard and the last seed that was put down was followed by
very heavy rains within about 6 hours. Looks like 75% of the
seed was washed away based upon what came up.

One thing that works well to cover new seed is peat moss.
It will stay wet for quite awhile, so you do not have to
water constantly.

yeah, you can't do a good job reseeding in the hot weather. all the
grass wants is to go dormant. wait until fall. give it time to get
established in the fall for the winter, then it will establish itself
some more in the spring before summer comes.
also, consider what grass seed you have; most grass seed is a mix of
different species; some species, particularly bluegrass, are
"spreading", i.e. they will send rhizomes into those bare areas and
colonize them, assuming the conditions are otherwise to their liking
(sunny, no salt in the winter). which is one reason they're in that
grass seed mix.

Thanks, I knew we were pushing it in putting seed down now, but at 5000 Koruna (a little over 300 dollars) we had to take the chance, as to turf would have been 60000 Koruna.

We have 2 small kids that we want to 'turf' out onto the lawn, so any grass growing in the backyard will do!

It actually isn't looking that bad now, we have re-seeded the bare areas and the grass that has taken is looking very nice. We have temps of about 24C, and we are keeping the soil moist.

Fingers crossed!