Select and Sow Grass Seed

There are four main types of grass seed mixture:

1. Fine grass mixture - suitable for light use only. This mixture will produce a fine looking lawn but it will not stand up to family type wear and tear.
2. Standard grass mixture - suitable for family use. This mixture will produce a good lawn which will stand up to most of the wear and tear of a normal family.
3. Shade tolerant mixture - suitable for use in shady areas. This will produce a lawn that can stand up to shady conditions better than the mixtures above.
4. Drought tolerant mixture - suitable for use in unusually dry areas. This will produce a lawn that can stand up to dry conditions better than the mixtures above.

Buy your grass seed from a reputable firm and you will not go far wrong.

BEFORE SOWING
A week or so before sowing, scatter a couple of handfuls of general purpose fertilser pellets (Growmore for instance) over each square metre of soil. Gently rake it into the soil surface.

SOWING SEED
The best time to sow lawn seed is around end August when the soil is still warm but the autumn rain will soon be on its way. The alternative is to sow in mid April although you will need to monitor the rain situation in the summer to ensure the grass seedlings have enough water.

Study the instructions on the seed packets carefully to ensure you have the correct amount of seed. Sow too little and the lawn may end up patchy, sow too much and there may be a problem with 'damping off' of the grass seedlings.

The day for sowing the seed should be fine and calm with the surface of the soil dry, but damp below the surface. If the weather is too dry for this, it may be necessary to water the soil a few days before sowing. 

To sow the seed, divide the total amount of seed into four parts. Spread the seed by hand as evenly as possible, covering the area four times as shown below:

Sowing the seed in the way described above will help ensure that the seed covers all parts of the lawn evenly. If a special seed distributor machine is used, sow half the seed across the site and the other half up and down the site.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER SOWING
Lightly rake the surface of the soil to work the seed into the soil and partly cover it. Keep the lawn watered well with a sprinkler if a dry spell occurs - this is much more likely with a lawn sown in spring than with one sown in autumn / fall.

If birds are likely to be attracted to the seed, criss-cross strands of string or thread 10cm (4 inch) above the surface of the soil. 

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