After the soil for a new lawn has been properly prepared, the next step is to consider the most desirable kinds of grass seed.
Although many new gardeners start off with a popularly priced mixture, others have found, through trial and error, that top-quality kinds give the best results.
Kentucky Bluegrass
For the northern area of cool nights, Kentucky bluegrass is always satisfactory when given a deep, friable seedbed. It grows best in full sun or partial shade. Sometimes the seeds will take two weeks to germinate.
A cool weather grass, it should not be sown in the spring. By sowing the seed in late summer or early fall, a deep root system will have developed before the hot weather of the following year.
Bluegrass
Bluegrass goes into dormancy in hot periods of the summer, and no amount of water will change this habit. In fact, water applied in July and August often encourages failed grass development.
An improved strain of Kentucky bluegrass, known as Merion, does better in shade, is more tolerant of heat and is Tess susceptible to disease.
Creeping Red and Chewing Fescue
Creeping red fescue and Chewing’s fescue are distinct forms of one species. Creeping red has well-developed underground rootstocks by which it spreads, while chewings do not. There are several named strains of each.
Either makes an excellent lawn in the shade.
Bentgrass
The bent grasses, represented by several, are excellent lawn grasses that require more care than blue grasses and fescues. Establishing and maintaining a lawn of bent grass requires highly specialized techniques.
Clover
White clover, either Dutch or native wild, prefers fertile soil, ample moisture, and adequate lime.
Clover spreads by creeping stems at the surface of the soil and roots strongly at each node. It should not be used for grass courts, play fields, or putting greens.
Seed Mixtures
Most people buy packaged grass seed mixtures. This is unfortunate because many such mixtures will never make the kind of lawn a homeowner wants.
As stated, experience has demonstrated that a single grass, or a mixture of two congenial grasses, sown on a well-prepared seedbed, will produce the lawn that looks best.
Here is one of the better and more expensive seed mixtures. Using one pound as a basis, the number of seeds of each kind is also given.
30% Kentucky bluegrass…. 675,000
45% creeping red fescue…. 275,000
10% redtop…. 450,000
15 % highland bentgrass equals 1,275,000 or 2,675,000 per pound
Redtop, the third on the list, is a short-lived grass when used in lawns, seldom lasting more than two seasons.
It is used as a nurse grass because it grows quickly and holds on until the slower-growing permanent grasses have become established. Highland bent grass, Kentucky bluegrass, and creeping red fescue are all permanent grasses.
Some Seed Is Light
Highland bentgrass is a very lightweight seed, and although the mixture contains only 15% of it, there are many more seeds than in Kentucky bluegrass and red fescue combined, though they make up 75% of the mixture.
Because of the great number of seeds, two pounds of highland bentgrass is the most that should be applied on 1000 square feet, but red fescue and bluegrass should be seeded twice as heavily.
Any compromise would be unsatisfactory. A heavier seeding with bent grass would grow too thick and soon become matted and die.
Preparing The Seedbed
No matter how well the seedbed is prepared, a good lawn will never result from poor mixtures. The largest part is the annual ryegrass which will last only one season. Crabgrass and weeds will take their place.
Should the seeding be done in the spring, the ryegrass will likely not grow at all. Perennial ryegrass makes the coarsest and poorest kind of lawn, and Timothy is useless.
Actually, the only grasses of value in poor mixtures are creeping red fescue, Kentucky 31 fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass.
If the seedbed is well prepared, a mixture of 40% Kentucky blue-grass and 60% creeping red fescue will produce the kind of lawn you dream of having. No filler or short-lived. grasses need to be added.
Sow the mixture at the rate of four pounds to 1000 square feet, applying one half of it in a north-south direction and the other half by walking from east to west.
Of course, 25 pounds of 5-10-5 or 8-6-4 fertilizer should first be applied evenly over 1000 square feet and lightly worked into the top inch of soil. Next, the seed is sown and the prospective lawn is lightly rolled.
Watering should be repeated whenever the soil surface becomes dry until germination takes place.
During the cool nights of September, the grass will grow rapidly and will probably have to be mowed two or more times before growth is checked by freezing weather, so this matter of mowing should be considered next.
Leaves Manufacture Food
Every time grass is cut, some of the manufacturing part of the plant (the leaf blades) is cut off. If too great a percentage of the leaves is removed, growth will be checked.
If this is repeated, the grass will become weak and die out, giving a place for crabgrass and weeds to grow.
Blue grasses and fescues are easily damaged by close cropping. One and three-quarter inches is the ideal height at which to cut both.
On the other hand, bent grasses, such as colonial or highland, thrive with frequent cutting at one inch and deteriorate if allowed to grow too tall. It is impossible to give the proper treatment to both bluegrasses and bent in the same lawn.
Up to this point, nothing has purposely been said about liming. More lawns are harmed by applying lime than by forgetting it. Good lawn grasses do best in slightly acid soil, that is, with a pH of 6 to 6.5.
If green manure crops are grown as recommended above, the pH will be satisfactory without liming. Lime is inexpensive and easy to apply. Too many lawn owners do sod annually with lime and forget to fertilize.
A short, quick growth usually follows because of the stimulating action of calcium on other elements. During the following six months, the grassroots subsist on a starvation diet.
Instead of lime, two and preferably three applications of fertilizer should be given each year if you want a good lawn.
In the spring, 20 pounds of a 5-10-5 is applied to every 1000 square feet. In June, this should be repeated. In early September, a little heavier application should be given—up to 30 pounds of the same mixture.
44659 by H. Gleason Mattoon