What type of grass seed is right for my lawn?

From time to time, we’re asked what types of grass seed we use and what might be the best choice for a client’s lawn. With Spring now smiling on our gardens, Lawntech’s technicians are currently performing lawn renovations and part of that process is Over-seeding. It’s a good time to take a look at the seed varieties we use and answer the question about which type is best for your lawn. We tailor a mix of seeds to the needs of each individual lawn, often combining Dwarf Ryegrass and one of the Fescue species. This provides a very effective combination as the Fescue grasses spread outwards in habit, filling in the gaps between the more vertical growth of the Ryegrasses. To help refine the choice and ratio of each, we need to consider two important factors; The lawn’s environment, and how you envisage it being used.

To dig a little deeper into these points, let’s look at the lawn’s environment first. There are three big things to consider here.

SOIL TYPE
HOW MUCH SUNLIGHT WILL REACH THE LAWN and
HOW WELL THE SOIL DRAINS

For example, a light and chalky soil will favour Strong, Slender or Chewing Fescue for its mainstay as it copes well with such free-draining conditions. We would also add dwarf Ryegrass and perhaps some Poa Pratensis (Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass) to the mix, as they will aid the lawn’s recovery from drought and make up for the Fescue’s slower growth.

For a heavy clay soil, on the other hand, we would recommend basing the mixture on a robust Ryegrass (which gives the required hardiness) and Tall Fescue. The Tall Fescue sends its roots deeper into the ground, which means it won’t drown in any of the rain water which can be trapped in the top few inches of soil.

That’s a hint of the science that goes in to creating the right mixture of grass types for the environmental considerations, but what effect does the intended use of a lawn have on our recommendations?

ORNAMENTAL LAWNS

An ornamental lawn, tended by Lawntech

If you’re looking for the ultimate ‘bowling green’ carpet of fine, tightly mown and unblemished grass, you’ll need to be committed to a very conscientious maintenance programme. Those bowling and golf clubs have fulltime grounds people looking after their greens every day, often having to mow daily to keep the grass cut tightly. Fine Fescues mixed with a high ratio of Bent Grass is ideal for this kind of carpet-like appearance, but they are more susceptible to the invasion of weeds than Ryegrasses, so you will also be kept on your toes combatting them. Scarification and Aeration will certainly be a more regular part of the regular maintenance programme for this kind of lawn, too.

LAWNS FOR HEAVY DUTY, FAMILY USE

Most lawns will fall into this category, with vigorous use by children and pets very much the order of the day. All those budding sports stars have to start their rise to fame somewhere, and that usually means scrabbling around on Mum & Dad’s lawn! Pets can take their toll on a lawn too, by nibbling, digging and using your prize turf as a public convenience.

We deal with the specific problems of pet animals and lawns on this page of our website’s Lawn Care Guide:

Pets & Your Lawn

For now though, what seed mix would Lawntech prescribe for a robust, hard-wearing family-oriented lawn? The kind of grasses we’ll need here will be similar to those we would use on a sports pitch; durable and tough. We would often base our mix on those dependable, hard-wearing Ryegrasses again, with some of those horizontally-creeping Fescues to fill in the gaps between them.

Hopefully this piece has given you a brief outline of the thought processes we go through to ensure the right mixtures of seed are applied to each individual lawn. For a more in-depth view of the various grass types, please see this page on our Lawn Care Guide;