The Garden Makeover Project – Creating and Maintaining a Lawn, With Wickes

1st August 2016

I am not the biggest gardener in the world, and that is probably the understatement of the year. During our time living in this house, our garden has been made to look lovely by my mum quite a few times, but unfortunately we have let it grow a bit wild and messy and after one whole side of the fence fell down in the crazy winds we had a couple of months ago, the garden has been in desperate need of a makeover.

creating and maintaining a lawn

Fortunately I got the opportunity to work with Wickes on a project at the perfect time; to create and maintain a lawn using products from Wickes. For the first time in my life I have actually been a bit excited about doing some gardening – possibly because I desperately want a nice garden I can be proud of and Ava can play in safely, rather than me becoming green-fingered in my old age.

Because of where the fence had been lying on the grass for a while, half of the lawn had pretty much died, and as it hadn’t been mowed for a while, the other half was pretty brown after mowing. So the whole thing was in desperate need of some care, attention and new grass. Unfortunately all of the rain that we’ve had has meant that we hadn’t got started on it when we were supposed to, so we’re not quite at the point we were hoping for by now, and enjoying our beautiful new garden in the (sporadic) sunshine.

creating and maintaining a lawn

The cat makes it slightly less ugly…

Even before the fence fell down, the lawn has been in pretty bad condition, with a lot of dead grass and bare patches, but I’d put off doing it for a long time because it just seemed like a big job and very unappealing, especially during the winter months. As it started to get to summer though, I really wanted to be able to get out there with my daughter, getting lots of fresh air and even doing some planting together, which she’s very excited about. She has her own tools and can’t wait to use them. I also want to be able to sit out in my garden in the evenings, with a glass of wine, after my daughter is in bed in a relaxing and pretty place, not the horrible mess it has been for a while. We have a garden but we don’t use it, which is such a shame.

creating and maintaining a lawn

The whole process has been really straightforward and simple so far, even for us gardening newbies. We bought a few products from Wickes to help grow our lawn easily and quickly and then set to work!

First of all the boy strimmed the grass and the edges to get it all down to a decent length, and then mowed it all. We have the cordless Worx Li-ion Grass Trimmer, which is a brilliant price for a cordless strimmer at £39.99. Having to open windows and get extension cables out puts me off doing it a lot of the time, so a cordless one will encourage me to maintain the lawn and edges a lot better.

To prepare the earth for the grass seed I dug down around four inches to turn over the soil, pulling out any moss, weeds, and dead grass, and then raked over it so it was flat. It was then watered really well so that the seed could be added the next day. It needs to be dry on the surface where you are putting the grass seed and wet underneath, hence leaving it until the next day.

Then came the sowing of the seed. We had the Gro-Sure Shady Lawn Seed from Wickes, and we also got the fast-acting seed too, as I am impatient, and we wanted to make sure we had enough to do it all at once. The Gro-Sure grass seeds are really easy to use – you just open the box and there is an easy-pour opening, and you literally just sprinkle the seed as evenly as possible, across one way and then the other.

creating and maintaining a lawncreating and maintaining a lawn

You then have to lightly rake the seeds into the soil and then stamp all over the whole area you have put the seed. Then finally water it really well, and that is it! You should then water it twice a day which we are making sure we do, so it grows as quickly as possible and stays healthy. If the sun would come back for any length of time I’m sure it would grow a lot faster, but it shouldn’t be long either way.

creating and maintaining a lawncreating and maintaining a lawn

Meanwhile, whilst Ava’s off for the summer her and I are going to be in the garden lots, re-creating borders that have disappeared, planting up pots for the patio and de-weeding the patio with the Pump ‘N Go Fast Action Weedkiller, which I’m also strangely looking forward to. This week A and I are going to make a trip to a couple of garden centres and buy some plants. I don’t think I’ve planted anything since I was really young, so I need to get my mum to come round and ‘advise’ me on how to do it properly.

I’m so happy to have finally started improving our garden after all this time, and can’t wait to see it done. I’ll write an update post once the lawn has grown properly and we have done some of the other bits that need doing. This time I’m very determined to keep our garden looking lovely, and maintaining it properly for the first time ever. As the process of planting the grass seed was so easy, and as it’s growing so fast, I really wish I had put the bit of effort in a long time ago, so that we could have been enjoying a lovely garden as a family. It’s going to make a big difference to us once it’s done and I can’t wait! If you don’t have a yard indoor gardening is a great option. Just make sure your plants receive enough light.

Have you ever used a grass seed before, and if so was it as easy as this? Are you a keen gardener and if so do you have any tips? Let me know in the comments!

I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. I have received a voucher in return for writing this post.

2 responses to “The Garden Makeover Project – Creating and Maintaining a Lawn, With Wickes”

  1. Sue Collier says:

    Hooray! So glad you’re finally doing your garden; can’t wait to come round and sit in it and enjoy it, instead of working in it 🙂 Mum xx

  2. I haven’t used grass seed as we have plenty of it, ha! Since we moved I’ve become proper green fingered and love watching my flowers grow! I think talking to them helps 😉 x

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