RE-SEEDING - GENERAL

Before you decide to lay new seed, make sure that that is the best choice for you.

Once you have decided this is the best option, follow the below instructions to make sure that your seed has the best chance of thriving. 

If you need guidance on what seed to buy, check out the Product Buying Guide.

1. Prepare the Land

The first step is to prepare the land and ensure that it is ready for the seed. First of all, you want to get the ground levelled off and to the correct height. Be sure to check it blends into any existing lawn.

To level or raise the land, get some fresh, good quality top soil. Even if you don’t need to raise the height of the land, make sure you have used some fresh top soil or lawn dressing when preparing the land. You don’t need a huge amount of it - an inch or so should do. 

Once you have it at the correct height, make sure that you have cleared anything that may stop your new seed growing. So clear away any weeds or large stones that could cause problems. If you are removing weeds, be sure to pull them out by hand rather than using a weed killer, as this will prevent the new growth.

2. Compact the Land

Once you have sown the seed, it is a big job to re-level the land and fill in any subsidence. Because of this, you will want to compact the land thoroughly. Subsidence is only going to occur if you are putting down a lot of new top soil, but it is something to be careful of. 

To compact the land, the easiest method is to simply walk over the new top soil and compress the soil with your feet. Make sure you cover the whole area and it is well worth doing a few passes over the area. When you are doing this, you want to apply a large amount of pressure, so don’t try and speed this up by using boards or tools with a large surface area, as it doesn’t work anywhere near as well. 

3. Loosen the Soil

Compacting the land is crucial to stop subsidence but it then creates difficulties for the seed to take in the soil. So once you have compacted the land, you then want to loosen off the very top layer of the soil - only to a depth of ¼ of an inch or so. When loosening off the soil, you are also looking to create furrows in the soil in which the new seed shall sit. 

The best way to do this is by dragging a rake over the new soil. You want to apply a small amount of pressure when doing this, so use the weight of the rake and then a small amount of pressure by yourself. When you have completed this, you should see furrows (about ¼ of an inch deep), which will be small channels within the soil. 

4. Distribute the Seed

Your land is now all fully prepped and ready for the new seed. You will want to spread the seed evenly across the new top soil, to ensure that the new lawn grows evenly. 

For guidance on the amount of seed to sow, check the instructions on the seed that you have bought. This will give you an amount of seed per square metre, so measure the area and then weigh out the seed with some scales. 

5. Cover the Seed

Now that the seed has been distributed, you need to cover it with top soil or lawn dressing. By covering the new seed, it ensures that it is not lost, either by being blown away or eaten by birds, as well as ensuring that it gets the necessary water to germinate. 

To do this, you need to get the rake out again, but you are going to use the flat edge of the rake this time. By using the flat edge, you can drag the soil over the new seed. The seed should be sitting in the furrows now, so by dragging the flat edge of the rake over the area, it will take the excess soil and cover the new seed. 

Ideally, the seed should sit underneath ¼ of an inch of soil, but as long as it is covered, then you will be fine. If you need to, you can keep a little top soil or lawn dressing spare and put this on too. Not all of the seed will be covered, so don’t worry if quite a lot is still showing. 

6. Water the Seed

This is a simple one. Get your sprinkler out and soak the area with water, but do not create puddles on the soil.

The one thing to be careful of here is not splashing or disturbing the soil that is covering the new seed. You want a fine sprinkle of water to land on the area, rather than a heavy stream of water aimed directly at the area - a good trick is to aim your sprinkler upwards above the area rather than directly at it and let the water float down onto the soil. If you uncover the seed, it will prevent the even growth that you need. 

7. Take Care of the Seed

Lastly, make sure that you look after the new seed. Check out what to do here.