Lawn grass seeds. Roll turf

Planning a new lawn

PREPARING THE GROUND
After removing all the stones and other rubbish from the lawn area, prepare the ground. The better prepared the seedbed, the better the lawn will be. Good drainage is important and deep digging will help.
For lawns on heavy soil add more sand. Drainage will be improved. If the soil is light or sandy, work in a good amount of peat to give body to the soil and prevent drying out and loss of nutrients. At this stage, any leveling should be done and care must be taken not to remove too much topsoil from any one area. Sub¬soil does not make for a good seedbed! It is low in nutrients and will give variations in growing habit and colour.

SOWING
When to sow: Lawn seed mixtures can be sown any time from early spring to early autumn, providing that in periods of dry weather the seedbed is kept constantly moist until the grass is about 5 cm.
There are many points in favour of autumn sowing. The ground is warm after the summer, there tends to be more moisture about, the seed will get off to a good start before the winter and weeds will be minimal. During the autumn, a good root system will develop, as opposed to top growth, and the lawn will be ready to withstand hot, dry spells in spring and summer.

How to sow: For a good establishment 3-4 kg of seed pr 100 m2 is recommended. An easy way of sowing the seed is to divide the area into easily manageable sections and then divide the seed into as many lots as there are sections. Then sow half the seed for one section, from left to the right of the section and then the other half across the first sowing, from the front to the back of the section. This will help to ensure an even spray of seed over the area.

FEEDING YOUR LAWN
Apply a pre-seeding fertiliser to the seedbed a few days before sowing the seed or at the same day.
Once the lawn is established, usually after the first 12 months of growth, it will require feeding regularly, both to ensure good establishment and also to keep it in first class condition. The lawn should then be fed once in early spring, again in midsum¬mer and once more in autumn. Feeding in smaller portions (spoonfeeding) can also be recommended if done regularly, as it will maintain a more even growth of grass.

MOWING YOUR LAWN
The first few mowing are very important to allow good establish¬ment of the grass. When grass is 6-8 cm high, cut for the first time. Trim lightly and gradually lower blades to an ideal cutting height of 3-4 cm. Mow regularly but try not to remove more than a third of the growth at any time. Do not mow whilst the grass is wet. If the mower does not have a roller, then the lawn can be rolled after this first cut. This will encourage lateral growth thus making a more closely knit turf.
The best advice for mowing a lawn is "little and often".