Starting a New Lawn from Seed

You can either build you lawn from seeds or from sods. Some grass like buffalo grass and centipede grass comes sold as sods (small sprigs or plugs) which you can plant in your lawn.

It is best to grow you lawn from seeds though, it is cheaper and you have more control.

The timing is important,

Cool season grass: Start sowing towards mid fall or early spring.

Warm season grass: Start off sowing towards late spring which the climate is mildly hot

Before sowing you need to prepare you yard. Check out the article detailing the same.

How to buy the seeds

Seeds are usually just sold in packets with labels mentioning the type and variety of the grass.

Usually you will encounter the below

Blends: The lawn seeds would be from a particular grass with various varieties included. For example fescue grass with varieties like duster, virtue and monarch.

Straight: Grass which does not have variety, mostly buffalo grass and st augstine grass are sold this way.

Mixture: A combination of different types of grass which grow well together. For example as seed packet may contain Kentucky grass with a blend of fescue.

Depending on your requirement you can go in for fine textured grass or coarse grass. If you would like to tread on your grass, make sure you pick up grass with is tolerant to foot traffic.

How much lawn seeds to sow?

The instructions to sow the seeds would be clearly mentioned in the label attached to the seed bag you purchase. You can also get some guidelines from the vendor.

Calculate the total dimension in square foot for your garden, the seeds would need to be sown depending on the total square footage.

For example Kentucky blue grass is usually sown in the ratio of 1 to 2 pounds per 1000 square feet.

The number of days that the grass would take to germinate is also mentioned in the label. For example, fescue grass would usually take close to 8-14 days to germinate.

How should I spread the lawn seeds around?

Hand spreading will not work out quite well with lawns. You would need the help of a tool. A couple of them are mentioned below

A cyclone spreader: A cheap tool which can be gotten at any gardening shop. You just need to fill it with grass seed and start walking around you garden length wise, which operating a handle to spray the seeds.

Rotary spreader: This is more suitable for large yards. It's a bit expensive so you should consider hiring it or borrowing it for the job. It has a wheel operation which takes care of spraying the seeds so you just need to walk around your lawn length wise, at a steady pace.

When To Seed Your Lawn?

The right time to seed your lawn would depend upon the lawn grass you are planning on planting. For most grass types the best time is usually by the start of spring when the climate isn't too cold and the soil isn't moist.