The best times of year for sowing a lawn are March and early September. The ground will be warm or warming up and there should still be enough moisture to encourage the grass to grow. Dependant on the location and use of the lawn choose a seed mix not one individual variety. For sports fields they use rye grass but this is too coarse so avoid Rye grass mixes.

	Hard Wearing Lawn	High Quality Lawn	Shaded Position
Chewing’s fescue	55%	80%	–
New Zealand Crested Dogstail	35%	–	–
Browntop Agrostis tenuis	10%	20%	30%
Fine leaved fescue			20%
Sheep’s fescue			40%
Creeping Red fescue			10%

Grass Sowing Tips

• Rake a fine tilth and firm the soil down without compacting it
• Remove stones and check the ground is level filling hollows
• Apply phosphates
• Mark areas and sow half the seed in one direction top to bottom then sow the other half side to side or hire a seed sower.
• Roll the lawn twice to bring the seed into firm contact with the soil and bring a little moisture to the surface.
• Erect a barrier to stop people walking on the new seeded area and put up cotton or bird scarers
• Finer grass has smaller seeds so shake or mix your seed well before sowing