The Joe’s Guide To Watering Your Grass Seed
The best thing about people is we’re all different, especially when it comes to our gardens. Some people are all about the self-sustaining vegetable patch down the other end. Others are all about filling their beds with an elaborate display of perennial flowers. And some get a puffed-up feeling of pride from growing the healthiest lawn in the area. Yepp. You guessed it. Lawns are our favourites too – and here’s why:
- There’s an art to mowing your lawn that only you truly understand
- They are the centrepiece of your garden every time you look out of the window
- A nice neutral area between your flower beds and landscape features
- The most superior place for some slip n’ slide fun
- It’s where everyone gathers the moment BBQ season starts
- They are the perfect palace for garden games (croquet, bulldog, badminton etc)
- They become sunbathing spot number one as soon as the sun comes out
- Healthy lawns are extremely efficient at producing oxygen
The only super-daunting things are, well, planting a lawn for the very first time. And replacing your current lawn for something less weed-ridden (yeah, we’re looking at you crabgrass). That’s where selecting the ideal grass seed comes in. You want to pick your grass seed, prepare your soil and plant your seed. Then make sure you’re watering it just the right amount, to nurture strong, healthy, oh-so-green grass.
Quick Guide To Watering Your Grass Seed
To absolutely nail this process, you want to try and water the area you’re about to seed for around two or three days before you start seeding. This is so that your soil is nice and wet down to around six inches deep. A depth that will help your new grass seeds get enough moisture to germinate. Once you’ve done that, it’s all about getting your watering process just right. To ensure that they enjoy the most hospitable environment to begin germinating. If you don’t do this properly, they won’t sprout and you’ll have to start all over again.
The Best Time To Plant Your Seeds
This one all depends on the type of grass seeds you’ll be planting. The best time to plant grass seed depends on what you’re planting. In the UK, the most popular options tend to be Dwarf Ryegrass, Red Fescue, Slender Creeping Red Fescue, Common Bent and possibly the best-named of the bunch, Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass. All of which will benefit from a spring planting session. That’s because there’s no danger of frosts wreaking havoc and it’s not yet hot enough for you to panic. Translation: the timing is perfect for germination and growth.
That said, you could also wait until those glorious last days of summer or even early autumn, which is when most people fill in their bare spots with some overseeding. Either way, the most important stage is correctly watering your seeds.
The ‘Rain Versus Watering’ Argument
If we were able to control the weather (a dream we’ve had for a long, long time), we’d make sure we always got the perfect amount of rain, but only on days we didn’t have outdoor plans. Of course, we don’t have that kind of control. So we have to work our watering schedule around the unpredictability of Mother Nature. Luckily, weather apps are getting a little more accurate, so if you can plan to plant your seed right before a light rain is due, then go for it. Nothing heavy enough to wash your seeds away, but enough to get them germinating.
On the flipside of that coin, however, is a dry spell, which is also not what you want when laying some grass seed. In fact, anything over 25°C will make it incredibly hard for your grass seed to grow.
Luckily, that’s where consistent and gentle watering comes in. And those two words really are the secret sauce to this whole Guide to Watering Your Grass Seed. Consistent and gentle. Too sporadic, and your grass won’t grow evenly, and if you water too heavily you run the risk of your seeds getting washed away. What you really want to aim for is an average rain shower, even if you have to mimic this with a hose/sprinkler. Here’s how to do that:
- As soon as you’ve planted them, spend 5-10 minutes watering your new grass seeds.
- After that, set your sprinkler to medium and then move it around your soon-to-be-lawn every twenty minutes so that every patch of seeded area is nicely covered.
- Don’t overwater but also don’t let them dry out.
- Keep off any newly planted areas of your garden as trampling grass seeds is a truly terrible idea. Tt least until your new grass shoots have grown two inches, at which point it’s business as usual.
Make Your Soil Epic
We treat over 5 million square metres of grass every year and we can confirm: soil is not given enough kudos in its lawn care role. This is where your new grass seeds will call home; a sanctuary where they will get most of the must-have nutrients they need to grow-up strong and healthy. But because of this fact, there are certain moves you can make based on what you’re seeing. For instance, if your grass seed is germinating a lot slower than you had hoped it would, try sprinkling a compost mix over your seeded area before you water to give your new grass a nutritional boost.
The other move you can make is watering with what we call ‘compost tea’ – an easy and pretty affordable way of adding nutrient-rich goodness into your soil. Especially if your soil is short of nitrogen or other organic compounds. Essentially, what you want to do is take some compost from your pile, add some water to it and then strain it out when pouring, which you can do with a watering can. Alternatively, you could wet some compost and then spread that directly on your lawn for a similar result.
Joe Says This Best Time To be Watering Your Grass Seed
There are two golden rules when it comes to the time of day you want to be watering and they go like this:
- Early enough in the morning that the water can soak into the soil without evaporating
- After the sun has begun to go down so that it can soak in overnight.
If you don’t do this and decide to water your new grass seeds when the sun is at its zenith, you can almost guarantee that all of your efforts have been in vain. Because that water you’ve sprinkled will evaporate before it’s had any positive effects. So with this in mind, make sure you’re watering your new grass seeds during the coolest part of the day so that the water can be absorbed as much as possible.
Constant & Gentle Watering of The Grass Seed
We know, we know – we’ve said this already, but it really is the most crucial takeaway of this entire blog, so we figured repeating it would be no bad thing. Ready? The best thing you can do is water your new grass seed consistently and regularly for at least the first two weeks. Or at least until you can see established shoots. As for deciphering the term regularly, every other day is fine, unless it’s pretty hot, in which case you’ll want to water your seeded areas every single day.
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