Growing a new lawn from seed

When you are confronted with a large area that's to become a lawn, the scale of the project and the potential cost can both be rather daunting. Raising your new lawn from seed is a simple and budget-friendly way to create your dream lawn.

This project is not difficult but you need to think about a few important details:

Understanding your site
Deciding what you want from your lawn - bowling green perfection or tough grass for family play
Choosing the right type of grass seed

The real secret to a quality lawn is making sure you know exactly what you want before you start.

Planning your new lawn

Make sure you pick the right grass variety for your needs and location. There are also a few other things to consider as you plan and prepare for your new lawn.

Evaluate your lawn area: Is it shady, sunny or somewhere in-between?

This will determine the type of grass seed you can use.
Lawn use is an important consideration: If your lawn will receive lots of wear and tear, choose a seed variety that is resistant and will recover well, like Scotts Lawn Builder TOUGH Custom Seed.
Access to your garden and home are essential: If you seed the entire front lawn in one go, you may have effectively painted yourself into a corner! Break large areas up into two or more projects.
Renovating or building? If your new lawn is part of new landscaping during or after construction, leave an area clear for trades to access the property, then plant this last when the rest of the work is complete.will sink in with the extra weight giving the grass an uneven cut.

Preparing to sow a new lawn

You will need:

Spade
Shovel
Mattock or heavy hoe
Landscape rake
Petrol driven cultivator or rotary hoe (optional)
Wheelbarrow
Soil spreader (optional)
Scotts Lawn Builder Spreader
Scotts Performance Naturals Lawn Topdress
Scotts Lawn Builder Custom Grass Seed of your choosing - go for an AWESOME, TOUGH or RELAXED lawn

Step 1

Remove all existing grass and weeds. For smaller areas you can achieve this with a spade, a mattock or heavy hoe and a landscape rake. For larger areas you may want to hire a petrol driven cultivator/rotary hoe. Break the soil up as you go.

Step 2

For a smaller area blend through Scotts Performance Naturals Lawn Topdress to improve soil and fill dips. For a larger area talk to your local landscape supplier about suitable bulk soil mixes. Once spread and blended use landscape rake or soil spreader to bring to level.

Step 3

Gently rake the levelled soil to create small furrows. This will help prevent seed blowing or washing away. On a sloping site run these furrows across the slope. Use a Scotts Spreader to spread the seed evenly over the area.

Step 4

Gently and evenly water the entire area just to the point of run-off. Seed lawns will need daily gentle watering or twice daily watering in warm or windy weather.

TIPS:

If your soil is a heavy clay, add gypsum and washed river sand to open up the soil structure so roots and moisture can penetrate better.
On a sandy soil, add Scotts Everydrop Premium Granular Soil Wetter and blend through Scotts Performance Naturals Lawn Topdress to improve soil structure and moisture retention.
Scotts Lawn Builder AWESOME Custom Seed is the perfect choice for an awesome-looking lawn! Once established, this unique blend is a beautiful deep green colour with soft lush blades and a spreading root system for thick coverage.
Scotts Lawn Builder RELAXED Custom Seed is the perfect low maintenance lawn! Once established, this unique blend requires less time mowing, watering and feeding so you can spend more time on other things, like relaxing!
Scotts Lawn Builder TOUGH Custom Seed is the perfect strong and resilient lawn! Once established, this unique blend is ready to take on the everyday challenges like backyard activities and pets.

When improving soil: Don’t just spread a new layer of soil on top of the old. This will lead to distinct soil layers and may create zones where water pools or does not soak in.

It’s bit more work, but blend the new soil with the existing soil. This simple but important task can be as easy as vigorous raking with a landscape rake before levelling.