When to first mow a lawn I'm about to seed

[lms78]

Hi,

I am in the process of preparing my garden to seed a lawn in the next couple of weeks.

I have read quite a few suggested ways of doing this and one of the key pieces of advice seems to be not to put off the first mow.

Given I won't be seeding until mid/late September (which I believe to be most people's recommended time of year), is it likely I will need to mow it this year? I doubt it will reach sufficient length before the sort of time of year you'd normally stop mowing lawn. Should I treat the new lawn differently and try and get it mowed this year? If not, when should I be looking to get it mowed?

I have also heard conflicting advice on how long it should be to warrant a first mow, so any advice on that would also be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[endecotp]

It's hard to guess how quickly it will grow.

On the one hand, you want to cut it to encourage each seedling to put out more leaves from the base. On the other hand, when the seedlings are still very small they might be damaged by cutting and e.g. pulled out of the ground (they won't have much root). Keep an eye on how it is going and do what seems best; if you start mowing and you are just destroying everything, stop!

 

[r896neo]

If you seed now it will probably need cut in 5 weeks. May not need it if the temperature starts to get low but the last 2 years grass has kept growing until about 2nd week in november!! Depends on where you are in the uk of course.

Cut it as soon as any of it is 2 inches long. Dont take much off and you must use a sharp blade and ideally a light mower. Heavy wheeled mowers will leave tracks in it and damage seedlings. A small electric mower is good. Make sure you feed it too but with an autumn or winter feed as these have a different NPK range than summer or spring. And you must not use 3 or 4:1 type products A fertilizer only.

 

[lms78]

Thanks both for your answers.

r896neo, When should I put the fertliser down, before I seed or at some point after? I had read somewhere to put 4 in 1 down a few days before seeding but based on your comment and the instructions on the pack (not to use on a new lawn, or if overlaying to allow 8 weeks after fertilising), I am now assuming I shouldn't do this? The seed I have bought (Evergreen multi purpose grass seed) suggests using Evergreen Lawn Start before seeding, but it no longer seems possible to get this anywhere and on a trip to the local garden centre to find a equivalent today, I was told that I didn't need to use anything beforehand (although I wasn't sure if this was an excuse for them not having anything suitable in stock). If you could recommend a product and tell me when to use it that would be ideal.

Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated.

 

[r896neo]

Any fertiliser will do to give it a hand. At this time of your even growmore pellets would be ok as its quite balanced.

You can instead apply fertiliser after it has started to grow a little i.e after a month

Avoid 4 in 1's etc or any kind of weedkiller for at least 6 weeks and really dont use them at all until next year.

 

[r896neo]

Any 'new grass start' type fertiliser will do or as said generic 7-7-7 growmore will be ok if you cant find anything specific