Framed by a velvety green lawn, the new house comes into its own. These instructions show you how to create a new lawn by sowing seeds or rolling turf. This is how you master the gardening challenge with flying colours.

New lawn can be seeded or rolled out

How to clear the ground for sowing lawn seeds

Sensitive lawn seeds are demanding when it comes to external conditions. In order to motivate the seeds to germinate, careful preparation of the soil is required. Ideally, you should tackle the necessary work in the autumn of the previous year as follows:

  • Loosen the soil with a tiller or dig up with a spade
  • After a new building, distribute the topsoil from the excavation on the designated lawn area
  • Optimize sandy soil with mature compost, leaf soil, granulated cattle manure (€18.80) or horn meal
  • Enrich rich clayey soil with fine-grained sand and peat
  • Finally smooth the surface with the rake and leave until spring

The quiet winter months are a good time to commission a professional soil analysis. This gives you important insights into the stock of nutrients and the pH value in the soil. In particular, the soil should not be too acidic. Lawns do poorly in a pH below 5.5. This shortcoming is ironed out in no time at all with a dose of garden lime (9.70€).

Best time for sowing - now it starts

When the temperatures settle at 10 degrees and higher at the end of April/beginning of May, the best time for sowing a new lawn begins. If you missed the autumn date for soil preparation, carry out the rough planum 2-3 weeks before sowing so that the soil can settle. On the chosen day itself, dry, mild weather should prevail in order to work in this sequence:

  • Meticulously pull out weeds and work the surface into fine crumbs
  • Mix the seeds vigorously and pour into the spreader or hand spreader
  • Scatter the seed lengthwise and crosswise
  • Thinly sieve with peat, sand or vermiculite, without leaving the light germs completely in the dark
  • Roll the seedbed and sprinkle with a fine water jet

Sufficient humidity is fundamental for germination. You should therefore water the newly laid lawn regularly over the next 3 weeks if the natural rainfall is not sufficient. Prudent hobby gardeners cordon off the area in a clearly visible manner so that it is not entered by mistake. Only to position the lawn sprinkler (€26.95) should you put your foot on the seedbed.

Second chance - sowing lawns in the fall

A second window for laying new lawns by sowing opens in September. In sun-warmed soil, the seeds will germinate quickly and take root quickly. This time of year is also advantageous for sowing, since the natural rainfall increases and additional irrigation is reduced. Sowing should be completed by the beginning of October, due to the falling temperatures then.

In order for the young lawn to get through the winter well, the first application of fertilizer should be aimed at the potassium content. This nutrient strengthens the frost resistance of plant cells so they don't rupture during swings from freeze to thaw.

tips

So that freshly sown lawn seeds are not immediately picked up by hungry birds, choose green-colored seeds. Birds do not recognize this coloration as prey and ignore the seedbed. Protect the seed with a close-meshed protective net against other pests with a growling stomach.

Preparing a new building plot for turf - this is how it works

Planting a new lawn with seeds puts the gardener's patience to the test for several weeks. Anyone who wants to give their new home a worthy setting in the shortest possible time therefore chooses the rolled turf method. Within a day, a drab new building plot is transformed into a velvety green carpet. However, you cannot get away with it without any preparation, because even the best ready-made lawn will not grow without a substructure. How to do it right:

  • Create the rough subgrade as for sowing lawn seeds
  • Apply a special starter fertilizer for turf and water it
  • Then spread out a stable mole net and fix it on the sides with ground anchors

Now give the soil 3 weeks to settle. During this phase, the mole net grows in so tightly that it offers robust protection against the busy tunnel builders. The lawn edge can later be designed in such a way that the fixing anchors underneath are invisible.

When is the best time to lay turf?

The spring and summer months are ideal for laying out a new lawn using rolled turf. Choose a dry, overcast day between late March and mid-September. It is theoretically possible to lay turf during a summer drought period, but special precautions are required for the water supply. Under extreme conditions, the turf rolls must be watered while they are being laid.

How to lay turf with skill

On the day of delivery, the rolled turf must be completely laid, because wilting begins as soon as it is harvested in the lawn nursery. For a longer transport route, the suppliers cool the lawn rolls down to 3 degrees Celsius. However, this pre-cool process does not last long enough for ready-made turf to be storable for a few days. It is therefore an advantage if helping hands are available on the day of installation. This is how it goes step-by-step:

  • Lay the first roll of sod along a straight edge
  • Place the following lengths end to end and offset, as with walls
  • Avoid gaps and cross joints as well as overlaps
  • Do not step on the substructure during the laying work

Parallel to the progress of the work, lay out wooden slats on the finished lawn. Lay the next sheets from here so that there are no point loads. Indentations and dents in a newly laid lawn can no longer be ironed out afterwards. Cut off rolls that are too long with a sharp knife. These remnants are ideal for shooting small corners and gaps.

Rolled turf care begins on the day of laying

Once all the lawn rolls have been laid correctly, the lawn roller is used in the first step of care. In this way you create a good connection to the substructure so that the sod takes root quickly. The important irrigation, without which no finished lawn can gain a foothold, begins on the evening of the laying. That's what matters:

  • Sprinkle newly laid turf with 15-20 liters of water per square meter
  • Continue like this for 2 weeks on a daily to two-day basis, depending on the weather
  • Do not water the finished lawn under the blazing midday sun

To determine the amount of irrigation water, simply place a measuring cup in the area of the lawn sprinkler. Alternatively, use a screwdriver or other pointed tool to check whether the turf is moistened to a depth of 7 centimetres.

Maintain a newly laid lawn professionally - this is how it works

So that you can enjoy a lawn for many years after laying it out, care focuses on a balanced supply of water and nutrients in combination with regular lawn mowing. The central aspects of these three supporting pillars in the cultivation of green spaces are examined in more detail below:

Watering when dry

If a newly laid lawn has taken root well, the natural rainfall in autumn and winter covers the water requirement. In spring and summer, on the other hand, up to 25 liters of water per square meter evaporate under the sun every day. As soon as the lawn leaves no longer straighten up after stepping on them, the lawn sprinkler is used. Irrigate your new lawn thoroughly twice a week on average to keep the lush green.

Fertilize in a balanced way

A dense carpet of grass draws a wealth of nutrients from the soil. This loss is compensated for by regular fertilization during the growing season. Ideally use an organic or mineral-organic fertilizer applied in March/April and July/August. Intensively used sports turf receives an additional portion in May. In the following days, repeated watering is required until no fertilizer granules can be seen

Mow regularly

A newly created lawn is mowed for the first time from a blade height of 8 centimetres. The noble grass should then be cut by a third every 7 days. It is important to note that lawns should not be mowed when it is wet or in direct sunlight. 4 centimeters have proven to be a healthy cutting height for ornamental and utility lawns. Shaded lawn should be 6-7 centimeters higher.

tips

If a new lawn is properly cared for, moss and weeds will not show up. Therefore, do not unnecessarily confront the green with strenuous scarifying and aerating. If at all, this drastic intervention comes into consideration at the earliest in the third year after sowing seeds or laying turf.

Category:

Garden design