The Hampton Gardener: The grass is always greener...

Every year at about this time I try to write something about lawns. Why now? Because the six- to eight-week period beginning in the middle of August is the best time to put down new lawn seed and thus the prime time for lawn renovation.

Yes, you can do it later and yes, you can do it in the spring, but if you want to do it right and have the best conditions for starting seed, late summer into early fall simply can’t be beat. The temperatures are perfect for seed germination, weed competition is at a minimum as most have long since sprouted and we tend to get some much needed rain that keeps the grass growing.

There’s a lot to be considered here so I hope you’ll take a few minutes to think about the options and methods. If you simply go out to the hardware store or big box and buy a bag or box of seed and throw it down you’re simply throwing your money away. And if you skimp on quality and don’t understand what’s in that box of seed, well then it’s pretty much a wasted effort. Having said that, I’m just amazed at how many home owners do exactly what you shouldn’t. Every year they go out, buy some seed, throw it down and then they wonder why the lawn looks so awful.

Even before we talk about what kind of seed to use, you should know how to read the seed label. It contains critical information that’s required to be there by law and if you know how to interpret the few lines of text you’ll be ahead of the game already. First, look for the note that tells you when the seed was last tested. It will give you a year and it should be 2008. If it’s 2007, that means that either the retailer hasn’t put on the new label or it really hasn’t been retested and you have no idea how old it really is. So, it needs to say 2008. If it does have the current date then at least you know that a batch of seed from that lot was tested for germination and the germination percentages on the label are true. Germination is another thing you’ll see on the label and that tells you the percent of pure seed that is capable of growth in laboratory conditions. It doesn’t mean that all the seeds will germinate at the same time, only that they are viable and should germinate.

Purity is the percent by weight of each seed component labeled in the mixture. It’s an indication of quantity, but not quality. For example, if the only seed in the bag is Kentucky bluegrass and the purity is 90 percent, that means the remaining 10 percent is probably seed residue that remains from the processing. You may also see an item called “crop.” This is the percent by weight of seeds grown as an agricultural crop where the desirable seed was grown. In a good quality seed mix, the crop should not be an issue, but in bargain mixes it is because the crop may actually be an undesirable seed.

Weeds are listed as the percent by weight of all seeds in the package which have not been included in pure seed or crop. Consider that if the weed content was only 35 percent and that seed was from chickweed you could end up with 560,000 potential weeds in a 10,000-square-foot lawn. Obviously you want the weed seed percentage as close to zero as possible. If you look at cheap seed mixes and compare them to more expensive mixes you’ll find the weed count drops dramatically. That alone could make the more expensive mix of the same types of grasses a much better value.

There is another item listed as “noxious weeds.” This is the number per pound or per ounce of seeds such as sheep sorrel, which would be considered by some states as undesirable because they are difficult to control even under the best of circumstances. Each state has its own noxious weed list, so they are pretty much tailor-made to our area.

The last ingredient is “inert.” This is the percentage by weight of anything that isn’t classified as seed. This can include bulking agents such as ground corncobs or chaff that is often added to bargain seed mixes. So again, the higher the inert content the worse the value.

The last item on the label concerns seed count. Grass seed varieties are listed on the label under two broad classifications: course textured grasses (such as tall fescue) and fine textured grasses (such as Kentucky bluegrass). Within these categories are many grasses that vary greatly in the number of seeds per pound. It’s extremely important to remember that seed varieties listed on a package are listed by weight and not by seed count. While it only takes about 225,000 ryegrass seeds to make a pound, a bentgrass might have more than 9 million seeds in a pound. For the curious, we tend to use blends of bluegrass, fescues and ryegrass. Bluegrasses have close to 2 million seeds per pound and fine fescues about 500,000 seeds per pound.

So, what seeds do you use for your lawn and how much of it do you use? Most of us are looking for a lawn that stays green from mid-April through early November using as little water, fertilizer and pesticides as possible. The only way to achieve this goal is to use a blend of grass types that offer the right texture, coverage and adaptability. If you are looking for a lawn that requires the absolute minimum in maintenance you may want to look at a seed blend offered by a company in Canada called Wildflower Farm (www.wildflowerfarm.com). They sell a fescue blend called Eco-Lawn that makes the promise of little to no mowing, no watering and little or no fertilizer. It’s not a panacea though, and not a lawn that everyone would enjoy.

For the rest of us, our lawns are probably a seed mixture of Kentucky bluegrass, fescues and perennial ryegrasses. The combination of the three in the right ratios can give you a tightly knit lawn that will choke out weeds and require minimal watering and, since it’s a blend of grasses, a disease or insect attack will affect only one of the three grass types in the mix. Better yet, you can get an endophyte enhanced type of rye or fescue (http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/endophyte.html) that has a natural fungus that allows the grass to fight several diseases and insects, but this grass type should never be used where horses graze.

If we had no environmental concerns we’d all probably want a Kentucky bluegrass lawn. They’re soft, easy on the eye and the color is classic. But bluegrasses have some problems with diseases, insects and heat so we tend to use them as the backbone in medium to high-maintenance lawns, but the seed is used more sparingly on lawns where reduced maintenance and environmental concerns take precedent. Nonetheless there are dozens of varieties of bluegrass that adapt to a wide range of conditions and at least two, Nassau and Ram, have long been suggested for use on Long Island. Some varieties are more shade tolerant than others and some more disease-resistant than others. Another great point for bluegrasses is that they expand via underground rhizomes (stems) so they tend to spread and fill in voids in the turf. The seeding rate is about 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Tall fescues are bunchier and coarser types of grasses, but they persist better in sandy, less fertile soils like we have out here. They also establish rapidly, have great drought tolerance and hold up well under foot traffic. Seeding rates are 4 to 6 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Fine fescues are derived from several species, including hard, sheeps and creeping red. They are known for their ability to persist in shady as well as in dry, infertile locations so, again, a good choice out here. The downside is that the fine fescues do not tolerate a great deal of foot traffic. Seeding rates are 4 to 6 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Lastly, there are the perennial ryegrasses. In the past 20 years there have been some substantial improvements in this type of turfgrass, which was once considered too coarse and not persistent enough for lawns. The newer types have excellent color and a much finer texture. They survive in a wide range of soil types, but don’t do well in wet areas. With a moderate tolerance of shade they establish quickly at a rate of 4 to 6 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

When shopping for your grass seed you’ll probably do best at the larger local garden centers. They have access to seed blends that are specifically made for Long Island and one or two may even have a blend that’s made specifically for them. Stay away from “contractors blends” as these tend to be cheap, quick green-up mixes that don’t hold up well. For a bluegrass/rye blend look for 30 percent Diva Kentucky bluegrass, 30 percent Preakness Kentucky bluegrass, 20 percent Palmer III perennial ryegrass and 20 percent Prelude IV perennial ryegrass. For a classic three-way blend, look for 25 percent Pennant II perennial ryegrass, 25 percent Creeping Red fescue, 25 percent Quest II perennial ryegrass and 25 percent Sonic Kentucky bluegrass. This blend gives you some of the best of each of the three types of grasses and is based on the traditional Farmingdale mix that’s been used on Long Island for many, many years.

If you want to try a straight ryegrass blend often referred to as Triplex look for 33 percent each of Applaud, Jet and Palmer III.

You may find other blends with similar percentages as each supplier has its own sources and trade names. Looking for other blends and sources? Let me know. Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead can also give you suggestions, but get to work. The time is now and of course, keep growing.

Andrew Messinger has been a professional horticulturist for more than 30 years. He divides his time between homes and gardens in Southampton, Westchester and the Catskills. E-mail him at: Andrew@hamptongardener.com. The Hampton Gardener is a registered trademark.