Mending and repairing lawns: Alternatives to renewing the lawn

Over the years, the lawn can be visibly affected, especially if the soil is not prepared and cared for properly. We show practical methods for renewing the lawn.

Lawn damage can look very different: from large holes to molehills, dog holes to sparse areas or weedy lawn areas. If you want to repair your lawn to solve the individual problem, you should choose the right methods and materials. Otherwise, patching the lawn may remain ineffective. Fortunately, holes in the lawn and other damage can often be repaired without a complete new system. We will introduce you to possible lawn damage and suitable solutions.

Mending or renewing the lawn?

Laying a new lawn is time-consuming and, with professional help, also expensive. The soil must first be prepared for a new sowing and then watered for several weeks. In addition, the area cannot be entered for a long period of time. However, a completely new lawn is not always necessary. A lot of damage can also be remedied by repairs.

tip: It is advisable to repair the lawn in the spring. Early fall is also suitable. The ground is sufficiently warm at these times and the air is slightly cooler so that the seed does not dry out as quickly.

What to do in the event of which type of damage?

• Fill small holes in the lawn: They are caused by play activities, trampolines or soccer goals, digging dogs, weeds, soil compaction or extreme drought. If you want to repair individual and rather small holes in the lawn, it is worth using a lawn repair like ours Plantura lawn repair to fill in the gaps. The lawn repair mix is ​​ideal for leveling holes in the lawn that are up to 50 cm in diameter. You can find out exactly how to do this further down in the article. If you have large holes in the lawn to patch, it is advisable to use a complete lawn seed mix.

• Repair burnt lawn: If the lawn loses its green color and becomes yellowish and dry, this can have various causes. Drought and heat initiate so-called heat dormancy in lawn grasses, from which they awaken again as soon as conditions improve. You can accept this natural process, but also through the annual application of potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizers like ours Plantura Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer prevent: Potassium ensures drought-tolerant lawn grasses. Also the right one watering the lawn helps prevent burns. Burnt-looking spots also appear with a over-fertilization of the lawn - This can be remedied by thorough watering and switching to primarily organic lawn fertilizers.

• Sow the clear lawn: If you can see the ground between the grasses in many places, this is a typical case for overseeding. Use a high-quality overseed like ours for this Plantura lawn reseeding. Reseeding ensures that the lawn becomes dense and carpet-like again. We explain how best to do this further down in the article.
  Important: In principle, reseeding lawns is not suitable for repairing holes in the lawn, because they are different grass mixtures. A special repair mixture is used for bald spots.

• Repair depressions in the lawn with sand: Depressions and hollows often occur if you have not waited long enough for the soil to settle between digging and sowing the lawn. The troughs are a nuisance later when mowing or can even become a tripping hazard.
  Minor indentations up to 3 cm deep can be gradually repaired by starting in the spring or In autumn, spread a mixture of lawn sand and lawn soil or topsoil in a layer thickness of 1 cm will. This allows the lawn to grow through from below again. This process can be repeated 2-3 times so that the sink has disappeared after 1.5 years at the latest.
  Deep depressions (> 3 cm), on the other hand, are filled directly with a mixture of lawn sand and lawn soil or good topsoil, rolled and then reseeded.
  Using lawn sand like ours Plantura lawn sand is useful to prevent compaction on the refilled stains - because sand can be used due to its comparatively coarse grain size, so that the balanced sink does not simply sag again can.

• Unevenness dominates the lawn, for example because the ground in front of the lawn has not been leveled and flattened, it is no longer so easy to repair the lawn. Then a new planting of the lawn can prove to be useful.

• Weeds and moss: Unfortunately, if your lawn consists mainly of weeds or moss, mending the lawn is often no longer worthwhile. If only small holes appear in the lawn when weeds are cut out, these can certainly be filled with a lawn repair. In the case of moss, the first thing to do is to identify the causes of its growth. You can easily add this to our special article moss in the lawn remove. Scarifying and overseeding or – if there is hardly any lawn left – planting a new one is only worthwhile once the causes have been eliminated.
  Tip: Is Shade the Cause of Moss in Your Lawn? Then it is worth using a shade lawn mixture whose grasses are adapted to locations with less light. Our Plantura shade lawn has fine, glossy green foliage and grows well even in the sun, so it can be used in gardens with different light conditions.

• Mole or vole mounds:voles can be baited with traps in an emergency, moles belong to the protected species and may therefore only be distributed. There are a number of deterrents against both animals that are quite effective when used regularly. Repairing the damage that has occurred is only worthwhile if the burrower is no longer up to mischief.

Repairing and touching up lawns: options and instructions

In the following, we will present you with various options for successfully patching and repairing your damaged lawn.

Repairing a thinned lawn: lawn reseeding

Lawn reseeding is carried out when the existing lawn area is sparse because the undergrowth is missing. It ensures a denser turf again, which on the one hand is nicer to look at and on the other hand does not give weeds any space to germinate and grow. Overseeding included exclusively Lolium perenne (German ryegrass), because this keeps the lawn dense and capable of regeneration. Unfortunately is Lolium perenne a little susceptible to frost and therefore always hibernates in winter-cold locations. Regular reseeding is therefore essential if the lawn is to remain dense. Our Plantura lawn reseeding contains three different, tested varieties of perennial ryegrass, which guarantees reliable emergence and good growth at different locations. In addition, the Plantura overseeding is a coat seed that can be distributed particularly evenly and dries out less quickly - this ensures trouble-free seed emergence.

Overseed the lawn: step-by-step instructions

1. Choose the right time: from mid-May to mid-June and September and October are best, as is the case with new lawns. The temperatures should be permanently above 12°C and the floor must be warmer than 8°C. Also bear in mind that the lawn should be protected for about three months after overseeding.
2. Mow the existing lawn to 2-3 cm, which is quite deep.
3. Remove stones, moss and thatch with a rake. Additional shallow scarifying or raking opens up the soil so that the seed can penetrate better.
4. At this point, organic lawn fertilization of the lawn area is also a good idea, both to strengthen the existing lawn and to provide optimal care for the reseeding. A primarily organic lawn fertilizer like ours is recommended for this Plantura organic lawn fertilizer, the delayed release of which does not impede the root development of young grasses.
5. For optimal distribution of the lawn seed, we recommend a spreader, but you can also spread the seed by hand. In order for this to be evenly distributed, first distribute 10 g of seed per square meter in longitudinal strips and then the same amount in transverse strips. A total of 20 g per square meter should ultimately have been sown.
6. Be sure to water the overseeding every day. This step is essential for a good result, as the seedlings will die quickly if they dry out. Already after 7 - 10 days you will see the first germinating grasses. From this point on, you should continue watering daily for about a month. After about three months, the next mainly organic care fertilization is on the agenda.

Tip for repairing rolled turf: You can also proceed as described above when repairing rolled turf, provided the turf has been in place for at least two years. Freshly laid turf may not yet be firmly rooted and should not be worked too roughly.

Fix holes in the lawn: The Lawn Repair

A high-quality lawn patch like ours is suitable for repairing individual holes and bald spots in the lawn Plantura lawn repair outstanding. It features the perfect combination for patching up bare patches in lawns: an unbeatable blend of premium grass seeds of the species Lolium perenne (Perennial Ryegrass) and Festuca rubra (Red Fescue) mixed with a portion of our mostly organic Planutra organic lawn fertilizer. In addition, the mixture represents an easily accessible phosphate source for the young grasses and contains water-storing germination substrate. The lawn paving closes holes quickly and competitively, so that no weeds emerge and the area is attractive again. The existing lawn then gradually grows back from the edges into the former hole, so that a uniform surface soon results.

To apply, first loosen the soil slightly at the bare spot and remove weeds and stones. Barren soils are treated with a lawn soil like ours before sowing Plantura organic lawn soil improved. Then apply around 150 g of lawn repair per square meter of the bald spot - also beyond the edges of the spot. Gently press the seeds to avoid blowing them away. Now water the seed thoroughly and keep it moist for up to a month after germination.

Tip: touch up the lawn with rolled turf or pieces of lawn
Sometimes there is no need to buy seeds at all. Small holes in the lawn can be repaired with leftover turf. Or you dig out an excess piece of lawn at the edge of the lawn or at the transition to beds and use it to mend the hole.

Spray lawn in the test

Unfortunately, the so-called and often advertised spray lawn, which makes overseeding look so easy, does not keep what it promises. In various forums there are reports on spray lawns that cast doubt on the value of this invention. In practical tests, some of these products turned out to be poorly functioning sprays that were difficult to dose and contained a high proportion of non-germinable seeds. It is often not even possible to read from the product descriptions which types of grass and which ones -varieties are involved, although successful reseeding of the lawn depends on the right seed depends.

Laying out an existing lawn: Without digging?

In many cases, the best way before starting a new lawn is to repair the lawn without digging it up.
However, if the damage to your lawn is so severe that it is no longer worth repairing individual areas or overseeding, there is often no way around laying a new lawn. This is the case, for example, when the soil is too poor or the whole area is dominated by weeds. A holey lunar landscape with a lot of bumps is usually fixed with a new lawn. This is the result of poor leveling in front of the lawn over the years.
If you have to repair the lawn, it almost always makes sense to remove the old turf before digging. Only an open ground can be effectively freed from weeds, dug up and effectively improved with additives such as sand, compost or lawn soil. For smaller areas, drive a spade about 1 to 2 cm below the surface of the soil and scrape off all of the root thatch. For larger areas, a sod cutter is used for this step. This device works on the same mechanism as the machines that peel turf so that it can later be rolled out in a new location.

Tip: If weeds are the reason for the new planting, there are other ways to get them under control in addition to digging up. However, each method also destroys the lawn. In areas with heavy or deep-rooted weed infestation, flaming can be an ecological alternative to spraying the turf with pesticides. For taproot weeds, after flaming, till and wait a few weeks. If new weeds sprout, it is flamed again. Depending on the size of your area, laying down and weighing down black plastic sheeting can also kill any living plants.

Unfortunately, the removal of the existing turf means a large loss of valuable soil for your garden. To compensate for the loss of soil, it makes sense to bring in several cubic meters of topsoil on large lawns. For small areas or for interior gardens with difficult access for trucks, high-quality lawn soil such as our peat-reduced Plantura organic lawn soil for use.
When choosing lawn seeds, you should use RSM / tested premium seeds to create a dense and lush green area in the long term. You can find our high-quality lawn seed mixtures in the Plantura shop. If you are unsure which lawn mix is ​​right for your garden, this article will help you Choice of lawn type all the information you need.

If a lawn has to be repaired, it is often due to years of incorrect care. Lawn care is not that complicated. In our Annual maintenance plan for your lawn learn everything you need to know about lawn care.