6 Beginner Mistakes to AVOID When Sowing Grass Seed

The six biggest mistakes people make when  trying to sow a new lawn from grass seed in   this video i'm going to be looking at the six most  common mistakes beginners make when trying to sow   a lawn from seed also how you can avoid  these mistakes to get best results   save time and save money from  wasting the products that you buy over the past 12 months i've teamed up  with some of the biggest seed producers   and distributors in the uk and  i've learned an incredible amount   on what makes a successful outcome  from sowing a lawn from seed so hi everyone it's matt the garden lawncare  guy here and if you're new to my channel   please consider subscribing for more regular  lawn care tips my first tip for seeding a new   lawn from scratch is going to be around timing  now timing of putting the seed down is crucial   to getting the right outcome most people think  you can just throw seed down any time of the year   and that it will grow and produce good  quality high levels of germination   as a rule of thumb in the spring and the autumn  are the best times for growing grass from seed   this is because you've got a more consistent  higher temperature range above 10 degrees   and there's more likelihood to receive constant  moisture so tip number one is time your   over seeding project carefully in the spring  or the autumn look for when soil temperatures   are above 10 degrees depending where you are  in the uk this is typically going to be from   mid march onwards and probably finishing up  towards the end of September and into October   there are some special seeds that will grow  over the winter times so for example one of   the seeds in my shop the cold start variety  can get kicking from as low as five degrees   but if you are going to sow throughout the winter  months then you need to make sure that you pick   the right grass type in order to do so tip number  two is around the planting depth of the seed now   some people will bury the seed right under  lots of topsoil and assume that the seed will   germinate from that point this may be okay for  planting bulbs and other plants in the garden   but with grass seed you want to be targeting the  seed within the top quarter inch of the soil bed   if you're establishing a completely new  lawn from scratch this will probably involve   tilling over the soil or adding new soil material  in and burying that seed just less than quarter   of an inch in the top layer of the surface  don't bury the seed too deep into the soil   bed because it will struggle to germinate and  most likely it could rot off or not germinate   and you're going to end up wasting your time and  your money tip number three is all about watering   most people forget this crucial step with regards  to sowing grass seed during its germination   period especially during the first week or two  needs to be kept moist now this doesn't mean   absolutely saturated and sitting in pools  of water because that's going to cause   the seed to rot and prevent germination and  conversely it doesn't mean keeping it bone dry   because that's going to slow down or even  prevent the germination from happening   keeping the soil moist throughout the first couple  of weeks is a really key step this could involve   short bursts of watering for maybe five minutes a  couple of times a day throughout the germination   period you can also improve the moisture retention  of the seeds by adding a layer of soil over the   top which will help retain and lock in that  moisture in between the seed and the soil one   other thing to think about which is a little  bit more advanced is the type of soil you get   if you've got a clay soil this is generally  going to be colder and hold more moisture   and if you've got a sandy soil this is  typically going to be more free draining   keep it simple and water it for a couple of times  a day for the first two weeks and you'll get great   results the fourth tip is around choice of seed  now here on this table i've got a whole range   of different seed types and you'd really want to  choose a seed that's suitable for your application   if you've got a hard wearing lawn you want to go  for a hard wearing mix and what this means is high   foot traffic maybe it's in an area you've got to  walk across to get from one part of the garden to   another and maybe you've got kids and pets and all  those types of things but if you've got high foot   traffic probably don't expect to have a ornamental  type of lawn that needs lower foot traffic and   maybe different types of maintenance pick the  seed type that's suitable for your application   also another thing you might want to consider  is around shade now by shady this is going to   be things like tall trees covering a canopy or  buildings or fences whereby parts of the soil or   the grass don't get much light throughout the day  for a full range of grass seed please check out my   website link below tip number five is around  the seed sowing rate and what i mean by this   is how much seed do you need to put down onto  your lawn in order to germinate effectively   firstly if you're sewing a lawn completely from  scratch with nothing down you probably want to   target a higher application rate and by that i  mean around 70 grams per square meter if you're   over seeding an existing lawn maybe to thicken  up some patches or repair some different areas   then you can choose a lower seeding rate down to  35 grams per square meter anywhere between in this   range is going to give you the best results if you  want to really thicken up the lawn you can lean   towards the higher application rates but generally  sticking within those two boundaries is going to   give you the best results if you need some help  working out how much lawn seed that you need to   put down there's a calculator on my website which  again i've linked down below the last tip i wanted   to talk to you about is preparation now this  is especially true for both types of scenarios   where you've got an existing soil bed and there's  nothing there you're starting a lawn from scratch   now is the best time to kill off the weeds don't  put the seed down and try to kill off the weeds   later because especially in the uk it can be  difficult to target some of those types of weeds   because there aren't any dedicated weed killer  for certain types of coarse grasses and grasses   you don't want in your lawn till over the soil so  you've got a nice seed bed for the seed to sit in   and refer back to a previous tip which is to  sit them in the top quarter inch of the soil   if you're looking to over seed your lawn  preparation is just as key some things i   like to pay our attention to is the amount of  thatch in the lawn you can take a sample of   the lawn by cutting a little section out  or get into the seedbed and take a look   if you've got a lot of thatch in your lawn if you  think of the grass blade standing up like this   with that thatch layer sitting on top whenever  you drop seeds into your lawn for over seeding   if they're going to sit on that thatch layer  they're going to struggle to germinate as well   as they would if they're sitting into the soil  bed so scarification is a great process to use   before over seeding i've actually made a full  video step by step on all the steps you can take   to do a lawn renovation and i'll link that in  the card above if you're interested the other   thing scarification is really interesting to do  before over seeding is it creates little furrows   especially if you do two passes one that way and  one that way it can create little channels that's   going to help the seed sit in those channels and  whenever you've got a good seed to soil contact   gives the seed somewhere safe to grow in those  channels and can promote new growth the last tip   which is often overlooked is around rolling or  treading in the seed if you think of the seed   it wants to be in contact with soil  so after you've dropped the seed down   rolling the lawn or treading in the lawn is  gonna help compress that seed into the soil   bed and give it a better seed to soil contact my  next video i'm going to be talking about how to   look after your seed after you've put it down so  if you're interested in that please subscribe to   my channel and turn the notification bell  on and i'll put a link to that video here

Channel: Garden Lawncare Guy

Views: 256,046

Rating: 4.8085017 out of 5

Keywords: #lawncare

Id: gcQj9UH3SF0

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021