Is it too late?

[roitelet]

Is it too late to sow a lawn?

A friend wants to so a lawn on very light sandy soil. The ground is already prepared and she thought that if she sowed it now there would be enough moisture for the seed to germinate and that any bare patches could be topped up in the spring. There is no shortage of seed, she just wants a green patch instead of weeds.

[SueA]

Hi Roitelet, I think autumn is fine to sow or lay a lawn, I've read a few items in gardening mags. recently about starting lawns now so it must be O.K. There's a link here to a BBC website with some advice, it does say 'early' autumn on there, so depends whether you class this as early I suppose & if your friend is in France, whether the 'weather' is different there!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basic...sowlawn1.shtml

[The Reverend]

The only problem that can arise from Autumn sowing, is if the area is near any large trees. The falling leaves can be very awkward to remove without doing any harm.
But apart from that it should be fine.

[HeyWayne]

I found this website useful when I was sorting out our lawn last year.

http://thelawnsociety.co.uk/

[roitelet]

Thanks.

Today is the day then. Will sow it and hope for the best. We had the forst frost this morning but the daytime temperatures are well above 10C so I will take the chance.

[Snadger]

September is the best month when there's still a bit of warmth in the soil. If you sow now and it comes up a bit patchy you can always rake and oversow in the Spring.
Ryegrass will stand more chance of germinating now than fescue/bent mixes!

[nick the grief]

If your feelling realy extravagant you could always cover it with some fleece

[roitelet]

The deed is done so will just have to hope. I will let you know the result in the fullness of time. The weather has turned cold with minus temps for the last 4 nights so will not expect any rapid movement.

Anything will be better than the huge patch of weeds that she had.