Although not the optimum time of the year to sow a lawn I did mine
yesterday. The size of the lawn is quite small 24 ft x 12 ft.

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above 5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.

Grateful for any advice.

Michael Anderson

"Michael Anderson" wrote:

Although not the optimum time of the year to sow a lawn I did mine
yesterday. The size of the lawn is quite small 24 ft x 12 ft.

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above 5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.

NO:
All you will do is cook the new roots - it gets REALLY HOT
under plastic.

eithr it sprouts or it doesn't ... the seed that doesn't sprout
now wi9lldo so in the early spring.
Tsu Dho Nimh

It is my job to completely create professional technology
in order that we may seamlessly supply competitive data.

'Twas Sat, 19 Oct 2002 10:12:05 +0100, when "Michael Anderson"
enriched all our lives with these
worthy thoughts:

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above 5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.


It won't retain heat - it'll retain damp and cause the seed to
rot. It's too late to sow a decent lawn in the UK now; leave it until
next spring. If you desperately need grass to cover the ground, use
turf.

--
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Culcheth Garden - www.tmac.clara.co.uk/garden/
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Peoples' Republic of South Lancashire

cormaic CAN BE FOUND AT borlochshall.co.uk

"Tsu Dho Nimh" wrote in message
...
"Michael Anderson" wrote:

Although not the optimum time of the year to sow a lawn I did mine
yesterday. The size of the lawn is quite small 24 ft x 12 ft.

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience
has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above
5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if
it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.

NO:
All you will do is cook the new roots - it gets REALLY HOT
under plastic.

Rubbish (see my message lower down). And I've done this several times, in
spring, summer and autumn, it seems to germinate about a week quicker. I
have plenty of areas of grass that attest to the fact that the roots dont
cook.

eithr it sprouts or it doesn't ... the seed that doesn't sprout
now wi9lldo so in the early spring.
Tsu Dho Nimh

IME if it doesn't sprout after a couple of weeks it wont. Certainly its
unlikely to last a whole winter, given all the animals that will regard it
as food.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups)

"cormaic" wrote in message
...
'Twas Sat, 19 Oct 2002 10:12:05 +0100, when "Michael Anderson"
enriched all our lives with these
worthy thoughts:

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience
has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above
5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if
it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.


It won't retain heat - it'll retain damp and cause the seed to
rot. It's too late to sow a decent lawn in the UK now; leave it until
next spring. If you desperately need grass to cover the ground, use
turf.

Luckily, my grass seed didnt see that, as it didnt rot but sprouted. The
polythene was over it for 11 days, I removed it once the grass was about 1/2
to 1 inch high (last Thursday).

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups)

Michael Anderson wrote:

Although not the optimum time of the year to sow a lawn I did mine
yesterday. The size of the lawn is quite small 24 ft x 12 ft.

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above 5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.

Grateful for any advice.

Michael Anderson


North East TX USDA Z 7B and we just planted winter rye on Oct 11th and it is already about an inch
high. We have had some wonderful rain and also, Ivan had soaked the soil well. He also had sprinkled
cow manure lightly some days before and watered that down. I think the grass will grow and help put
organic matter in the soil when it is mowed and left on later. Our yard had been grossley neglected
in the years before we bought the place. It has improved a lot the year we have been here, but
wanted to give it some more natural food to use. As Tsu noted.. do not put plastic on it or any
other non breathable material.

--
Leona
Non Commercial site http://www.geocities.com/tvksi/index.htm

Nah, leave it as is. The birds get hungry over the winter and the seeds will
fill their little bellies!!!

You already sowed the seeds. The problem is getting them to germinate over
the winter. That's something they won't do. At this point, the seed is just
food for the birds.


Michael Anderson wrote in message
...
Although not the optimum time of the year to sow a lawn I did mine
yesterday. The size of the lawn is quite small 24 ft x 12 ft.

Advice from several people with varying degrees of gardening experience
has
mentioned that the seed should be ok if the average temperature is above
5 -
6 degree C. As the days are getting noticably colder I was wondering if it
would be a good idea to lay sheets of polythene (sp?) on the lawn to keep
some heat in to aid the sowing process.

Grateful for any advice.

Michael Anderson