Seed & Turf Quantities

Firstly, a measurement of the proposed lawn area wouldn’t go amiss. You’ll never be millimetre perfect so give or take 10% accuracy is normally fine for seeding. However, garden turf is not cheap so it is well worth being accurate if you’re turfing the lawn.

Turf

Not too many things can go wrong when laying turf so you need what you measured plus a bit for miss measuring and wastage; an extra 5 to 10% should be fine for a regular shaped area but if the shape is complicated I’d add 10 to 20% to be safe.

Grass Seed

Because cost is not the major factor you can and should be a little more generous with lawn grass seed quantities as follows:

• Add 10% for miss measuring
• Add 10% for the birds
• Add 10% for filling in the thin spots a month after sowing

So you need about a third more grass seed than your measured area. Any excess can always be used over the following years for lawn repairs or after raking or scarifying; it won’t be wasted.

Seeding Rate

When seeding a lawn you could choose to be light or heavy with your application as this will have some affect on the end result. For instance if you wanted you lawn to establish as quickly as possible you’d go heavy on the sowing rate. If on the other hand you had a weed free seed bed you may decide to have a light seeding rate. For the in’s and out’s of this read How much seed do I need.