How To Seed A Lawn
By Patricia Wainwright
Don’t you wish you had an emerald lawn like those in magazines? There are plenty of lawn doctors out there who will offer to save your lawn from its sorry state; but, there comes a point when the only answer is to grow new grass! The expensive way is to use turf; the best way is to use lawn seed. If you’ve never done it before, don’t worry it is not hard to learn how to seed a lawn.
Preparation
The best time to seed a lawn is when everything is growing, in other words you need to know how to seed a lawn in spring if you want to get the best out of it. That means you can do the preparation in the winter so the hard work is done in advance. Prepare your ground; weeding and turning the soil over, more than once and over a couple of months so you can be sure you destroy those nasty perennials. As you do this, feed your soil; good old fashioned compost is best and if a bit smelly, not such a problem in the winter!
You need your lawn to be as level as possible if you want that smooth carpet look. This means getting the garden roller out and redistributing some earth until you could run your mower over it without hitting any bumps. Make sure the existing grass is well cut and brown patches removed or fed with lawn fertilizer.
Sowing the seeds
If your whole lawn is a lost cause, or maybe it’s a brand new house with no lawn, the above advice applies if you want to know how to seed a lawn from scratch. The only difference is that building site gardens need a lot more rocks removed and probably some decent top soil added to improve the quality before you even think about how to seed the lawn. Using a seed mix that includes nutrients gives your grass a head start so pick your seed carefully. Rye grass is tough but doesn’t cut very smoothly; chamomile smells and looks lovely but is an expensive option for large gardens. Pick a combination seed, fine leaved rye plus a fast spreading fescue grass to fill in gaps quickly. Rake the earth to a depth of half an inch until it is free from clumps; mark out squares with string to get an even distribution; then scatter the seed evenly over it. Rake the seed in lightly then compact the earth with your feet to aid germination. Stretch netting over it to keep pets and birds away and water lightly but often. There, that is how to seed a lawn!
Lush Lawn soil is ideal for seeding and turfing 
Top Dressing Lawn Basics
By Patricia Wainwright
Did you know that top dressing your lawn is one way to guarantee its thick, green and healthy growth? Top dressing lawn means adding a thin layer of soil –preferably your own ‘home-mixed’ soil. Another option is to purchase high-quality top-dressing mixture or bagged lawn soil. Here’s how to do your own mixture.
Mix loam and sand with high quality peat– this is preferred to compost which may contain weeds which may invade your lawn. The proportion of the 3 ingredients varies depending upon the dominant type of soil in your garden. If you have loam soil, mix 3 parts loam to 3 parts sand to 1 part peat. For clay soil, increase the amount of sand and decrease the amount of loam. Top dressing lawn with sand entails reducing the amount of sand. Before mixing your ingredients make sure that they are dry for them to mix well. Take note that your sand should be free of lime – never use sand that came from the sea or ocean.
Your top dressing mixture should be very fine for easily penetration through the soil in your garden. You may, thus, want to use a garden sieve or soil sieve with ¼” mesh hole in this regard. Be sure to evenly spread the mixture over the whole area of your lawn. Why? Because none of the top dressing should stay in the surface – they should seep deeply into the soil.
Top Dressing Lawn Basics - Why Top Dress Your Lawn
Over time, top dressing builds up the quality of your soil to stimulate the growth of new grass – and prevent it from the invasion of weeds and moss.
Top dressing increases the capability of sandy soil to retain moisture and makes it resistant to drought. Clay soil drains better, improving the growth of the roots of your grass.
Top dressing also smoothens out rough surfaces in your garden and evens out lumpy areas for a more pleasing garden experience.
Top Dressing Lawn Basics - When Do You Top Dress Your Lawn
Top dressing is ideally done after the lawn had been aerated - meaning that top dressing should be done at least once a year.
The best time to do top dressing is either during spring or early fall. You have the choice of top dressing in stages or you can do it one time. If you are a meticulous gardener, you can top dress small patches as you find them.
Author Patricia Wainwright Resource:
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