Renovating your lawn can seem like a huge and daunting task, but by using The Lawn Pack you will have all the tools you need to bring your lawn back to life yourself and enjoy lush green grass year round. This post will give you an overview of how you’ll use The Lawn Pack to get professional results without actually calling in the professionals.
How to prepare my lawn for seeding?
We provide the highest-quality products in quantities appropriate to the size of your lawn and detailed guides on how to apply them - if you follow the application process carefully, you should see great results within just 4 weeks. That being said, if you want to get the best results from our products, we’d recommend doing a little preparation before application to get your existing lawn ready for a makeover.
There are a few different things you can do to to prep your lawn, but by far the most important is this: mowing!
Standard advice and practice for a domestic lawn is never to go too short with your cut, as you don’t want to damage those healthy blades of grass you’ve worked so hard for. However, as you get closer to overseeding, you’ll want to cut your existing lawn shorter than usual to ensure good germination and growth from your seedlings. We’d recommend cutting to around 1 inch (2.5cm) so the seeds can make good soil contact and get plenty of sunlight. You might feel this has left your lawn worse-off initially, but trust the process and allow the fertiliser, water and light to do their jobs and get your seedlings up and running. You’ll have a lush lawn again in no time.
As well as giving your lawn a fresh trim, we’d also recommend you carry out one, or ideally both, of the following:
Lawn Aeration
While it is a bit more work and more specialised than mowing, aeration is one of the most effective tools you can add into your lawn care programme on a consistent basis to get the healthiest lawn. Aeration - essentially the creation of channels down into the soil - keeps your soil in the best condition to promote healthy grass growth, and doing it before applying your seed is a great way to ensure there’s plenty of room for the new roots to grow down into.
You can use a garden fork for this, but as this doesn’t actually remove any soil it can lead to compaction and may be counter-productive. Instead, we’d suggest using either a handheld hollow tiner or hiring a mechanical one from the likes of Hire Station. Hollow tining actually removes plugs of soil from your lawn, improving drainage and reducing compaction, which is particularly needed in clay soils.
Lawn Topdressing
To increase the all-important seed to soil contact, applying a good quality top dressing before seeding will help aid germination. At the very least, it’s a good idea to apply a thin layer of topsoil after you have seeded, which will also maximise seed to soil contact and prevent birds from eating the seed. You can use either a layer of topsoil or a more sandy mix, just make sure to only compact lightly after application to ensure plenty of air stays in the soil. There are other benefits to topdressing too - it will help control thatch, assist drainage by improving soil composition and can be a good method for levelling your lawn.
Here are a few other preparation tasks which are specific to the current condition of your lawn:
- Scarification to remove excess thatch
- Moss control
- Weed control
- Weed grass removal
- Raking out dead grass and bare patches
We won’t go into detail on these techniques here, but if you’d like to learn more then please check out our preparation guide: Ground Preparation Guide - The Lawn Pack
Applying The Lawn Pack's Professional Quality Lawn Products
Now you’ve done the hard work and your lawn is prepared, it’s time for the main event!
While the pack can be applied at any point during the growing season, (roughly Mid-March to October) it’s important you make sure your soil is above 10C. If you don’t have a soil thermometer, wait until there will be at least 2 weeks of weather temps above 12C and no forecast of frost on the horizon.
All products in The Lawn Pack are applied on the same day, so when you’re happy your soil is warm enough, clear a spot in your diary, get on your gardening gear and let’s do this!
Step 1: Stronger Roots Grass Seed & Mycorrhizal Seed Enhancer
- Mix the Mycorrhizal Seed Enhancer into the bag of Stronger Roots Grass Seed or mix both in a separate container
- Using a spreader or by hand, spread the grass seed at 20g/m2+ (don’t worry if you exceed this), ensuring even coverage across the lawn and using more seed in any bare patches
- Walk in lines from one end of the lawn to the other while spreading, doing multiple passes in up and down and side to side directions to increase spread
- If you applied a topdressing or topsoil before application, rake the seed gently into it. If you didn’t apply before, now is the time to add a thin layer of topdressing before raking
- Either using a roller or by treading it in gently, compact the lawn. Remember, seed to soil contact is extremely important for germination
Step 2: Seeding Success Fertiliser
- Ideally using a spreader, scatter the Seeding Success Fertiliser across the lawn using the same method of walking in lines as you used for the seeding
- You can apply by hand (wearing gloves), but to prevent uneven growth you will need to make sure you get even coverage across the lawn
- Whichever method of application you choose, try not to exceed the amounts for your lawn size which you can find on the product label
Step 3: Biostimulant Booster
- Dilute the biostimulant in water, following the instructions on the label to get the right ratio for your lawn size. Make sure you mix it well in your chosen container, which can be either a watering can with a fine rose head or a pump/pressure spray
- As with the previous steps, walk in lines up and down your lawn to ensure a good even application
Step 4: Water
- Now the products are on, it is essential that you water immediately after application
- You don’t want to saturate the lawn, only the first couple of inches of soil need to be moist, so a light watering with a fine spray is fine
For more details on the application process you can read through the following guide: Product Application Guide - The Lawn Pack
Aftercare
Following application, as tempting as it may be to put your feet up after a job well done, you need to make sure you look after your soil to ensure the best results and a high rate of germination. By adhering to the following watering guidelines, you should maintain a perfect level of soil moisture:
WEEKS 1 & 2: At least once a day, but ideally twice (morning & evening), water with a very fine spray or mist. Seed can be disrupted by heavy watering or large droplets, so use as gentle a spray as possible and remember you just need to keep the soil moist, not saturated. Maintain this level of watering until germination is finished - it is vital the soil doesn’t dry out during this time.
WEEKS 3 & 4 (or later, if germination isn’t finished): Reduce watering to once a day, or once every other day. You can increase the frequency if you feel the soil is becoming too dry.
WEEKS 5-8: Increase the heaviness of the water but do it less frequently, two or three times a week is enough.
WEEK 9 ONWARDS: Water once a week and monitor your soil to see if you think it’s drying out and needs more. In the first six months post-seeding, the grass is most prone to dying so make sure to check on it.
Consideration also needs to be given to the weather and how this will effect soil moisture. If there has been plenty of rain, you’ll need to water less. If it’s been very hot, you’ll need to water more. Just make sure to monitor how moist the soil is frequently and adjust your routine accordingly.
Mowing my lawn after seeding
Obviously you’ll need to be a little patient before getting your mower out again, but you should start to see shoots within 7-21 days after seeding, depending on conditions, and then you’ll need to wait until the grass is 5-8cm long before cutting. It’s really important that you don’t damage your new grass, so make sure your mower has been freshly sharpened and the lawn is dry. Mow on the highest possible setting so you don’t cut more than 1/3 of the grass, and go slowly the first few times. When you’ve done a few gentle cuts, you can then start bringing the height down. If you feel your existing grass is outgrowing the new grass so much that it is preventing the seedlings from getting light, you can mow a little earlier but do so very carefully.
Using my lawn after seeding
If possible, we advise not using the lawn at all for at least 4 weeks, and limited usage until 8 weeks, to allow the new grass to become established. If you have pets, it is still very important to keep them off the lawn for the first 4 weeks.
Once you’re happy your newly renovated lawn has settled in, you can apply a season-specific fertiliser to give it an extra boost of nutrients for continued growth. To help our customers keep their lawns thriving, we’ve created four season-specific packs that all contain a carefully chosen fertiliser for that season and a fresh dose of Biostimulant Booster. These packs can be bought individually, or you can save 15% by signing up to our pay-as-you-go subscription. For more details on this and how these packs compliment The Lawn Pack, you can head to the product page here: Seasonal Pack Subscription - Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter.
We hope this entry has been helpful in giving you a good overview of how The Lawn Pack is used to give your lawn a new lease of life. We’ve helped thousands of customers so far and are proud of the results they’ve been able to achieve - we hope you decide to do the same! If at any point you need help, our team are on hand via email, Facebook and Instagram year-round to answer your questions.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your Lawn Pack journey!