What is the best Looking Grass for Lawns
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so the nicest grass for your lawn in the UK will be an individual choice. It is important however to ensure the grass you choose is also suitable for planting on your soil and in your garden environment.
The Fine Grass Lawn
Here you’re looking for very fine bristle type grasses, fescues and bent grasses, that would be used for golf greens, bowling greens and croquet lawns. There would be no flat leaved grasses just thin bristle type leaves. These look wonderful but maintenance is high as they show up any imperfection, weed or weed grass. We suggest this is for the lawn enthusiast and for relatively small to medium sized lawns under 250m2 to keep maintenance time reasonable.
Our Ornamental Grass Seed Mixture is ideal for this type of lawn but ideally on sandy or sandy loam soils in good sun.
The Stripiest Lawn
If you love stripes and your mower has a roller, then a mixture with a good amount of rye grass is what you need. Rye grass for lawns is of the dwarf variety being very thin flat leaved and is used on tennis courts so is also hard wearing. It is unique in that the top of the leaf is matt and the underside is shiny. Therefore, when rolled it produces alternating dull and shiny stripes. Now you know how to do it you can do it yourself with the following Lawnsmith mixtures:
- Easygreen: 50% rye grass for a hard wearing lawn also suitable for clay soil
- Classic: 30% rye grass so still stripes well but has a good amount of finer grasses for greater appeal
- Shadygreen: 20% rye grass for stripes in the shady parts of the garden
- Staygreen: 30% rye grass for good stripes where a hard wearing lawn tolerant of drier conditions is required
The Gardeners Lawn
For those hobby gardeners who want a great looking lawn with a degree of fineness without the work of an ornamental lawn that also stripes well and grows moderately. Ideally this would contain rye grass for stripes, fescues and smooth stalked meadow grass (same as bluegrass) for fineness and all round adaptability.
Our Classic Grass Seed Mixture is perfect for this.
The Greenest Lawn
The deeper greens come from two things; the grass type and the amount of nitrogen you feed the lawn. So for the darkest of greens you want a rye grass and tall fescue mixture maintained with a seasonal supply of slow release fertiliser. This will also produce a drought tolerant hard wearing lawn though the downside is broader leaved grasses in the lawn.
Our Staygreen Grass Seed Mixture is perfect for this.
Buy Lawnsmith Grass Seed Mixtures
More on Creating a New Lawn
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![Seed vs Turf]()
Creating a New LawnThe range of types of grass is generally far greater with grass seed than turf thus allowing you to have exactly the right type of lawn for your needs
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![Turf & Seed Quality]()
Creating a New LawnThe freshness of garden turf or lawn grass seed can be checked quite easily. Be careful with so called luxury garden turf - it may not mean what you think it does!
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![Play Lawns to Ornamental Lawns]()
Creating a New LawnMatching use to seed type is critical. There are play lawns, ornamental lawns, and plenty in between so we try to make the choice as simple as possible
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![Dry or Shady Lawns]()
Creating a New LawnIf your garden is dry, poor soil or has a lot of shade planting fescues and particularly rhizomatous tall fescue grass seed can be very useful
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![Seed & Turf Quantities]()
Creating a New LawnGarden turf is not cheap so you need to measure accurately. With grass seed being so much cheaper you can afford to be generous when sowing a lawn from seed
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![Planning the New Lawn]()
Creating a New LawnIf you get this part right the grass will be easier to maintain and cause fewer lawn care problems. Timing is also important when sowing grass seed or laying turf
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![Preparing the Ground]()
Creating a New LawnProper preparation of the ground for a new lawn will reward you with years of problem free lawn care, easier mowing and a beautiful healthy lawn
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![How to Sow Grass Seed]()
Creating a New LawnWhen you plant grass seed do it correctly and at the best time of year to ensure success. Moisture, warmth and fertiliser are the essentials
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![How to Plant Grass Seed for Guaranteed Success]()
A step by step guide on how to prepare the ground, sow your grass seed, protect and nurture it to create a brilliant lawn in a matter of weeks.
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![How to Lay Turf]()
Creating a New LawnWhen you are laying turf do it methodically and at the best time of year to ensure success. Start by rolling out and laying the first row of turf grass to form your border
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![All about Grass Seed Germination]()
Creating a New LawnPlanting and growing a lawn from grass seed requires warmth, moisture and air to ensure success. Learn what's needed for a great lawn in quick order.
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![How to Water Grass Seed]()
Creating a New LawnWatering grass seed is quite different from the way you would water a lawn. The golden rule is never let the seed dry out so frequent light watering is needed.
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![The No 1 Best Way to Protect Grass Seed]()
Covering your precious newly planted grass seed with polythene sheeting is not only an effective protection from birds but also drying winds and torrential downpours. Very cheap, easy to lay and speeds germination.
