Creating a new lawn: soil preparation, seed or turf, and the first year
A new lawn after building a house, after redesigning the garden or because the old one cannot be saved: how good your lawn will be in the coming years is decided when you establish it. Mistakes in the soil are hard to correct later. Here you can read how to prepare the soil, whether seed or turf suits you better and how to get the young lawn through its first year.
In short
- Most of the work is in the soil: loosen, improve, level and let it settle.
- Seed is cheap and gives you free choice of grasses, turf is usable sooner but costs many times more.
- Best time for sowing: late August to late September. Turf can be laid almost all year.
- Quality seed with turf varieties instead of cheap forage grasses.
- In the first year: keep moist, mow carefully, first care treatment in the following year.
1. Preparing the soil
Lawn roots sit in the top 10 to 15 centimetres. This layer should be loose, permeable and level. After building work in particular, the subsoil is often heavily compacted, mixed with rubble or covered with very little topsoil.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| Soil analysis | have pH and nutrients determined in a lab. Lawns do well at about pH 5.5 to 6.5. Lime clearly acidic soils, but only after measuring. |
| Clearing | remove the old sward, perennial weeds, stones and rubble. |
| Loosening | about 15 to 20 centimetres deep, deeper on heavily compacted subsoil. Rotavator or garden fork. |
| Improving | make heavy loam soils more permeable with sand, add some compost to poor sandy soils. |
| Levelling | level roughly, then finely with a rake or levelling rake. Plan a slight fall away from the house. |
| Letting it settle | roll, water and leave for one to two weeks. Remove germinating weeds, fill in hollows and level again. |
Letting the soil settle is often skipped, but it pays off. Freshly loosened soil sinks unevenly in the first weeks. If you sow straight away, you get hollows where water later stands and which show immediately when mowing short.
Good to know
If you later want to mow short with a reel mower, be particularly thorough when levelling. The shorter the cut, the more visible any bumps become. Small hollows can be evened out later by top-dressing, larger undulations hardly at all.
2. Choosing the right lawn type
How the lawn will be used and how much light it gets determines the seed mix. A play lawn needs different grasses from a closely mown ornamental lawn or an area under trees.
When buying, look for mixes made of named turf varieties. Cheap mixes often contain forage grasses that germinate quickly but become patchy after one or two years. More about lawn types on our page Lawn types.
3. Seed or turf?
Both lead to a good lawn if the soil is right. Turf is not a shortcut in preparation: on poorly prepared soil it roots badly and shows the same problems as a sown lawn.
Sowing
About 25 grams of seed per square metre, spread half lengthways and half crossways, rake in shallowly and roll. Then keep the surface moist for three to four weeks. All the details, from seed rate to germination times, are in Sowing a lawn: new lawn and overseeding.
Laying turf
- Lay it on the day of delivery. Rolled up, the turf warms up and quickly starts to yellow.
- Moisten the soil shortly beforehand and apply a starter fertiliser if the soil analysis suggests it.
- Lay the strips in a brick bond, with staggered joints. Edges tight together, not overlapping and not stretched.
- Stand on boards while laying so no dents are made.
- Roll so the strips have soil contact everywhere.
- Water deeply straight away, so that the soil under the turf gets wet too. Keep moist for the next two to three weeks.
You can tell the turf has rooted when a corner can no longer be lifted easily. That usually takes two to three weeks. Until then, walk on it as little as possible.
4. The first year
Watering: until everything has germinated or rooted, keep the area moist. Then gradually switch to less often and more deeply so the roots go down. More on this in Watering your lawn.
Mowing: make the first cut with a sharp rotary mower when the grasses are about 6 to 8 centimetres high, and only take off a third. Then lower the cutting height to your target over several cuts. Which mower suits your goal is explained in Lawn mower types compared.
Feeding: the first feed about six to ten weeks after sowing, three to four weeks after laying turf. In autumn, use a potassium-rich feed so the young lawn gets through winter well.
Care treatment: in the first year the lawn needs rest. Do not scarify. From the following year, raking out, aerating and top-dressing become routine, ideally in late summer. More on this in Lawn aeration and Why September is the best month for lawn renovation.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Better |
|---|---|
| Not letting the soil settle | wait one to two weeks, level again |
| Rubble and compaction in the subsoil | clear thoroughly and loosen deep enough |
| Cheap seed | mix with named turf varieties |
| Letting germination or freshly laid turf dry out | keep moist consistently for three weeks |
| Mowing too short too early | lower the cutting height step by step |
| Scarifying in the first year | only from the following year, if needed at all |
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to establish a lawn?
For seed, late August to late September, or alternatively in spring once the soil stays above about 10 °C. Turf can be laid almost all year, just not in frost or great heat.
Do I need topsoil?
Only if there is hardly any topsoil, for example after building work. Then apply a layer of about 10 centimetres and work it well into the subsoil.
When can I walk on the new lawn?
A sown lawn for mowing and watering after about four to six weeks, normal use after around three months. Turf after about two to three weeks, once it has rooted.
When can I use a reel mower?
Once the sward has closed and there is no more sand or grit on the surface. Until then, a rotary mower is better.
Tools
- Levelling rake: fine levelling and later spreading sand.
- Drag mat: working in seed and sand.
- Lawnpecker: aerating from the second year.
