Tilling a lawn...should I mix the grass into the soil before seeding?

I am presently in the process of repairing some scorched patches (weedkiller overuse - ugh), brown patches, and compacted soil in our lawn. We've tilled over the affected areas this morning, exposing some good soil beneath. However, I'm wondering what to do with the remains of the existing grass? Can I spread it on top of the tilled area (there are no weeds...I guess the weed killer did it's job..) and leave it for a while (a week?) before seeding? Or is it better to dispose of it altogether? I'm not sure that the extra nitrogen in the tilled grass is the best thing for a new lawn....

I intend to also lay down some good top soil and sand along with the seeds. Just want to make sure I get off to the right start with this repair project. Any extra tips or thoughts as to how best to do this would be grand!

Thanks!

 

You might have to post some pictures for the folks here. Then they will get a better idea and advise accordingly.

 

Great idea. Here's a picture of the main area - featuring our cat, who may cause more of a concern to the new seeds than the birds. Seems she has a passion for rolling around in the dirt...

 

Scatter seeds rake well, water with fine rose, don't allow to dry out, just moist will be fine. When the new grass appears leave it long for this year, may not need cutting. Your moggy may have a say in the final she looks content.

 

Hi JWK,

I used Weed n Feed. However, it was 3 months ago now, so I think it's probably all gone by now. However, I decided to take the damaged grass to the dump, as I didn't want anything to comprise the new growth. I'm going to do a combination of laying turf, and patch seeding...hopefully that will restore our much abused lawn to something more attractive.

 

The following is what I did with a lawn that I created from scratch.

After glyphosate bombing the whole thing I raked and raked and raked all the dead grass and weeds out.

Then I used a tiller to loosen up the soil.

Levelled the ground with rakes and dragging a wooden pallet. Your area is small so should be achievable by just raking the soil level.

I rolled the ground with a roller. You can just walk on it, do the shuffle.

I fertilised the lawn with general purpose 7-7-7 fertiliser.

Next I raked grooves in the sand, I seeded, rolled and watered on days with no rain, but that was only three days the rest was done via daily rain.

You can put down turf instead of seed. Job jobbed.

 

Hello Mosamahab,
Thanks for the info re: what you did for your lawn. That all sounds great, and I assume you were happy with the result? Looking forward to doing the shuffle on our lawn - all we need is a sunny day...good luck with that! JP

 

Have a look at the thread, go through the pictures of the process if you want. I have not uploaded the latest pictures but it looks reasonably okay. Some bare patches but that was expected, which I have re-seeded. It has been sunny for us here in Manchester yesterday and today. Miracle.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/renovate-or-maybe-start-from-scratch.97926/

 

Ooh Great! Will have a look. Thanks so much!