How To Grow Grass From Seed For A New Lawn
If you have a new home, new lawn, or you’ve recently opened up cleared a new stretch of land to make room of a lawn, then you are likely contemplating sod versus planting grass seed. Many budget-conscious homeowners are attracted to grass seed for its cost-efficiency as well as the ability to know what’s really growing in your lawn.
As you can imagine there is a little science behind the process of growing grass from seed. Choices that you make early on and mistakes in the process can set you back by weeks or more. This can be a serious issue if you live in an area with a short growing season, or the local weather falls into a prolonged dry spell.
Start By Choosing Quality Grass Seed
Not all grass seed is the same. Cheap grass seeds tend to have a higher volume of accidental weed seeds or blends of cheap seed types that might not always do well for your region. If you are shopping for grass seed, try to avoid seed blends from reputable companies.
Take the time to also consider the conditions in your lawn. This includes evaluating the light exposure and shade as well as the soil type. You will find some reputable grass seed brands that sell blends designed for specific conditions. Many will also include special additives to help fertilize the grass or give it a boost when first established. A lot of grass seed blends will also include a listing of the different types of seed in the bag. This is more likely with seed blends of specific conditions.
If you look at the label you want to also look for blends that include so-called “Nurse” grass. This might be annual or perennial ryegrass, which tends to germinate quickly and grows faster than other types of grass. It essentially holds the soil together to prevent erosion while the other slower-growing grasses get established.
Even if you are intending to plant only one type of grass like Bermuda, you might want to also consider getting some annual ryegrass to mix in with it. The annual ryegrass will help the Bermuda grass to take hold, then as the name implies it dies back at the end of the year and doesn’t return. The next year your lawn will then be populated by the Bermuda grass.
Best Nurse Grass Seeds For A New Lawn
GRASS SEED PREMIUM RYE GULF ANNUAL OREGON GROWN 50 LBS
Annual RyeGrass Seed 5 Lbs (Tetraploid)
Pennington Annual Ryegrass Retail Bag to Overseed Warm Season Grasses, 50 lb
Best Grass Seed Blends For A New Lawn
Pennington 100526658 Smart Perrenial Rye Grass Seed, 3 LBS (Тwо Расk)
Pennington Seed Inc 100086582 Pennington Seed Pacific Northwest Mixture
Jonathan Green 10820 Fast Grow Grass Seed Mix (2 bags of 3...
- 2 Packs of 3Lbs bags
- Ideal for use in sun and shade areas
- Provides a hardy turf quickly in sun and shade
- Germinates in 14 days
- Perfect seed mixture where the fastest results are required
- 2 Packs of 3Lbs bags
- Ideal for use in sun and shade areas
- Provides a hardy turf quickly in sun and shade
- Germinates in 14 days
- Perfect seed mixture where the fastest results are required
- Fast grow grass seed mix
Scotts Turf Builder Grass Seed Dense Shade Mix - 7 Lb. -...
Pennington Smart Tall Fescue Grass Seed, 3 Pounds, Green
Preparing The Soil
Once you’ve chosen your ideal grass seed blend, the next step is to prepare the soil. It’s important to keep in mind that grass seed needs light to germinate. If it’s buried, it will rot rather than sprout. Still, you want the underlying 2 to 3 inches of soil to be loose enough to let young roots to spread easily.
Things like sticks, leaves, rocks, and fallen tree branches need to be removed from the surface of the soil. Then you can thoroughly rake it to create enough texture to hold the grass seed.
If recent weather has been overly dry you might want to lightly water the area the night before or a few hours before planting.
Planting The Seed
Even spreading is important for successful germination. Unless you are an old farm hand with the gentle touch of hand sewing organic wheat seeds, you will want to use some type of spreader. A hand spreader will do for a small area less than a quarter of an acre. If you have a larger yard up to half an acre or so, you might want to use a push broadcast or drop spreader. In the case of a yard that’s more than an acre, you might want to invest in a pull behind broadcast spreader that connects to the hitch of your riding lawnmower or lawn tractor.
The Best Hand Spreaders For Grass Seed
Scotts Wizz Hand-Held Spreader with EdgeGuard Technology - Apply Grass Seed, Fertilizer...
& Free shipping
Scotts Whirl Hand-Powered Spreader
& Free shipping
Scotts Easy Hand-Held Broadcast Spreader
- Great for small yards
- Rustproof
- Fully assembled
- Great for applying seed, ice melt or other granular products on small areas
- Holds up to 1,000 sq. ft of Scotts lawn products
- Great for small yards
- Rustproof
- Fully assembled
- Great for applying seed, ice melt or other granular products on small areas
- Holds up to 1,000 sq. ft of Scotts lawn products
TIPU Hand Spreader Shaker, Handheld Spreader for Seed, Fertilizer and Earth Food,...
& Free shipping
The Best Broadcast Spreaders For Grass Seed
Walk-behind broadcast and drop spreaders can also be used for more than just spreading grass seed. They can also be multi-tasked in the future for spreading fertilizer, and other lawn treatments.
Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard Mini Broadcast Spreader - Spreads Grass Seed, Fertilizer...
& Free shipping
Scotts Turf Builder Classic Drop Spreader
& Free shipping
Pure Garden 50-LG1081 Lawn and Garden Spreader-66 Pound Capacity Walk Behind Rotary...
The Best Tow-Behind Spreaders
Just like walk-behind spreaders, many tow-behind spreaders can be multitasked for fertilizer and other lawn treatments. This helps add to the long-term value of the investment.
Brinly BS36BH, 75 lb, Black Tow-Behind Broadcast Spreader, 175 lbs
Agri-Fab 45-0288 175-Pound Max Tow Behind Drop Spreader, Black
& Free shipping
Watering Grass Seed
Effectively watering grass seed requires a little bit of art and science. Grass seed needs light to germinate, which means you can’t securely burry it in place. If you water it heavily, the grass seed could start to flow away. So, it’s best to water it lightly multiple times a day, rather than soaking it.
Even when it starts to germinate, the temptation might be to give it heavy water. If you do this too early it could still wash and seed away, breaking the germ and other components away from the tender anchor root that grass seed first puts down. Once the anchor root is broken, the rest of the seed is useless and will not produce another one.
Keep Off The Grass
Grass needs light, well-aerated soil at every stage of its lifecycle. Especially early on as new, tender roots work feverishly to anchor themselves. Giving your grass time to get established will go a long way toward preventing compaction, as the soil and grass develop into thriving healthy turf.
Along the way be sure to give your new patch of lawn frequent light watering and do your best to stay off it for. This could be as much as 8 to 10 weeks after initial seeding for the best results. Though the occasional step or a dog that gets off its leash might be tolerable after a month.
