Newly seeded lawn

benhurlestonCyTb5Biv · June 2021

Hi there, this is my first time posting, I recently (18 days ago) sowed the seeds for my new lawn. After 5 days I saw shoots appear and once they were fairly evenly established across the lawn I started watering only in the mornings rather than morning and evening. The lawn is coming along lovely, to the extent that for the most part, the grass is already in need of mowing... This is my problem, and my question, I have read that you should wait 6-8 weeks from sowing to make the first cut, however that you should mow when it is about 7cm long but also that you shouldn't cut more than a third of the grasses length off at a time, especially on its first cut. Now, one of these three is not going to be able to be fulfilled... What should I do? Thanks!

Fairygirl · June 2021

If it's long enough to cut, then that's fine. I'd say 7cm is a bit short to cut. I wouldn't cut new grass until it's about 4inches/10 cm.
Yes - only take a small amount off with each cut to encourage the grass to thicken up and spread sideways [tillering] which will give a better result, and will be a stronger, healthier lawn. Little and often is always better.
If you live in an area that gets lower rainfall over summer, it's always better to leave it a little longer anyway. Cutting too short makes it less able to withstand long dry spells.

benhurlestonCyTb5Biv · June 2021

Thanks very much that's a great help, I was mostly worrying about standing on the grass as I wasn't sure if due to the fact it's only been sown 18 days, it wouldn't appreciate me doing so, and may suffer as a result.. a lot of the grass is 10cm so I'm gonna go for it. Get it thickened up as you say, and fill in some of those patches. Thanks again

JennyJ · June 2021

Walking on it to mow once or twice a week won't hurt - it's just not ready to be used as a path to the shed or as a footie pitch yet. Make sure the mower is sharp so that it cuts cleanly without pulling, and put it on the highest setting to begin with.

benhurlestonCyTb5Biv · June 2021

Lovely, thank you JennyJ I have just mowed it. I knew it wasnt anyway, but when rolling the mower across it you can tell that it's really not very level 🤣🙈 I can sort that out gradually over time though..

Fairygirl · June 2021

It's quite common for the levels to change a bit, especially if the seed was sown before the ground had a chance to settle well, but you can add some soil and more seed at other times if necessary.
The roots will still be getting established, so make sure you don't overuse the lawn as @JennyJ says. It won't be up to it for quite a while.

benhurlestonCyTb5Biv · June 2021

Oh yeah, it was sown on May 27 and it will be my son's first birthday on August 23, the garden was just all gravel when we bought the house and we want him to be able to totter around out there, hence the lawn. It won't be used at all other than for mowing (and maybe a bit of weeding nearer the time) until his birthday as his mum wants to throw a party with a pool, a play area and obviously lots of children all over it. So it's certainly going to get some stick that day. Need to make sure it's in as good condition as it possibly can be beforehand!

I rotavated it, took an insane amount of rocks etc out of it, found an old pond and liner filled with a rockery, the base of an old wall the length of the garden rotavated in 6 ton of mushroom compost to different depths then let it settle for about 4 weeks, 2 of which it rained heavily every single day. So I'm sure it had settled properly I just didn't do a good enough job of leveling it afterwards, I ran out of time, soil and money. The two weeks of constant rain really put me under pressure.

Newly seeded lawn

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