ᐅ Next Steps for Establishing a New Lawn

Hello

About three weeks ago, I laid my new lawn. I have three questions regarding it:

1. The grass blades are now about 4-5 cm (1.5-2 inches) tall. How long should I wait before mowing for the first time?

2. There are still some bare patches (see picture). When is the best time to overseed these areas? Should I do it now or wait until after the first cut?

3. Meanwhile, some other plants are starting to grow among the grass (see picture 2). What is the best way to handle this? Pulling them out is difficult because they are still quite small.

Thanks in advance

Best regards & have a nice weekend
Jörg

First of all, you need to wait a bit longer. You shouldn’t mow yet; wait until the grass reaches about 10cm (4 inches) in height, which usually takes around 6 weeks. You should also deal with the weeds later on. However, your soil seems poorly prepared, with stones everywhere. Not only will you step on them, but they can also damage your lawn mower.

Best regards,
Sabine

Hello,

thank you for the information. It does seem a bit intense at this point. There are still some individual stones inside (diameter 0.5 - 1.0 cm (0.2 - 0.4 inches)).

What about overseeding? Should it be done now or later?

I would wait, although it certainly wouldn’t hurt to sow the grass seed now. However, you can’t rake it in at this stage, and it’s uncertain whether it will take root. If you wait a bit longer, you will be able to walk on the lawn and work the grass seed slightly into the soil where necessary. What is really important right now is to keep the lawn moist; otherwise, the tiny grass roots will die immediately.

Best regards,
Sabine

I also think the ground doesn’t look good. Maybe it wasn’t properly prepared? Because quite a lot of weeds are growing, I see many small and large stones, and it doesn’t look like fertile soil to me... more like topsoil that was left over from construction or something? How did you prepare the soil?

I usually mow from about 10 cm (4 inches), and up to that point it’s quite possible the bare patches will grow back a bit. Where it’s still bare after the first mowing, I overseed. For that, I gently rake the soil in those areas (to avoid damaging any shoots that might already be there), then sow the seed and lightly press it down. This method has worked well for me so far.

Give it some fertilizer now before the rain! Just a little, not wheelbarrow loads. About a 5-liter (1.3 gallons) bucket for 250 m² (2,690 ft²). No more than that.

Do not mow yet. Do not overseed yet. Raking will still cause too much damage.