Fast restoration of grassland vegetation by a combination of seed mixture sowing and low-diversity hay transfer

► Effectiveness of the combination of seed sowing and hay-transfer was evaluated. ► Additional hay-transfer suppressed weeds more effectively than sowing only. ► The spread hay improved the establishment of Festuca species. ► Additional hay-transfer speed-up the recovery of perennial grass vegetation. ► Hay spread with low density sowing is more cost-effective than high-density sowing.