Typically, grasses throughout the Midwest perform best when they can endure cold weather conditions. There are a few varieties of grass that stand up well in these conditions. Perennial ryegrass is an excellent option for the balanced climate and full sun experienced in Michigan and other Midwestern states. This lush, green and fine-textured type of grass is tough and can withstand cooler temperatures while still retaining its color. Perennial ryegrass can be reasonably tolerant to drought, resistant to diseases and insects and holds up well again heavy traffic.
When maintained by a professional lawn care company, your ryegrass will provide you with the beauty and practical comfort you need from your lawn. Another popular option is tall fescue. This grass is designed for cool temperatures, but is also tolerant of heavy shade, drought and heat. These are just two basic options for your lawn. Some make great hay, some are used for silage and grazing livestock.
Then there are grasses that are used to stablilise river banks and sand dunes. Most of the seed available in garden centres will be a mix of two or more of these. Fast to germinate, this is a robust type of grass. Agricultural ryegrasses can be quite coarse but the ones bred especially for lawns are fine leaved and very easy to grow.
Ryegrass tends to have deep green lustrous leaves with a bit of a shine to them. In fact one way to identify ryegrass is to examine a blade of grass. Fescues tend to be fine leaved grasses that recover well from cutting. These have a high shoot density and give a lawn a lovely velvety texture. These are also the first grasses to lose their colour during a hot dry summer. A fescue lawn does need regular scarifying because these grasses are very good at producing thatch.
As the name suggests, this type of fescue is rather good at spreading itself. It forms rhizomes — underground stems which can propagate new plants if they encounter a bare patch in the lawn. Strong creeping red is less tolerant of really close mowing. Choose your cultivars with care. Slender leaves and a slightly tuft forming growth habit. Some cultivars can be maintained as short as 4mm.
Superior tolerance to drought, quick recovery from stress and barely fazed by salt laden winds, hard fescue is a good all-rounder for fine lawns.
Most cultivars can be mown as short as 5mm. Commonly found in golf greens and bowling greens. Ryegrass and Turf-Type Tall Fescue contain between , to , seeds per pound. If you want more bluegrass than ryegrass, this blend would work fine. If you want more ryegrass than bluegrass, change the ratios. It is the perfect time to start the process to make sure the new grass has plenty of time to grow and gain strength before the winter sets in.
If you want more information on overseeding your lawn, contact your neighborhood lawn and tree care professional at Spring-Green. No Location Added. Enter your address to find available services. Enter a New Address.
You may have noticed that several of the above descriptions of grass seed types included considerations like "traffic" and levels of shade. These factors matter because they're all about your lifestyle and the expected use of your lawn. After all, lawns are no longer simply fashionable — they're functional too. This generally affects the amount of sun exposure and shade the grass is naturally built to take. Some seed types, like the fescues, are good in partial shade.
Others, like bermudagrass, won't settle for anything less than full sun exposure. When you select a grass seed, considering the heartiness of the variety or species type will help you make the best decision. Because it means that you'll select a type that isn't likely to get brown, patchy spots, or dry out in certain conditions. And you won't choose a grass seed that is too thatchy, too delicate or too coarse for what you'll be doing.
For example, families with young children who plan to enjoy their lawn with water sports or mini pools should opt for Kentucky bluegrass rather than fine fescue.
This turf-type holds up to patchy spots because it is self-mending. The grass creeps in and naturally fills in the holes. But it also requires more mowing, frequent fertilizing, and timed watering if you plan for it to look its best. Take the time to consider what you'll be doing on your lawn and factor this into your choice of grass seed.
Many homeowners will consider ready-roll grass when they're looking to revive their lawns to their fullest. But choosing between a grass seed or a ready-roll sod grass is a decision that comes down to factors like how quickly you need to see a result and how much time you're willing to put in maintaining the germination. It also depends on how much money you're willing to shell out.
First, consider the use of your site: Are you going to run or play sports on your lawn? Will you be able to water it daily and do you have lots of trees on the grounds? Ryegrass, for example, is a fairly common grass seed type for sports fields but they need full sun and daily watering.
Without this, they get patchy, brown, and dry. Another consideration is cost: Even the best quality grass seed is going to much cheaper than transplanting ready-made turf. However, sod gives a more instant result.
Your options are also greatly reduced with sod, precisely because the growing process has already taken place. If you have a specific kind of site or property — for example, a property with lots of shade — you can choose the grass seed type that matches this. If you choose to put down sod, you're limited to the varieties already grown. And among these limited varieties, most sod is not shade-tolerant. They tend to dry up and turn patchy. Pro-tip: If you can manage the cost and intend on getting ready-roll, you still need to inspect the soil.
You want to figure out if the sod will fit with your current soil. The size of a lot has a great effect on seed type and how much seed you need to get a healthy lawn. In general, bigger sites on a tighter budget do well with turfgrass seed. Another way to see if you're getting a good bag of seed is to look for something called a pure live seed PLS percentage. This calculation is a measure of whether a reduced price on seeding is truly a bargain or not. PLS is calculated by taking the percentage of "pure" seed written on the variety label and then multiplying it but the percentage of germination.
The product is then divided by Now, how much seed does that entail for planting? Simply divide the percentage PLS by This means that you'll need 1. Pro-tip: If you're buying a lower quality seed and comparing it to something of higher quality, you should also consider how much manual labor it takes to maintain the lawn, from seeding to watering, fertilizing, and germination.
A quick note about using grass seed on sloping sites. Many homeowners opt for ready-roll on sloping or hilly sites on their property because they're concerned about rain and soil erosion washing the seeds away.
This is a legitimate concern, but one that's easily mitigated if you're heart-set on grass seeds. In fact, once your lawn has sprung, this will be a prime factor in avoiding soil erosion.
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