This is the garden tool I wish I'd discovered sooner – it makes sowing an even lawn so much quicker and easier

A drop spreader was the lawn seeding tool I never knew I needed – and if you’ve only ever sprinkled grass seed by hand, it could be a game-changer for you, too.

Drop spreaders evenly distribute grass seed, helping you sow an even lawn in half the time it would take you to do it by hand. After testing the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader, which is £54.99 at Robert Dyas, I can confirm that it really speeds the task up – and since autumn is the perfect time to sow grass seed, it's an autumn investment worth considering.

Especially if your grass, like mine, is more or less dead thanks to the summer heatwaves. Here’s everything I loved about the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader.

We recently scarified our lawn as a first step in reviving it from the summer heat. As well as removing thatch and moss, the Vonhaus Lawn Scarifier pulled away a lot of the half-dead grass itself, leaving us with a lovely blank canvas to sow a new lawn.

Autumn is one of the best times to reseed a lawn, so we decided to make use of our Westland PureGreen Lawn Seed (£13.99 at B&Q) and get straight to it. My partner was keen to try the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader, so that’s exactly what we did – and it didn’t disappoint.

In a nutshell, the drop spreader is a wheeled hopper that drops seeds directly onto the lawn below. All you have to do is push it along your lawn and pull the handle to open the seed chute – and then simply release the handle to stop the seeds falling again.

The Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader is so light, it’s a breeze to use, and my partner actually found it therapeutic. We covered our 28m² lawn five times over within 20 minutes and for me, that alone makes the drop spreader worth it – I always find sowing grass seed by hand a bit hit-and-miss, not to mention the time it takes to get the job done. It also tends to be a strain on the back – but the long handles of the drop spreader eliminate that problem, too.

The only technical part is figuring out which setting to choose, since it has different options for grass seed and lawn food (so you can fertilise your lawn using the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader, too). If you’re using Miracle-Gro grass seed, there’s a handy chart on the website (found via a QR code on the instruction manual) that tells you which setting you’ll need, and how many times you’ll need to go over your lawn.

We were using Westland grass seed, though – so we had to ensure we were following the directions for seed that’s supposed to cover 30g per square metre (that turned out to be setting 18). Once we'd worked that out, we simply poured our first box of grass seed into the hopper and got started.

You’ll also need to make sure you’re pushing the drop spreader along at the right pace. The instruction manual told us to practice covering a five-metre length of the lawn within five seconds before adding seed to the hopper, so we practised a few rounds to finesse our pace beforehand.

Speaking of the instruction manual: building the Miracle-Gro Seed Spreader was pretty straightforward. After assembling the handles and pinning the wheels to the hopper, the unit was ready to go – and the ‘how to use’ instructions after that were clear and informative, too.

All in all, the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader was really easy to use, and a brilliant time-saver. It feels like an essential staple in my lawn care kit now. Plus, we walked away with peace of mind that we'd sown an even lawn.

Now all we have to do is wait for the grass seed to grow...

Lawn seeding kit

If you want to sow an even lawn with minimal effort, the Miracle-Gro Drop Spreader could be the lawn care tool you're missing.