Sowing the lawn: time & correct procedure

If you want to create a new lawn or improve it, you can sow lawn seeds. Here's a guide with expert tips.

The sowing of the lawn is still the most popular way to create a lawn. And even with existing areas, lawn seeds should be used from time to time. It is particularly important to choose the right time and the right lawn seed. Watering and further care after sowing are also crucial. And even years after the lawn has been seeded, reseeding may be necessary to restore the lawn to its former glory. That's why we're providing you with all the important information and tips for sowing and overseeding your lawn below.

Starting with the question of when it makes the most sense to sow the lawn, here are six steps to successfully seeding your lawn. In addition, we present you with some care tips so that your lawn will be he althy and strong after sowing.

1. When should you seed your lawn?

In general, lawns can be sown from April to October. The ideal times are early fall and spring when the soil is warm enough. Most grasses need a minimum soil temperature of 8 °C for germination, 14 to 25 °C and sufficient moisture are optimal. These conditions are most likely to occur in late summer or early fall, which is why this time of year is best for sowing lawns. However, it shouldn't be too late in autumn either, otherwise the cold weather could cause the seed to sprout incompletely or unevenly.

Tip: The small grasses sown in early autumn are just as frost resistant as the older lawn. Only during the sensitive phase of germination and emergence should the soil temperature not be below 8 °C - ground frost is therefore a major risk factor.

In addition to autumn, spring is also suitable for sowing lawns. From mid-April to early May, the soil temperatures are optimal, you just have to pay attention to sufficient moisture. Strong heat waves in early June can helpeasily damage young lawns.

Overview: when should you sow a lawn?

• Lawns can be sown either in autumn (September) or in spring (mid-April to early May)
• Soil temperatures during germination should be at least 8 to 12 °C
• The soil should be dry when sowing, but should be watered soon afterwards

2. What should you consider before sowing a lawn?

Before laying the lawn, all work in the garden that could put a strain on a young lawn should be completed. Once the fruit trees have been planted and beds, paths or garden ponds laid out, you can start.

Dig up the soil before sowing the lawn

For any area where the lawn is to grow later, soil preparation begins with digging deep into the soil using a spade or digging fork. A motor tiller or motor hoe makes work much easier on large, connected areas. Suitable equipment is available from many hardware stores, for example. Autumn is the best time for digging, when the soil is well dried and crumbly and the following winter promises good frost hardening of the soil. During digging, all foreign objects, weeds and large stones should be removed from the soil so that any necessary soil improvement can be carried out. You can find out which soil improvement you need further down in this article. It is optimal if there are a few months between digging up and sowing, so that the soil can settle and the lawn does not sink later.

Tip: If the later lawn area is overgrown with root weeds such as couch grass or goutweed, the zones overgrown with them should never be milled. Their rhizomes would be divided by the tiller and spread over the area. It is therefore better to dig up these areas by hand and meticulously remove every root.

Prepare the soil for sowing the lawn

The soil under the lawn will have to perform at a high level for years, because a lawn requires a lot of nutrients, depletes the soil and lets it dry out easily. Therefore, independent of the fertilization and preparation during the actual sowing, the soil must also be prepared. We will now explain which floor should be treated and how.

Preparing normal soil for sowing the lawn

Normal soils become predominantly organic with a giftfertilizer prepared. A soil activator with useful mycorrhiza fungi such as our Plantura organic soil activator is particularly suitable. The high content of organic matter ensures a loose soil structure and increases the humus content. Alternatively, compost or stable manure can be used as fertilizer: 10 to 15 liters per square meter are worked into the upper 10 to 20 centimeters.

Prepare very heavy and loamy soil for sowing the lawn

Heavy soils are clay-rich and characterized by becoming hard as stone when dry and sticking to boots in greasy, heavy clumps when wet. Such soils provide lawns with many nutrients, but not enough available water and oxygen at the roots. Extremely heavy soils can be modified with up to 50 liters of sand per m², such as our Plantura Premium Lawn Sand, so that a lawn area is possible. Alternatively, lava or expanded clay are also suitable. In addition, as with normal soil, primarily organic fertilizers such as the Plantura organic soil activator or compost are incorporated.

Preparing compacted soil for sowing the lawn

High pressure and unfavorable soil properties have squeezed compacted soil so tightly that it hardly absorbs or lets through any more water and air. They benefit greatly from green manure. In late summer, sow strong rooting plants that will die back the following winter, such as lupine (Lupinus) or fodder radish (Raphanus sativus var.oleiformis). By next spring, the remains of the plants will weather away and mostly decompose until the lawn is sown. Alternatively, heavily compacted soils can also be aerated, i.e. aired. Finally, in both cases, sand and a primarily organic fertilizer such as our Plantura organic soil activator or compost should be introduced.

Prepare very light soil for sowing the lawn

Very sandy, nutrient-poor areas are not optimally prepared for lawn growth. In such areas, nutrient storage and water holding capacity must be improved. A green manure with nitrogen-collecting legumes is highly recommended. In addition to the green manure, a primarily organic organic fertilizer with a long-term effect, such as our Plantura organic soil activator, should be incorporated. Alternatively, 20 to 30 liters of mature compost or three to five kilograms of mature stable manure persquare meters a few days before sowing.

Tip: Grounds that are light and sandy from the outset cannot be fundamentally turned inside out even with the improvement mentioned above. Therefore, later using an adapted lawn seed mixture for dry locations is the best choice. That's why we developed our drought-tolerant Plantura dry grassland.

Measure the pH value two months before sowing the lawn

Test the pH of your soil with a soil pH tester. Most grasses like a value of around 5.5 to 7. In our special articles we explain everything about lawn lime and lawn fertilization.

Prepare the soil one to two weeks before sowing the lawn

Rough unevenness must be smoothed out, one says: the rough subgrade is created. Because this can be tedious with a shovel and rake and the use of machinery may be necessary, a specialist should be asked for help if necessary.

The last step before sowing is to evenly and carefully level the future lawn. For this purpose, a wooden rake is used, with which the connections to the edges of paved areas are worked flush or with a maximum gap of 2 cm and also carefully pressed on. This step is also called creating the fine planum.

Tip: Perhaps you were a little late in digging and the area hasn't settled properly yet? Then, in front of the fine planum, the surface must be rolled or pressed with footboards. If the surface sags unevenly, this unevenness can still be leveled out.

Overview: What should you consider before sowing the lawn?

• All work that would stress the young lawn must be completed
• Before sowing the lawn, the soil is dug up to the depth of a spade or milled; here root weeds must be carefully removed
• Sand, lava or expanded clay are introduced on heavy loam and clay soil
• Very light soils can be improved with lots of compost or green manure
• Heavily compacted soils are prepared for sowing by green manure or aeration
• All soils benefit from the application of a primarily organic fertilizer like our Plantura organic soil activator
• Two months before sowing the lawn, the pH value of the soil is measured and adjusted if necessary
• The rough planum is carried out no more than four weeks before sowing
• The ground couldn't settle long enough after diggingset, it is rolled or pressed
• Finally, before sowing, the fine planum is created with a wooden rake

3. Choosing the right lawn seed

Lawn seed is sold in seed mixes. Lawn is not made up of a single type of grass, but rather a mixture of different types of grass, each of which contributes to the perfect, dense surface. With the choice of the lawn-seed mixture, you have a decisive influence on the quality and shape of your future lawn. Because these vary depending on what use is intended. After all, a lawn for playing and sports has to withstand completely different loads than an ornamental lawn that is rarely walked on. And fortunately, there are adapted seed mixes for shade lawns or dry lawns for gardens where no normal lawn could otherwise grow. Our Plantura lawn family includes lawn seed mixtures for various areas of application and also provides you with all the important information about use and care.

We recommend a so-called standard seed mixture (RSM). This seal has been tested and thus promises quality in terms of germination and a good composition of grass species. Feel free to spend a euro more for high-quality seed - the result will definitely speak for itself later on. Of course, our Plantura lawn seed mixtures are also RSM-certified.

Overview: Which lawn seed is the right one?

• Depending on whether you want to overseed, create a lawn in the shade of trees or play and use lawn, there are different seed mixtures to choose from
• It is worth investing in high-quality regular seed mixtures (RMM)

4. Properly spreading lawn seed: by hand or with a spreader

The perfect weather for sowing a lawn is warm, not hot, and light precipitation should also be announced - alternatively, the lawn sprinkler will do. In addition, the soil should be well moist. If this is the case, you can start sowing. Anyone who fertilizes their lawn primarily organically, for example, distributes 100 grams per square meter of our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer immediately beforehand. The correct seed density is then of great importance for the subsequent sowing. This can happen if the optimal amount of seed is not sownlead to an uneven lawn appearance in the long term. Sowing is done either by hand or with a spreader.

Spreading lawn seed by hand

If you have a rather small area to sow and want to do it by hand, proceed as follows: Measure an area of one square meter and weigh out the right amount of seed (the seed mix usually has the Quantity given per square meter). Distribute the amount evenly over the surface. This will give you a sense of how close together the seeds should be. Divide the remaining area into pieces or strips and measure the seed to fit the area. Sow your entire future lawn lengthwise and crosswise.

Spread lawn seed with spreader

The use of a spreader simplifies the precise distribution of the lawn seed over large areas. Here's how to proceed if you have a spreader available.

Expert tip: This is how you set the spreading power of the spreader perfectly: Lay out a piece of foil or a cloth several square meters large, over which you can test with the drive a spreader. Fill the spreader and drive so far that the piece of film covered corresponds to one square meter. Now pour the seed from the foil into a container and weigh it. Depending on how far your result is from the recommended amount per square meter of your seed mixture, adjust the spreader seed rate.

After sowing, the lawn seed is either covered thinly with our Plantura lawn soil, which creates optimal starting conditions for the young lawn. Alternatively, the seed is worked into the soil with a rake - 0.5 to 1 cm deep - to protect it from drying out and being eaten by birds. The soil contact is then established: the seed must be in contact with the soil in order to be able to absorb water for germination. This is accomplished with a light roller or footboards.

At a glance: How are lawn seeds correctly distributed?

• The soil should be moist but dry and crumbly on the surface.
• Primarily organic lawn fertilizer such as our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer is distributed directly before sowing.
• Depending on the seed mix used, a specific seed density as stated on the package is recommended. For example, 20 grams of seed per square meter are required for our Plantura sports and play turf.
• Itcan be sown by hand or with a spreader. The spreader ensures a more even result over large areas.
• After sowing, the seed is covered with a special lawn soil or worked in and then pressed.

5. Water the lawn after sowing

After sowing, a continuous supply of moisture ensures that the germination process begins and keeps going. You should water every day for about a month unless it rains. However, the soil must not be submerged in water either, as this would endanger the oxygen supply to the seeds. In dry weather, it is recommended to water two to three times a day for about 10 to 15 minutes on the finest sprinkler setting.

At a glance: How is the lawn properly watered after sowing?

• Ideal for the lawn is a continuous supply of moisture without watering the lawn
• The freshly sown lawn is still sensitive, which is why caution is advised with hoses and the like

6. Caring for the lawn properly after sowing

By diligently preparing and sowing the right lawn seed mix, you can lay a significant foundation for a beautiful, lush lawn. And to maintain that beauty, proper lawn care is essential.

Regular mowing is also part of lawn care. Mulching or mowing ensures that the lawn keeps growing from below. The vast majority of weeds do not tolerate the constant heads and are displaced. However, you should stick out stubborn guests such as couch grass, dandelion or buckhorn.

The first cut is carried out when the plant has grown to a height of 6 to 10 cm and at a cutting height of 4 cm. Make sure you have sharp mowing blades, because blunt ones pull the young grass plants out of the ground. After the second or third cut, organic fertilization should be carried out - but please note the time of year: Organic fertilizers are no longer used after October.

Tip: It is better to mow regularly so that the grass does not get too long. Otherwise, the fast-growing species take the light from the so-called undergrowth, causing them to die. A lawn that has become thin in this way should be revived by reseeding, otherwise weeds can easily take the place of the undergrowth.

As a heavy feeder, your lawn needs a high supply of nutrients,to be he althy and competitive against weeds. For this reason, it is usually fertilized two to three times a year. However, primarily organic fertilizers such as our Plantura organic fertilizers naturally have a long-term effect, so that in an emergency you can even fertilize the lawn with a single large dose a year.

Tip for lazy lawn owners: Basically, regular, sufficient fertilization with primarily organic lawn fertilizer is the perfect prophylaxis against moss and lawn thatch or weeds. This saves you even the regular scarifying or sanding - both represent an avoidable effort. Our Plantura organic lawn fertilizer ensures an active soil life all year round, which loosens the soil, provides nutrients and eats lawn thatch. The counterpart for autumn is our Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer, whose increased potassium content ensures frost-hard grasses.

At a glance: How is the seeded lawn properly cared for?

• The first cut is made when the growth is 6 to 10 cm high
• For the second or third cut, the lawn should be fertilized - depending on the season with our primarily organic Plantura organic lawn fertilizer or Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer
• The lawn should be cut regularly between spring and autumn
• For years to come, your lawn will need fertilizing 2 to 3 times a year to grow he althy and dense
• Organic lawn fertilization is a prophylaxis and often saves you from scarifying in the future

Tip: Does your lawn have one or more large gaps because a heavy object has been placed on it or because the mole has been up to mischief? In this case, we recommend sowing a fast-germinating mixture that will quickly close the hole. Our Plantura lawn repair consists primarily of fast-germinating ryegrass and competitive red fescue. Both don't give any weeds a chance.

To keep your lawn he althy and strong after seeding, find out more year-round lawn care information.