Your lawn looks thinned out and you notice that the grass is not growing back? Then it is high time for a reseeding. In our article you can find out which lawn reseeding is best suited and how to properly reseed your lawn.
Reseeding the lawn is a measure for renewing the lawn without creating it from scratch. On an existing lawn, the lawn seeds of a specific lawn reseeding mixture are spread evenly, which ensures that the lawn becomes dense and capable of regeneration again. Reseeding may be necessary for various reasons. In the following we will tell you why you should not forget to reseed, when it is best to carry it out and how to do it.
Why is reseeding so important?
Do you want a beautiful and lush green lawn? Then, after a while, reseeding is essential on most areas. Reseeding can make sense just a few years after a completely new lawn. Lawn grasses are quite delicate plants that are exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations in our latitudes. As a result, they lose strength over time and no longer grow as much. Then the appearance of the thinned lawn emerges. If more and more gaps appear in the previously dense lawn, moss and weeds can quickly gain the upper hand. To prevent this, reseeding is a maintenance measure that you should carry out regularly.
What makes lawn reseeding special?
A lawn reseeding is a special mixture for repairing existing lawns. A reseeding mixture is not suitable for laying out new lawns. A good overseed consists mainly of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). This is most often absent from older, thinned lawns, which struggle with cold, frosty winters and dry summers.
Perennial ryegrass grows extremely fast and in small clusters, the so-called clumps. However, some varieties are also able to sprout many runners - the variety Lolium perenne ′ New Orleans′ has, for examplethis attribute. Thanks to these foothills and its generally persistent growth, the ryegrass is able to quickly close gaps in the turf under good conditions - it thus increases the regenerative capacity of a lawn. For this reason, we also use the 'New Orleans' variety in our Plantura lawn reseeding.
Tip: The thinning of the lawn due to drought and cold can be mitigated by an adequate supply of potassium in late summer or early autumn, so that the lawn does not need to be reseeded as often. Use a potassium-rich lawn fertilizer such as our Plantura Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer.
When should you overseed your lawn?
The right time for reseeding the lawn is between April and October, but late spring (end of April, May) or early autumn are ideal, as there is sufficient moisture and moderate temperatures. It is very important that the temperature stays above 12 °C at night so that the seeds can germinate properly.
As stated earlier, your lawn should be reseeded when it looks sparse, when you notice bare patches in your lawn after a cold or wet winter, or after you've scarified your lawn. Reseeding of the lawn may be necessary just a few years after planting. It doesn't matter whether the lawn was sown in the traditional way or laid as a turf roll, because a patchy lawn offers weeds and moss room to grow. To give weeds and moss no chance, overseeding is an essential maintenance measure.
Tip: Is your lawn dense, but hardly vital or plagued by diseases and is hardly growing? Then it is better to use the scarifier and fertilize regularly, for example with our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer. On the other hand, if the lawn has very large, flat gaps, it is not advisable to reseed, but to repair the lawn.
What is the best way to oversee the lawn?
Lawn care is often not trivial - there are also a few things to consider when reseeding. You will find all the important steps in our video instructions.
So that you can soon have a nice, dense lawn in your garden again, you will find step-by-step instructions for reseeding the lawn below.
- Use your overseeds in late spring or early fall if possible. The floor temperature should be consistently above 12 °C so that thegermination proceeds smoothly.
- Mow your lawn short. You will achieve the best results if you scarify your lawn before reseeding or hook up the turf. Remove weeds, moss and thatch from the entire area as completely as possible and fertilize the area with an organic lawn fertilizer such as our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer. It is a good idea to spread our organic soil activator on poor soil. This revitalizes the soil over the long term and contains live mycorrhizal fungi.
- Now sow the lawn over the entire lawn. You can do this with a spreader or by hand. In any case, it is advisable to walk once lengthways and once across the area and distribute half of the overseeding each time. In total you need - depending on the seed - about 20 g/m2.
- Once the seed has been distributed, it is carefully raked in and then gently pressed into the ground with running boards or a light roller.
- Watering is extremely important in the next few days and weeks. The germination process cannot begin without water and even the fresh seedlings are extremely sensitive to drought. Drying out of the germinating seeds or young grasses would inevitably lead to incomplete seed sprout and reseeding was in vain.
- If the young grasses are more than 8 cm high, the first mowing is due, now the stalks are shortened to 4 cm. Use a sharp mower deck as the grasses can be easily uprooted. Additional fertilization can also be carried out during the second mowing. When fertilizing, always use organic lawn fertilizers of organic quality.
What do you have to look out for when buying lawn seed?
In general, you should pay attention to the following points when you buy a lawn seed:
- High proportion of very vigorous perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)
- The grass seeds should ideally be RSM-certified, they germinate reliably and have a long shelf life
- It is also advisable to use a mixture with coated seed, which further increases germination success by preventing the seeds from drying out
All of these characteristics apply to our Plantura reseeding, which we developed together with lawn experts. Our Plantura lawn reseeding contains the species Lolium perenne and the runner-producing variety Lolium perenne ′ New Orleans′ for a particularly self-regenerating lawn.
Furthermore, our lawn seeds are from asurrounded by a high-quality coating that attracts water and protects the seeds from drying out. Another plus of the coated seed: The seeds are ideally supplied with nutrients after germination, which also makes sowing in dry problem locations possible. And coated sowing has other decisive advantages: The individual grain is round and slightly heavier, which makes it easier to spread evenly. In addition, the seed pattern is easier to recognize because the individual grains are simply larger. Birds do not see coated seed as food, even if they should try one of the seeds - so bird damage is no longer a problem when reseeding lawns. Overall, the result of coated sowing is a very high level of germ security and thus even reseeding.
We at Plantura stand for sustainable garden products, not only in production, but also by taking you seriously as readers and customers and dealing with your questions - so that the seeds of your work sprout safely and grow into a lush green lawn . Our Plantura lawn seed is an RSM-certified coated seed and is therefore easy to use. In addition, you will find information about lawn care all year round in numerous themed articles and of course on request.
Further questions about overseeding
There are some very frequently asked questions that we would like to address again at the end so that you are properly informed.
Can you overseed and fertilize the lawn at the same time?
Fertilization and sowing can basically be carried out in parallel if the fertilization is primarily carried out organically. Organic fertilization ensures a powerful, he althy root system, while excessive mineral fertilization can inhibit root formation. For more information, see the special article on sowing and fertilizing the lawn.
How does lawn reseeding work without digging?
A lawn renewal including overseeding and fertilizing happens in this order: mow the area, scarify, aerate or roughen the area with a metal rake, remove moss and weeds, fertilize with primarily organic lawn fertilizer, sow the lawn overseeding, press the seed and finally water. For a detailed description, see the instructions earlier in the article.
In which case willused an overseeder to rejuvenate the lawn?
Professionals can use overseeders (overseeders/overseeders) on large areas. These slit the ground, place the seed individually and then roll it. However, an overseeder is only worthwhile when overseeding large areas.