Germinating grass seed in bucket or poly bag

[Gertrude's Ghost]

Hope I'm OK posting this here, not flowers nor veg, couldn't find a more appropriate place.

Recently I found an article (not on here) suggesting that when patching lawns you could germinate the seed in a bucket or bag then spread on the bald patches. Can't now find the article. We had a turf lawn laid last year but it has developed some bald bits which I thought were fallen leaves until I tried to rake them off.

Any advice gratefully received, ta

[Two_Sheds]

I can't see the point really, why not just seed the area? Grass isn't hard to germinate, the hard bit is keeping the darn pigeons & cats off it.


But for a more reliable "patch", you could sow the seed in a seed tray, then when it's good and growing, cut out the shape you need for the bald bit, and apply it as turf

[Bill HH]

I notice from your signature you have a dog / dogs, dog pee is a killer to grass particularly bitches because its concentrated in one spot. Maybe thats the cause of your bald patches. Its the main reason I paved my lawn.

Maybe easier to buy some turf.

[Two_Sheds]

Yep, we have "bitch patches" too. An easy solution is to throw a can of water on the fresh wee, to dilute it

[Martin H]

I know that golf greenkeepers do this. They go out on the fairways with bags of compost mixed with pre-germinated grass seed and dump a handful into every divot hole.

Also on posh courses you'll find the same on the tees on the short holes: a box full of mixed compost and seed for you to fill your divot hole with after your duffed tee shot.

But I guess this is a special case, where they know how much they are going to need and can make sure they've got the right amount of chitted seed ready to go each day so that the patches can green up in a couple of days instead of three weeks. In normal domestic situations it makes more sense to just sow the seed where you need it and cover it to keep the birds off.

[Gertrude's Ghost]

I've actually got cats not dogs so I don't think the cats have done it. However they do walk over the lawn so I didn't want them disturbing the seed. We also get a lot of feathered friends and I didn't want them tucking in. It's also very windy so the chances of seed staying put are poor. If I seed the area what should I cover it with?

[Kristen]

If I seed the area what should I cover it with?

Netting, criss-crossed twine - cotton reel stuff will do - prickly holly branches - something like that perhaps