Garden & Lawn Care · 6 min read · Beginner

How to Repair & Reseed a Patchy Lawn

Repair bare and thin lawn patches with preparation, seed, soil contact, watering and sensible aftercare.

Key points & steps

Identify why the patch failed first: wear, compaction, shade, poor drainage, pet damage or drought may need correcting as well as reseeding.
Remove dead grass, weeds and loose debris, then lightly loosen compacted surface soil with a fork or rake.
Level obvious hollows with suitable screened topsoil or lawn dressing and firm it lightly without compacting it hard.
Choose grass seed suited to the conditions, such as general-purpose, hard-wearing or shade-tolerant mixes.
Spread seed evenly at the rate stated on the product and rake very lightly so good seed-to-soil contact is achieved.
Water with a fine spray and keep the surface consistently moist while germination establishes, avoiding puddling or washing seed away.
Limit traffic and delay the first cut until the new grass is established enough to tolerate mowing.

Warm soil and reliable moisture generally matter more than simply sowing on a particular calendar date.
Do not bury grass seed deeply; shallow contact with prepared soil is usually preferable.
If the same patch repeatedly fails, solve the underlying shade, drainage or traffic problem rather than repeatedly adding seed.