Reasons to Over Seed
This is a simple process and one that is often neglected. Perhaps it appears to be too much trouble or it’s the cost of grass seed that stops people doing it! Seed isn’t cheap but it is unlikely to cost more than an evening at the pub!
The consequences of not over seeding the lawn are quite possibly delayed recovery, an unsightly lawn for quite some time and a guaranteed weed invasion. By adding seed you will be bringing your lawn back to its former glory sooner, and, if you’re adding new varieties of grass seed you’ll be improving the appearance and life of your lawn. So, I highly recommend you take the easier and cheaper option of over seeding your lawn whenever you have the opportunity.
What Lawn Seed to Use?
Firstly decide on whether you are trying to match the existing grass or to add new varieties and therefore change the look of the lawn. A word of caution though; if you just need to patch a few damaged areas then the same type of grass is a must. Unless you have original seed it is unlikely you’ll get a perfect match but you can generally get close.
Matching grass type
If you don’t know what type of grass you have then just get down on your hands and knees and look at the grass blades. If all the leaf blades look like bristles then the chances are you have a ‘none rye’ lawn so I’d recommend a fescue mixture such as Lawnsmith® ORNAMENTAL.
On the other hand if your lawn is predominantly grass with flat leaves then a rye mixture is in order such as Lawnsmith® EASYGREEN which has heavy rye content. You can also use Lawnsmith® STAYGREEN if your lawn drains freely (colour is slightly darker green) or Lawnsmith® SHADYGREEN for damp shady areas. Both have rye content so blend well.
If the lawn appears to be a mixture of flat and bristle grasses then Lawnsmith® CLASSIC will match very nicely.
As is often the case, distinct areas of lawn are bristle like and others are flat leaved. This ‘patchiness’ can often be a good reason to change or improve the look of your lawn by over seeding the whole lawn with the grass seed mixture of your choice.
Changing grass type
If you’d like to change the way your lawn looks or behaves then over seeding with a different type of seed will bring about appropriate changes. For example if your rye grass play lawn is no longer played on because the kids have grown up you can add some luxury to it by over seeding with Lawnsmith® ORNAMENTAL seed. On the other hand if your lawn or areas of lawn are shady add Lawnsmith® SHADYGREEN seed; if it suffers from drought or flooding then over seed with Lawnsmith® STAYGREEN seed.
These additions will not completely change the lawn as you will still have plenty of your original grass left and you will now have a blend between the two. If you want to change the grass completely see Renovating the Lawn or Creating a New Lawn.
Just to confuse the issue even more, lawns, as they mature can become a hotchpotch of different grasses. If this is the case I wouldn’t try for a match and I’d over seed the whole lawn with your chosen grass seed to try and improve the uniformity.
Buy Lawnsmith Grass Seed Mixtures
Related video for this article
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After raking or scarifying watch how the Lawnsmith over seeds the lawn with grass seed to complete the renovation.
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