It’s a great feeling when your lawn is lush and green. Unfortunately, this feeling doesn’t always last as wear and tear can really tire out a lawn fast.
If you buy the best grass seed available, you can create a more hardwearing lawn that won’t get easily damaged from children playing on it or pets wearing it out.
But, of course, it can be heard to know what make ‘the best grass seed’, so the following tips are useful to help you make an informed purchase:
A Good Grass Mix is Important
Often, you’ll notice that grass seed isn’t made up of just one species of grass. In general, several different variations are combined to improve the overall properties of your lawn.
Having grass seed which contains Ryegrass will help make the lawn more durable. This isn’t a soft grass type and can be a bit more coarse than other varieties, but it is hardwearing and vibrantly green. As a result, buying a grass mix which contains some Ryegrass will really help improve the durability of your lawn. Dwarf Amenity Ryegrass has been cultivated to be slightly softer and is often found in garden grass seeds.
Fescue grasses will grow well even in shady areas. If you’ve got a lot of shade in your garden and have been struggling to get a healthy lawn as a result, a seed mix containing some Fescue species will do a good job. The Grass People SUPERSTAR: Back Lawn 10kg Grass Seed contains Creeping Red Fescue which is particularly good at spreading. This is excellent for patchy lawns as it will fill in the gaps.
Browntop Bent isn’t as commonly found in hardwearing grass seed mixes, but it can make be included because it helps make lawns fine and soft. A small percentage of Browntop Bent, such as the 5% found in the GBW 1 kg Grass Seed, will add some finer, short grass to your lawn.
Size of Coverage
If you have a large lawn, there won’t be much point in you buying a 400 g bag of grass seed that will only cover 9 – 16 m². These smaller containers are best suited to smaller lawns, offering excellent quality to small areas but not being cost effective in larger ones.
Most manufacturer’s will state how much coverage you can get from their product. This can also vary depending on how many grams of seed the manufacturer recommends on using per meter squared.
From the grass seed I reviewed we can see that the Grass People SUPERSTAR 10 kg bag will provide coverage for 200 m² whilst the GroundMaster 10 kg bag will manage up to 300 m². It’s important to consider the quality and mix of the seed, as well as the coverage, to make sure you are happy with both. You may choose to buy a packet which covers slightly less area, but has a better grass combination.
Suitable Growing Conditions
Your garden may have a tendency to be dry or the soil may retain a lot of moisture. Both of these factors may have affected your success in maintaining a healthy lawn. Another factor that can impact lawn growth is shade; some grass species don’t grow well in shady areas.
Ryegrass and Fescue grasses do well in the shade. So if you’ve always struggled with a patchy, uneven lawn in shaded areas, make sure to buy a grass mix which contains these varieties.
Tall Fescue in particular is known for managing well in wet weather. It’s a great grass species to look out for if you want to find the best grass seed for a wet or damp garden.
If you’ve got dry soil, you’ll want grass types with a good root network – there’ll be able to take nutrients from deeper in the ground. Meadowgrass (also referred to as ‘Kentucky Bluegrass’) has a great root structure and therefore fairs very well in dry soil. Fescue grasses will also handle dry zones well.
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