How do you start a new lawn? The Garden Scoop went to our expert. Lawn Guru, Tom Jameson, has 30 years of experience perfecting seed combinations and protocols for optimum success. He is passionate about helping you succeed. Tom’s pro tip: Don’t try to seed too large of an area, start small.
First up, it’s very important to start with the appropriate seed mix for YOUR situation. Tom’s pro tip: on the back of the package, the germination rate of the seed must be at least 85% and the inert portion less than 2%. Our JRK brands have been designed by Tom.
You purchased the appropriate seed mix and have seeded as recommended on the package…
In Tom’s words:
Irrigate, Irrigate, Irrigate, but do not create a Swimming Pool:
Keep the seed bed watered as often as necessary to keep the top half-inch of soil constantly moist, but do not create pools of standing water or let it dry out.
- In May this may only be twice a day.
- In June it will probably be 3 times per day.
- Do not let the seed bed dry out between watering.
If you did a good job watering, you should have a full stand of grass at the end of 3 weeks.
- Now you can begin to cut back the water applications per day.
- Water longer, but do not water late into the evening.
- Fungus loves damp, warm growing conditions and it can kill a lawn faster than you can establish it.
Fertilizer:
- Between 3 and 4 weeks after seeding it is time to apply a starter fertilizer.
- This fertilizer application is very important because it increases the density of the turf and reduces the ability of weeds to establish.
- Note, you’ll always have some weeds, but they will be easy to control if you follow this program.
- A follow up application of the same fertilizer about 5 weeks later is necessary to develop a good root system.
Mowing:
- Do not forget to mow your new lawn!!
- Your lawn is ready to mow anytime the leaf blades reach 4 inches.
- Mowing promotes tillering and speeds the establishment of your lawn but only remove a 1/3 of the grass blade at a time.
- Cutting too short can hurt the young grass plants.
- During the first year don’t mow your lawn shorter than 3” to maintain a healthy lawn and prevent stress.
- Do not mow after watering or early morning with heavy dew.
- Avoid bagging clippings regularly because you are removing key nutrients from your lawn.
Tom’s pro tip: it’s best to leave your lawn at 3 to 3 ½ inches tall. Cutting it too short doesn’t leave enough blade surface to absorb sunlight which produces sugars which, in turn, “feeds” the plant.
Weed Control:
Most weed control products will be safe to use on your new lawn 8 weeks after germination, provided most of the seed had germinated in 3 weeks and you were mowing after 3 weeks. Remember it is much more important to get the lawn established than killing weeds.
- If you are doing the spraying yourself use the low application rate on the container the first time.
Tom’s pro tip: be sure to water-in weed control.
Of course, Gertens has the essentials you need including expert advice from our lawn turf professionals. Be sure to check out our LEARN page for more information on just about everything, except the kitchen sink!
Whew! I hope you got all that!
Happy Growing,
