Having a nice lawn can make your home look nicer. A manicured, green lawn will give your home curb appeal. Not only will it make the outside of your home look nice, it can also boost the value of your home. Some lawns are so dead that it is necessary to plant new grass. If you just had your home built, you will also need to plant new grass. When planting new grass, it is important to know what you need to do in order to prepare the ground for the new grass. If the ground is not properly prepared, chances are the grass seed will not take.

Wooden rake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first thing that you need to do is remove any existing plants in the garden. If you want to keep any of the plants, you should transplant them to a different spot in the yard where you will not be laying down the grass seed. To dig up the plants, you will need a shovel or a spade to dig up the plants. What gardening tool that you will need will depend on the size of the plant. You also need to remove any dead debris. If you want your grass seed to get adequate sunlight to thrive, this debris needs to be removed. To remove this dead debris, you should use a rake with sturdy blades. Rake the ground until all of the dead debris has been removed.

Rocks can be a big problem when you are trying to grow new grass in your lawn. If you throw the seed over rocks, or even pebbles, the seeds will not get into the soil. Begin by raking the small pebbles out of the area where you will be planting the grass. If there are a great deal of small pebbles, this can be very time consuming, however, it will be worth it in the long run. After you have removed the small rocks, begin removing the big ones. You should remove the rocks on top of the soil with your hands, and dig the rocks out of the soil with a shovel.

When planting grass seed, it is necessary for the soil to be loose. This will help the grass seed stay moist which will make it grow better. To loosen the soil, simply use a gravel rake and rake the soil back and forth. Another way to keep your grass seed stay moist is to spread a small amount of compost over the soil and rake it so that it is smooth.

Grass seed (Photo credit: Oxymoronical)

The final step to preparing your grass is to add fertilizer. A light amount of general use fertilizer or one made specifically for grass will give your grass the boost that it needs to grow properly. You should spread the fertilizer where you want the new grass to grow and use a rake to spread it over the soil.
Now that your soil is prepared, it is time to plant the grass seed. In order to be sure that the grass will thrive, you should be sure that the grass gets adequate sunlight and adequate water.