With so many grass seed types to choose from and what seems like a lot of information on when and how you should sow your seed from scratch, hopefully, this simple guide on how to seed a new lawn will help you on your way to achieving the gorgeous green grass you had hoped for!

How to choose the right grass seed for a new lawn

Just like every home, every garden will be different. Different soil types, different amounts of sunlight, and different purposes. Making sure that you have the right grass seed is ensuring that you have selected one that is fit for your purpose. So, let’s find out what grass seed you need.

If your garden is the heart of your home and a place where your family, kids and pets go to play and relax, then you should try our FAMILY: Kids and Pets grass seed; it’s a hardwearing grass seed that will produce a fast-growing lawn.

For a front garden that will turn heads, try our STATEMENT: Front Lawn grass seed. It will produce an ornamental lawn, which will lend itself nicely to creating those all-important stripes. To keep the neighbours peering over the fences and jealous of your lawn, our SUPERSTAR: Back Lawn will do just that! It’s a blend of perennial ryegrass with strong creeping red fescue, perfect for those who want a showstopping lawn without compromising on quality!

For those gardens that fall under the blanket of shade, our two specially designed shade mixes will thrive, even under the darkness. And for those with more speciality soils, like clay soils or sandy soils, we have a grass seed for that, too. Each of these grass seed mixtures has been expertly created to overcome the obstacles of clay or sand and leave you with a perfectly green lawn.

How to seed a new lawn

Now that you have the right seed, which is fit for purpose, it’s time to get down to the main event – the sowing! While it would be nice to scatter your seeds and hope that a luscious green lawn will appear soon, the process is a bit more in-depth. But, with the right knowledge, it can be an easy yet very rewarding one. To make it easy, we have broken down our steps on how to sow grass seed.

Step 1 – Preparation

Preparation is just as important as sowing; without it, your seeds won’t have the best chance at germination. Before you start to sow a new lawn from scratch, we recommend that you remove any weeds and moss from your chosen area. This can be done by hand for small clusters of moss and weeds.

Completely remove any debris lying on your seedbed before sowing. Lastly, using a rotavator, you should rotavate the soil, making sure to break up any clumps and move the soil evenly across the bed. You can follow our helpful guide on how to prepare the perfect seedbed for a more detailed breakdown of this step.

If you feel that your soil is of poor quality, you can look at adding some topsoil to improve this. If you do, be sure to rake over this after applying it to create a level seedbed again.

Step 2 – Sowing your seed

Before you begin to sow a new lawn from scratch, ensure that temperatures are consistently reaching at least 8-10 degrees for two weeks. This will make sure that your new seeds have the best possible chance at germination with success.

Depending on the size of your garden, you might opt for a spreader to disperse your seeds; otherwise, you can sow your seeds by hand. Our recommended sowing rate for sowing a new lawn is 50g per m2. Once you have sown the seed, we recommend raking in the seed to make sure it is amongst the soil and then firming it down with a roller or by foot to improve the seed-to-soil contact once again. If you’re new to sowing a lawn from scratch, our easy-to-follow guide on how to sow grass seed will be useful.

Step 3 – Aftercare

A new lawn will take roughly 5 - 15 days to germinate fully, so between sowing and this time, patience is key! While you wait for your seeds to germinate, there are a few things you can do to help them do just that.

You should aim to water your seeds once a day in the absence of any rain. As hard as it might be, try to keep any kids, pets or footfall off the seedbed until your lawn has fully established.  Once you start to see an even and thick grass coverage, and your blades are reaching heights of 5-7cm, your lawn is ready for its first mow. You can follow our helpful guide on how to mow your lawn for the first time to make sure everything goes smoothly!

To keep your lawn healthy and weed-free, remember to fertilise it regularly. To find out what fertiliser to use, when to use it and how to use it, head over to our Fertiliser Guide.

We hope that this guide has been helpful, but if we have missed anything, be sure to check out our help and advice pages, where we cover everything from grass seed to wildflowers.