Have you ever planted a new lawn only to be disappointed in how it grew in? What went wrong? Watering a new lawn is completely different from how an existing lawn is watered. In fact, proper irrigation becomes one of the most important elements after the seeding is complete.

Here’s why. Grass seed must have sustained moisture to germinate. Germination times vary with seed types, but most lawn seed will germinate within 5 to 21 days. The best way of keeping the seed moist is by lightly sprinkling the seeded area of the lawn at least two to three times a day. Care must be taken to ensure the soil doesn’t dry out. The seeds could perish if they are allowed to dry once the seed begins the process of germinating. Your lawn may require more frequent watering depending on the soil type, weather, temperature, or wind.

Remember, the best time for planting cool season grasses is in the fall and warm season grasses are best planted in the spring.

Step 1: Prepare the soil to be seeded. If overseeding an existing lawn, cut the grass low and remove the clipping before seeding. If planting grass seed on bare soil or in sparse grass, loosen the top half inch soil with a steel rake so the seed can be raked in after spreading. You might include a “starter” fertilizer, if needed, based on the results of a soil test. It can be applied before or after seeding. Starter fertilizers contain higher amounts of phosphorus (middle number on a fertilizer bag) than regular fertilizer.

Step 2: Spread and rake the seed into the soil so it is lightly covered. Use the heavy rate listed on the bag when planting grass seed in bare soil and lighter rates when overseeding established lawns. Most seed can be spread using a rotary or drop fertilizer spreader. Check the bag to see how deep your seed should be. Some seed, such as buffalo grass seed, should be as deep as 1 inch, while most other seed should be raked in so it is no more than one quarter to one half inch deep.

Step 3: Irrigate the soil daily, at least twice a day, but possibly more. Try not to let the soil completely dry out. If your seed is planted in bare soil, do not to soak or flood your lawn. When watering a new lawn, use just enough water to keep the soil moist at seed depth. Standing water or prolonged heavy rain could ruin the seed or possibly wash the seed away.

If overseeding a lawn where you have established grass, be sure to keep the soil moist by watering lightly twice a day. Occasional deep watering is okay to maintain grass health. The existing grass will help keep the seed in place, shade the soil, and slow evaporation.

Step 4: Once the seed has sprouted continue watering lightly, but allow the soil to dry slightly before watering again. At the seedling stage, it is even more critical not to repeatedly saturate the soil. Persistently wet soil can lead to serious root diseases, such as Pythium Blight, that cause the roots to die and rot.

Step 5: After the grass has reached a couple inches in height cut back on water to once every three days, depending on the temperature. Tiny seedlings can burn if the temperature spikes and the soil heats up too much.

Step 6: Once the grass is near cutting height begin watering deeply, but less often, so the soil is wet to a depth of four inches. Don’t water again until the grass begins to show signs of stress. This trains the roots to grow deeper into the soil to reach available water and nutrients.

An additional hint: If you need to add soil or organic matter to the lawn, do it before planting your grass seed. It will prevent you from smothering the seed and allows you to lightly rake the seed in. Lawn watering should immediately follow seeding. These basics in planting and watering a new lawn should help you get your new lawn established. Be sure to check out Lawn Care Academy using the link below. It is packed with helpful advice for all your lawn care needs.

Author Information: Russ James has spent many years in the professional turf and arboricultural industry. Now semi-retired, he shares his knowledge of turf science through his educational website, Lawn Care Academy. If you would like more information or have other lawn care difficulties, please go to http://www.lawn-care-academy.com.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russ_James

Without wasting too much of your time, let me quickly provide you with these key tips you absolutely must know about. They may seem basic but I do hope you will find them useful.

1. Determine quality by geographical location

What I mean by this is that most available grass seed is area specific, that is, made to work best in one regional location as compared to another. Grass seed that works best in the northern part of the country may not be so good for southern parts. So the first thing to do when looking for your grass seed is make sure that you know the kind of grass seed that is suitable for your area.

2. Determine quality by the type of soil

Different grass seed responds differently to the different soil types available all over the country. You need to know the acidity or alkalinity of the soil before planting. Keep in mind that good soil is important when you want to grow a low maintenance lawn.

3. The strength of the grass seed

I mean this based on its strength to deal with insects, diseases, drought and its ability to deal with heat. This may be tied to the point already mentioned above about the geographical area as insects, diseases and weather conditions affect each area differently.

4. Keep up to date with new developments

Never be fooled to think that grass seed is the same and will remain the same forever. When you are looking for a high quality one, you need to be aware of the developments that have taken place in lawn seed technology in the past few years. This means taking some time so visit comparison sites and subscribing to some online newsletters that can help keep you updated all year round. It may be that in the following year some new developments have taken place and if you do not stay up to date with these changes you may be left behind while your neighbors enjoy the best the industry has to offer.

I would give you more points but I do not want to flood you with too much information at a go. For the best insights about grass seed for your area, you may ask your local store for recommendations or simply visit some great grass seed review sites online – There are number sites that offer the best reviews online, which you can check out.

On a partying note, if you are serious about finding the best quality at the best price then I recommend visiting this site about grass seed reviews

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_K_Jones

There are a lot of reasons why most homeowners now want to learn how to grow grass. One reason is the natural beauty it can project – ensuring healthy looking lawns. Before, what people only know to plant grass seed the slow way. This is done by initially prepping the ground using a rake before putting down a slim layer or top soil. Afterwards, grass seeds are sprinkled before another layer of top soil is placed.

There are various ways on how to grow grass quickly. In one method, you would need materials like 2 to 3 medium bags (20 lbs.) of top soil (even cheap ones are okay), 5 pounds of grass seeds, a shovel and a garden cart or wheelbarrow as well as a hose/sprinkler and rake (optional).

Step 1 – Pour one or two bags of top soil into the wheel barrow. Then, break it a little to make it somewhat loose. As a tip you can put one bag inside the wheel barrel and use the shovel by bringing it down on one end of the bag before lifting it and allowing the top soil to tumble out.

Step 2 – For every bag of top soil used, get a handful of grass seeds then, throw it inside the wheel barrel.

Step 3 – Use the shovel and mix the seeds and the soil together. It’s like kneading bread while mixing in nuts or raisins. Make sure the soil is still fairly loose so that it’s easier to spread.

Step 4 – Shovel out your soil mixture. Then, sprinkle it lightly on your bare spot. You can hold the shovel using your left hand and then use your right hand to twist the shovel (for the soil to shimmy off the end). Keep in mind that you only need a thin layer of soil as well as seed mixture.

Step 5 – When you’ve distributed all the soil and the seed mixture, set up a sprinkler so that you can water that spot from time to time.

With this method, the seed and soil mixture can grow grass quickly. This is since you are putting down some rich soil together with the seeds all throughout and not just underneath or on top of it. However, you also need to understand that there’ll also be bad times when you plant grass seeds.

There are types of grass that can be pretty hard and will even grow without much trouble, especially if the conditions are just right.

The above-mentioned method can effectively grow grass whether in large or small areas. Many find it even easier to just rake over a bare spot and loosen up existing soil before throwing in a quick layer of seed.

Visit GrowGuides.Net and HowToPlant.Net for useful tips on how to grow grass and learn how to how to plant grass seeds the quickest possible way.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Gonzales

There are many reasons a homeowner will decide to plant grass seed. They may have a perfectly healthy-looking lawn, but want to strengthen it in the on-going fight against crab-grass. In that situation, a decision regarding planting grass seed many be to simply broadcast additional grass seed of the same variety to allow the roots to interlock tightly, preventing invading species from getting a foothold in the lawn.

Another situation, one that is common for many lawns, is when there are pockets of brown and or dried lawn that never seem to recover. These areas need to be investigated, to discover the cause of the dead grass and then decide how to handle these areas to improve their appearance.

One problem may be drainage. Often, certain areas of lawn can get too much water, such as if there is a depression in the soil that could be pooling it in the area. Alternately, it could not be getting enough water because of poorly designed drainage patterns such as steep runoffs levels or cement walkways or driveways that pull the water away at too quick a rate during rains. Experimenting with planting grass seed of different varieties may give you a solution that is simple and inexpensive. There are many hardy seed types that can tolerate a wider variety of water and soil conditions. Buffalo Grass is a great example of this type of grass. You can try a hardier grass seed for those problem areas, fertilizing them as you broadcast the seeds and let a season pass as you evaluate what, if any, changes occur in these areas. You may find that once you have begun planting grass seed in these problem areas, you may want to slowly incorporate this new grass type with your current lawn to give greater resiliency to the lawn as a whole.

Another reoccurring problem is that the soil in this particular areas has simply been leached of all it nutrients. This might be caused by the drainage named above or even through too many years of planting nutrient-hungry plant varieties. Many of today’s hardier grass varieties are based on native varieties that don’t need the vast amounts of nutrients that the older lawn varieties needed to survive and thrive. Taking a PH soil sample reading will tell you if this is the problem. There are a variety of liquid organic lawn fertilizers that can solve this problem. In addition, planting grass seed that has a lower fertilizer need such as winter rye grass may help alleviate this problem.

On the whole, any lawn with problem areas can have these patches resolved with a little testing to identify the problem and then choosing the correct variety when planting grass seed in these problem areas.

Deni Loubert is an Affiliate Marketer with profitable websites in markets ranging from http://interlockingretainingwall.com/ to http://plantinggrassseed.org/

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Denise_Loubert

What is the best type of grass seed?

I’m looking for grass seed to fix up some patches on my lawn. I’ve heard a lot about all the different types and need to find the best type. I am aware that some brands, like Patch Perfect, are scams.

I live in the Northern US (New Jersey).

It would be appreciated if you give a specific brand. Ten points to best answerer.

Are you tired of looking at your tired lawn or maybe you just built a new house and need to establish a lawn. Either way, buying and planting grass seed can be a bit daunting. There are many names and technical terms that are used and it can be a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, a little bit of information can help clear the picture and make the decision making much easier.

The first consideration is what type of climate do live in. There are two major regions that divide grass seeds into groups. The warm season grasses are for lawns in the south and cool season grasses are for lawns in the north. In general, warm season grasses will grow poorly in a cool climate and vice versa. However, there is a narrow transitional area going across the country where both types of grasses grow well.

Cool area grasses grow and do their best when the soil temperature is 65 degrees or less. If it gets too hot the grass will go dormant and turn brown. Warm area grasses, on the other hand, do their best when it is very hot and turn brown when it is cooler.

For cool season areas there are several popular grass types:

Kentucky Bluegrass

Perennial Rye

Tall and fine fescues

For warm season areas there are several popular grass types as well:

Bermuda Grass

St. Augustine Grass

Zoysia Grass

Once you have decided on a grass type, it is time to buy the seed. The first thing to look for is the date on the bag. Old seed will not germinate as readily as newer seed so make sure that you are purchasing the newest bag possible. Also, be sure to check the weed seed count. It is impossible to separate all the weeds from grass seed but you should not be planting any bag that has a weed seed of.3% or more.

Once you are ready to plant, prepare the soil by breaking it up with a hoe or other implement. Just putting grass seed on bare un-prepped soil will lead to a very poor germination rate. Next, scatter the seed on the soil. You shouldn’t have seeds in clumps but there also should not be large areas without seeds. The ground should be evenly covered. Following this, very lightly rake the seeds into the soil. Grass seed germinates based on the moisture content in the soil and by being in significant contact with the soil. Many people just leave the grass seed on the surface and limit the germination rate by doing so. Optimally, the seed will just be barely covered up. Next, cover the ground with straw or other similar covering. This helps the soil retain moisture. Keep in mind that a little bit of straw goes a long way – you should still be able to see the ground through the straw. Finally, water the grass seed with a fine mist to get the soil wet. Don’t overdo this. Watering too much can cause the seed to wash away as will delivering the water with too much pressure.

Be sure to keep the straw in place over the next few days and keep the soil moist until the grass is well on its way.

Hopefully, these tips and information will help you along in growing a healthy lawn. Next, you need to find a good lawn mower!

Many websites provide additional information on the topic of landscaping and lawn care. One such site worth visiting is http://www.environmental-design-landscape.com.

Eric Parish independently author’s articles for WebDrafter.com, Inc. ( http://www.webdrafter.com ) for search engine marketing. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the author, and not of any other person, company, or organization. No guarantee or warranty, express or implied, is made regarding the accuracy, fitness, or use of the content herein.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Parish

The fescue species are easily seeded and include the sub species of tall bunching grasses named tall fescue and fine shorter fescues named creeping red, hard fescue, chewings fescue and sheep fescue.

Most Tall Fescue grasses are not made for cold climates and North America and Canada.  Bluegrass seems to do better in colder climates. Fine Fescue are better in shady areas and colder climates than Tall Fescue.

Tall Fescue works well in large pastures and can be over seeded to promote growth and fill in areas.  Fescues are relatively cheap to buy and require little maintenance which makes them a great choice for large acerage or lawns where the object is to fill in bare areas and produce a green looking lawn with little water and maintenance is needed.

Dan,

Houston, TX

Dan what I like best about Bermuda grass seed in your area of Texas are these..

• It grows best in full sun.
• Tends to have a medium to fine texture.
• For the most part is drought resistant and highly versatile
• Can be very salt tolerant.
• Very easy to establish from seed.

Now, the price of COMMON Bermuda grass seed can range from $150-175 per 50 pound bag and can be purchased from just about any feed store or even found in smaller amounts at Home Depot and Lowes.

If you want a gorgeous “golf course” yard, try Princess77 Bermuda grass seed.Certified Princess brand Bermudagrass includes the world’s first dense, fine textured, seeded hybrid Bermudagrass variety.