Weeds, topsoil and over-seeding

Weeds are difficult to get rid of. Do you want the perfect lawn? Are you sure? In order to have a perfect lawn, you may need to spray your lawn with herbicide on 3 or 4 occasions before actually seeding your grass! This will take almost 4 months!

Before seeding a new lawn, we definitely suggest using a herbicide on at least one occasion.

If you will not be bringing new topsoil:

Spray your lawn with herbicide. We recommend GLIALKA. This herbicide should be sprayed on the lawn and weeds. Make sure that you don’t spray anything that you want to remain in your garden, so don’t spray on a windy day! After spraying, you should wait 2 weeks for the herbicide to be absorbed through the green of the weeds, all the way to the roots. The weeds should shrivel up and die within 2 weeks.

Dig up the entire area, or plow the area with a rotator. Then rake the area. Make sure all the divots are broken apart. Use a roller to compact the soil. Then rake again. Continue using the roller and raking until the seed bed is exactly the level you want your lawn to be. Make sure there are no divots of soil or rocks. When you step on to the prepared area, you should be able to see your footprint, but not sink into the soil.

After digging up the garden, there will be many new seeds of weed that were moved to the top of the soil. The herbicide does not kill the seeds. Therefore, if you want to be sure that no weeds appear, water the prepared area for two weeks 5 times a day, just as you would freshly seeded grass. You can even add a starter fertilizer. Weeds love fertilizer as much as grass does!

After two weeks, use the herbicide again on the weeds that appear as stated above. Wait two weeks and let the weeds dry up and die. This time use a hoe and without disturbing the soil deeper than 3-4 centimeters, dispose of the weeds. Rake the area again. Make sure that you are able to rake the top 2-3 centimeters easily. Again, you want to see your footprint when stepping on the prepared area, but you don’t want to sink into the soil. If there weren’t too many weeds the last time you sprayed the herbicide, you are now ready for hydro seeding.

However, if there were a lot of weeds, you may want to repeat this process as many times as needed.

If you will be bringing new topsoil:

Spray your lawn with herbicide before bringing the new topsoil. Weeds are able to push up through 10 to 20 centimeters of new topsoil. We recommend GLIALKA. This herbicide should be sprayed on the lawn and weeds. Make sure that you don’t spray anything that you want to remain in your garden, so don’t spray on a windy day! After spraying, you should wait 2 weeks for the herbicide to be absorbed through the green of the weeds, all the way to the roots. The weeds should shrivel up and die within 2 weeks.

Now you are ready to bring the new topsoil if you will be bringing more than 10-15 centimeters in depth. If not, then dig up the entire area, or plow the area with a rotator. It is important to loosen the soil composition. Then bring the new topsoil. Spread the topsoil as needed.

Rake the area. Make sure all the divots are broken apart. Use a roller to compact the soil. Then rake again. Continue using the roller and raking until the seed bed is exactly the level you want your lawn to be. Make sure there are no divots of soil or rocks. When you step on to the prepared area, you should be able to see your footprint, but not sink into the soil.

Almost all new topsoil has seeds of weed in it. Therefore after you have finished making the seed bed, water the prepared area for two weeks 5 times a day, just as you would freshly seeded grass. You can even add a starter fertilizer. Weeds love fertilizer as much as grass does!

After two weeks, use the herbicide again on the weeds that appear as stated above. Wait two weeks and let the weeds dry up and die. This time use a hoe and without disturbing the soil deeper than 3-4 centimeters, dispose of the weeds. Rake the area again. Make sure that you are able to rake the top 2-3 centimeters easily. Again, you want to see your footprint when stepping on the prepared area, but you don’t want to sink into the soil. If there weren’t too man weeds the last time you sprayed the herbicide, you are now ready for hydro seeding.

However, if there were a lot of weeds, you may want to repeat this process as many times as needed.

Over-seeding:

When we over-seed a lawn, it is a little different. Again we want to prepare a soft seedbed, but we don’t want to destroy the existing lawn. I would suggest using a selective herbicide and fertilizer combination two weeks before preparing the area. Most weeds will be destroyed by this type of herbicide. After two weeks, the weeds will have dried up. Mow the lawn as low as possible.  

Then, using a bladed aerator, the area should be aerated forward and back, and from left to right. If there are divots or holes that the aerator was not able to loosen, fresh soil should be spread there, or it should be loosened by hand. The old grass should look as if all the grass was almost totally pulled out. You should be able to rake the area easily. Then you are ready for hydro seeding!