Seeding a lawn, effective but patience required

 

We all love a striving natural green lawn, but which way should you go about establishing one? To seed or use instant turf is a common question we ask ourselves as professionals and homeowners. Instant turf gives us an immediated effect and satisfaction but at a high cost and with limited turf varieties, then seeding takes longer and requires more patience and dedication but at a highly reduced cost and a greater choice of lawn varieties.

So, if you are not after a genetically “created” lawn variety such as Sir Walter Buffalo or TifTuf Couch and you are willing to not strive for the instant effect then seeding is mostly likely your right option.

Recently I decided to seed an area of lawn at my own home rather than go for an instant turf variety. The area is a small, raised lawn area that gets a high amount of shade through the winter and summer months. I could have put down Sir Walter Buffalo as an instant turf but from my personal experience in Melbourne if you have a highly shaded area Sir Walter will struggle big time throughout the winter and go ok through the summer. The plus side with Sir Walter though is the low water requirements.

So, I decided to go with a Sun and Shade seed mix. The seed is a mixture of cool season varieties including creeping red fescue, hard fescue, ryegrass and bluegrass. Once established it is one of the best-looking lawns you will find and is extremely satisfying to walk through in bare feet with its soft texture. Keep in mind I do have an automatic irrigation system which greatly helps with establishment and up-keep in the warmer months.

In all it had taken just under 3 months to achieve the results I was looking for. Depending on the time of year you sew your new lawn seed it may take on average 6-12 weeks. Now I have a fantastic looking and feeling lawn that my neighbours are asking if I can help advise them on getting a new great looking lawn.

My main advice is having patience and you will get a great result at an affordable cost. In all the lawn area cost me $220.00 in seed, fertilisers, additives and soil. If I were to instant turf the area, I would have been looking at around $675.oo for approximately 15 square mt’s. Plus, I have heaps of fertiliser and additives left over for use on maintenance.

The basic steps and products I used were:

  • Kill of existing weeds and grass using Glyphosate Green 360 Weed Killer
  • Two weeks later I gave the area a treatment with Bow & Arrow Herbicide to eradicate any new broadleaf weeds.
  • Bring up soil levels with a Sandy Loam Topsoil
  • Level Lawn
  • 500 grams of Sun & Shadey Lawn Seed
  • Granular Starter Fertiliser
  • Granular “Wett-Up” Soil Wetting Agent
  • Lawn Solutions Handheld Spreader
  • Lawn Porn Launch Kelp Extract
  • Water, I irrigated every day until I have a decent germination them back off to every second day. Now I am irrigating every 3-4 days depending on the weather conditions.

Next up,  Nature Strip Renovation