MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I've raked the flattened grass vertical, put sand on it, broken up the top surface, worked the sand in, filled in holes, seeded, and now the tiny hair-like seedlings are about 1-2" high.
Problem is that was 3 weeks ago, and the existing grass is getting tall. If I mow it, will the new grass die? More concerned about either blowing it all away (hover mower) or killing it by trampling it as I walk.
Always a difficult call, I'd leave it a bit longer if you can before mowing, but it thickens out surprisingly well over the next couple of months IME. In my amateur opinion, the trick is to roll it, after you seeded and raked it to keep the seeds 'down', but that's a bit late now for you.
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(Sorry, it's friday... 😉 )
I'd leave it - does it really matter the old grass is geting long?
I tried a couple of times to get grass to take on bad bits of garden and struggled - if it's going i'd be putting up with the longer grass rather than risking ruining the hard work.
I did get the seeds down under the surface a bit, by raking the top a bit after I seeded. ****ing pigeons and blackbirds were all over it for a few days but most of it was buried well enough to survive, apparently 🙂
I don't want the old grass to get straggly, or shade out the new stuff. I can set the mower high enough to leave the new grass alone - problem is walking on it I think,
I turfed it last year - it died back a lot because the ground was so wet all winter, rather than because of shading or anything fundamental. I WISH I'd put sand down under the turf when I prepped it.. 🙁
Give it a cut this will promote new growth, just lift the blade height.
^Yep.
Take off no more than a third of the overall height, IIRC.
As long as walking on the baby grass plants won't kill them?