New Lawns: Everything You Need To Know

Are you looking for instructions on how to create a new lawn? At Gardender you can find out everything about seeds, mowing, watering, fertilizing, and other care.

Are you perhaps thinking of creating a new lawn at the moment? Then you are exactly right here! It doesn’t always have to be the extremely expensive turf for a perfect lawn to decorate your property. With our tips on everything to do with new lawns, anyone with a little patience can call their own a closed and lush green lawn.

The choice of seeds as the basis for your dream lawn

Before you can even think about preparing the sowing area, you should first think about the purpose of the lawn. Whether a grass area will later only serve as an ornamental lawn, or whether it will be used by playing children, makes a big difference in the choice of seeds. You should also be aware that a wrongly selected seed will never produce a perfect lawn, even with the best care measures. The Gardender team, therefore, recommends that you use lawn seeds with the regular seed mixture label (RSM for short). Of course, our lawn seeds, such as the shadow lawn, are also RSM-certified.

Before you start sowing, there is a lot to do

The standard seed offers advantages in many respects: Among other things, all types of grass used are scientifically tested and the stocking of weed seeds is almost zero. Of course, the label also has its price and the certified seeds are therefore more expensive than cheap seeds, but this price only has to be paid once. Cheap seed mixes may contain fake grasses, such as forage grasses. These are completely unsuitable for a beautiful lawn that is easy to maintain. Even melodious names such as “English lawn” are no guarantee of high-quality seeds that have been specially bred for a lawn.

Tip: There are also price differences for regular seed mixtures – so compare different offers. An ornamental lawn is abbreviated to type 1.1 on the label. If a resilient house lawn is to be bought, then you have to look for type 2.2 – 2.4. For lawns in shady areas, it is best to use special seeds with the Lägerrispe ( Poa supina ).

Soil preparation for a fantastically beautiful lawn

After the use of the lawn has been clarified and the right seeds are ready, the soil preparation can begin. First of all, the soil is examined for the subsequent lawn sowing. If it is heavy, loamy soil, and should be worked in generously. This allows rainwater to seep away later, as lawns do not like waterlogging at all. However, if the soil is very sandy, we recommend incorporating ripe green compost into it. The compost enriches the light sandy soil with nutrients and more water is stored in the soil in the long term. Regardless of whether you have light or heavy soil, after extensive cultivation, you should give the soil several weeks to settle. This avoids later unevenness. The setting of the soil can be accelerated by a roller, but the use of rollers can also compact the soil too much.

Proper soil preparation is essential for a perfect lawn

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So that the fine lawn seeds do not dry out and have good contact with the moist soil, the upper soil layer must be completely freed from small stones, root residues, etc. It is also advisable to dig the ground about as deep as a spade before starting the new plant. After all these steps, the sowing area is finished and ready for the grass seeds.

The best time to sow the lawn

In addition to the wrong choice of seeds, another big mistake is often made here. Because most hobby gardeners sow their lawn in spring. That’s not right! Rather, the correct season is autumn. During this time of year, the soil has stored a lot of heat through the summer and there is a relatively high amount of precipitation. Lawn seeds need this stored heat to germinate and also a constant water supply. In spring, the soil is often much too cold due to the winter. Incidentally, the best way to spread the seeds is with a spreader.

This ensures that the seeds are evenly distributed. Alternatively, you can apply it by hand. As a rule of thumb, around 25 grams of lawn seeds per square meter is sufficient, but you should always adhere to the application rate of the seed manufacturer. We then recommend using a long-term lawn fertilizer. The initial fertilization is extremely important as the small grass seeds hardly contain any nutrient reserves.

Roughen the soil for perfect germination results of the lawn seeds

Roughening the soil is an important step and increases the germination rate of the seeds extremely. Without processing, the seeds just lie on the ground and dry out extremely quickly. Therefore, it is essential to work the seeds lightly into the soil with a rake. The seeds should not disappear deeper than 1 cm into the soil. In addition to the better water supply for the seeds, the roughened soil can also absorb rainwater better. This means that the seeds cannot be washed away so quickly even by heavy rainfall.

By the way: the grass seeds do not need direct sunlight to germinate. However, if the seeds are buried too deeply, germination may not occur.

Watering after sowing the lawn

A constant water supply is essential for a good germination result. If it does not rain regularly after sowing, it must be watered in any case. Please do not use a strong water jet. You would destroy the entire seedbed. Even if the first seeds are already germinating, the continuous water supply must be continued, and this is for two reasons: First, the small grasses only have very small roots for water absorption and can dry up quickly. Second, good lawn seeds always consist of several types of grass.

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The grass varieties have different germination times from 1 to 4 weeks. Some varieties germinate relatively late and are therefore dependent on a long water supply. In the event of high temperatures and persistent drought, the lawn should be watered several times at short intervals a day. This way the seeds stay constantly moist and the green stalks will soon sprout just like that.

Young lawns, in particular, have to be watered regularly

The first mowing of the lawn after sowing

If you have done everything right up to this point, you will see a soft green lawn in front of you. The lawn is not closed at this point, because the lawn has to be mowed for this. Only through this work step more blades of grass are formed and your lawn grows significantly denser. But before that happens, there is still the question of when the first cut should take place. To do this, you must wait until the still sensitive grass has reached a height of approx. 10 cm. The cut back should then be such that a maximum of only half the length of the stalk is shortened.

Incidentally, sharp blades are extremely important when you mow for the first time. The fine blades of grass do not yet have strong roots and a blunt blade can tear out the entire plant. By the way, don’t worry if one or the other weed adorns the lawn at this point. Every soil contains weed seeds, but most weeds do not survive frequent mowing and will slowly but surely be displaced by the competitive lawn.

So that your lawn develops well after the new plant, it should be fertilized after a certain period. You can find out how to do this with a broom and which fertilizer is suitable in our special article on lawn fertilization in Autumn.