An attractive piece of lawn outside your house can improve the overall presentation of your home. Grass seed can be purchased to help with making your lawn look better, whether it is an existing lawn or one that  is being newly sowed.

Why Should you Want to Add Grass Seed to an Existing Lawn?

Grass seed can be used to repair a lawn. The existing turf can become worn over time, especially if it is frequently used by pets and children, leaving it looking shabby. After treating a lawn with weedkiller it may have patches where weeds and/or moss were that need repairing, as there was little grass left in those places.

These bald areas will need fixing so that the lawn looks its' best.

Which Grass Seeds to Buy?

There are different types of grass seed available. It is important to choose the right sort according to your needs, and you don't want a lawn with two definitely different types of grass as this does not look as good as, if the difference is great enough, this can still be seen even when the lawn is cut.

Choosing Seeds for an Existing Lawn

If you are spreading seed on an existing lawn, you want to buy seeds that match the grass that's already there so that you don't end up with a lawn consisting of two different species of grass, which can look unsightly, as some are noticeably different from each other, and is not easy to fix as this can involve digging out all the grass that is of the wrong type. The results of doing this can look even more unsightly, with the lawn having patches of raw soil in it, making it look worse than it was before the seed was added to make it look better.

Choosing the right grass seed is not as easy as it sounds as, especially for lawns that have been existence for some time or before you purchased the house, you may not know what the grass is. A good landscaper, gardener or gardening supply shop may be able to identify the grass by taking a look at it or at least recommend a seed that will look similar enough that it won't matter, as grass does come in a number of broadly similar species.

Repairing Patches in an Existing Lawn

Patch repair kits are designed to do exactly what they say - repair patches in an existing lawn, whether they are bald or dead areas. Pets, especially dogs, can cause patches of grass to die, and they may not grow back easily (rinsing an area where a dog has urinated immediately after they do it dilutes the urine and decreases the chance of damage).

Choosing Grass Seeds for a New Lawn

When buying seeds to sow a lawn for the first time, if this is being done as an alternative to using turf, it is necessary to first identify the type of usage the lawn will have to cope with to help you choose the seeds that have the qualities you are looking for.

Lawns with heavy traffic or that undergoes hard usage, such as those that are used by children, and possibly pets, really need a hard wearing grass that will not be easily worn away into bald patches. Bags of grass seeds, or whatever they are bought in - some places will sell them from bins by weight - should state on them what sort of wear the grass can cope with.

For lawns that are going to have light usage less hard wearing types can be used that can be more attractive to look at. Even decorative plants such as camomile, or chamomile, which is not actually a grass but a meadow flower, can be used as an alternative to a normal lawn. Camomile was in fact one of the earliest plants used in lawns, before grass. You certainly don't want some decorative grasses for a normal lawn, especially as this covers a whole range of different species of plants, which includes such things as pampas grass which can reach a height of several metres.

The climate can also affect what seeds you should choose, as different grass types are suitable for different climates. What may look good in a temperate climate could quickly turn brown or die in hot, dry conditions, so make sure that the seed purchased can cope with the climate conditions it will face. Lawns that are in areas that are damp, shaded by trees or under constant sunlight due to the lack of shade have local conditions that can affect the choice of seed.

Sports facilities use special types of grass that are hard wearing but are not really appropriate for domestic usage.

Sowing the Lawn

The total area to be sown with the seeds needs to be calculated. Again, the coverage of the grass seeds should be marked on the bag they come in, or be otherwise easily obtainable, in either square metres or square feet. Here it is best to overestimate what is going to be needed and assume that there will be some wastage and that they won't cover as much area as stated.

The seeds will need sowing as evenly as possible. This can be done by hand, although for a really large area it may be an idea to use a fertiliser and seed spreader, whether a simple handheld one or a larger, wheeled device

Once the lawn has been sown it will be necessary to protect the newly sown seeds. Some means of scaring away birds who will want to tuck into the tasty banquet provided will need setting up. Stakes with string tied between them and streamers of paper or plastic that rustle in the wind is a cheap method, but there are various bird scarers that can be purchased.

People, especially children and pets, will also need to be kept off the new lawn until the grass has established itself.