We’re still working on our new lawn for September, and glad to be looking back at the challenge of choosing our seeds. It seems like something we’re constantly having to go back and learn. We’re pretty consistent in knowing what we want from our grass, too. Mostly, we want a lawn that will hold up for a while, in case we don’t ever want to put down new seeds in September. [image via wikimedia]
Until then, it’s good to remember the basics. You can choose between a shady lawn, a luxury lawn or a nice general kind of lawn. We tend to prefer the latter. That’s when we want to get a good selection of grasses that can stand up to a lot of hard wear. We mean grass that can get regularly trampled by crazy dogs and crazier kids. There’s more regular mowing involved, but that’s worth the effort. Besides, we have kids to do that for us. The dog’s no good, though. Anyway, the important thing is that you get a lot of wear out of a lawn with fescues (red and tall), browntop, and ryegrass.
A more sprawling lawn might involve seeding of the shady variety. That’s the kind of grass that can do well underneath the shade–like if you have a lot of trees in your backyard. You’ll also want a shady lawn if there’s a lot of hedges lining your area. A shady lawn has blades of grass that are very fine. That includes slender red fescue and hard fescue.
If you’re a really swinging suburbanite–and you can keep those damn kids off your lawn–then you can invest in a luxury lawn. There won’t be as much mowing involved as you maintain creeping red fescue and chewings fescue.
The one consistent to all of those lawns is the presence of browntop. Nothing wrong with browntop, folks. That doesn’t mean that you’re buying a bad brand of lawn seedlings. Just be sure that any ryegrass that you’re getting is packaged as “fine.” “Turf” is good, too. As we’ve noted before, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to your lawn. The neighbors will thank you for being vigilant.
