Trade Secrets
A lawn is for life buy the best quality!
Fertilizers
Agricultural Fertilizers are the choice of all professional growers. They are usually more than double the strength of Garden Fertilizers. Garden Fertilizers are produced by adding inert material (usually clay) to bring down the strength of basic compounds. A little sand or grit mixed with Basic Agricultural Fertilizer will do the same thing allowing the gardener a huge saving on Fertilizer Bills and Vat. i.e. 34.5 Ammonium Sulphate contains 5 times the Nitrogen of 7.7.7
Grass Seed Quality
Grass Seed sold in packets can be very old; as the packet filler only needs to state the date when he fills the packet the seeds he is using could be any age. Older grass seed suffers from lack of vigor. So try and buy from a grass seedsman who makes his own mixtures in preference to a seller of a mixed product. If the choice is only with or without ryegrass you will not be able to get grass of any decent quality in that premise. If you want grass to look like a golf green you will have to look elsewhere.
Preparing the ground
Spray old grass and or weeds with Glyphosate 10 days before you start to cultivate your soil. Cultivate to about 7 centimeters. Level off the bumps and fill in the hollows. The hollows will shrink so firm them in well and leave the hollow a bit higher than the rest of the soil. This is the most important stage as the finishing level is determined now. It is almost impossible to roll out bumps or fill in hollows after the seed has been sown. It is quite a good idea to leave the area to be sown for a month to settle and then give it another raking to make sure the surface is how you want it. Grass Seed loves phosphate this is the time to put it on.
Sowing
You want the soil to be fine and firm. Sow grass seed before a spell of wet weather as it is not very satisfactory to water in new sown grass seed try not to if possible. Mix the seed in the bag as it may have separated a little then divide seed in to two and sprinkle half of the seed on to all of the area. Then sow the rest of the seed on all of the area again thus covering the area thoroughly. If the area is large divide it in to smaller areas this makes it easier to calculate your sowing thickness.
Covering / Rolling
Rake in very lightly. Remember your most expensive seeds are tiny almost invisible so don't rake to vigorously as you will cover the tiny bent grasses and they will die. Any seeds left on the surface will be squeezed to the soil by the roller. Most important operation is rolling so roll twice. This helps to bring the soil particles to touch the seeds thus helping the grasses to germinate. In an agricultural situation where the seed is sown or drilled by a machine evenly across the land you will find where the roller turns at the end of the field germination is often more than double that of the rest of the field. My father always made me roll twice it pays to do it.
Weeds
All soil has its own reservoir of weed seeds; the weeds will grow faster than the grass. If you have killed off the wild grasses with Glyphosate you will only have broad-leaved weeds growing out of your reservoir. They will die with cutting. If you see any rogue grasses growing dig them out with a kitchen fork.
Please call Alan or Alison on 01259 760400 or email alan@grassseed.co.uk to discuss your Grass Seed needs.