Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Confused about which Grass seed ., 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Marie---

What else can I say that I did not already say above?

PLEASE use GOOD grass seed. Pennington--"Smart Seed"---Rebel Jr. seed.---etc....
make sure the typw of grass seed is suited for your area. Here, in MD, a mix of tall Fescue seed is the best.
A bit of KY Blue-Grass mixed in is OK too. All one type of seed--like 100% tall Fescue of one kind--
is not the way to go. Even though it is drought and heat tolerant--I do not like it.
It does make a difference. K-31 is not a turf-type lawn seed. It belongs in fields and playgrounds.
Maybe also in new Developments...fast and green--but NOT a nice lawn.

A few years ago--I seeded an area, where I had an old Spruce removed, with straight Fescue.
Even after years--the grass is SOOO fine--it just burns up in the heat we have here. Hey! NJ is NOT all that different!
It COULD be that the soil is not overly organic--or maybe too acid...Maybe i should sprinkle
some Lime over that area. After all--they ground up the stump and that is, basically, what the grass seed got
seeded on top of.

Please do not think that I AM always promoting HD--just because I work there. But--I DO know their garden products.
Lowes and any other garden center may well have all these same things....

We sell a bagged "Seeding Soil" for seeding your lawn. $6.97 a good-sized bag. It already contains Starter Fertilizer.

Rough up the soil you have. spread about 1"-2" of the Seeding Soil over all and mix it in.
Apply seed--and keep it watered until it is established. DO NOT use ant lawn Fertilizers until you have
mowed this grass at least 3 times. Just water......

In the Spring--IF your lawn is not yet too lush--you can over seed again with the same seed.
This can be done early--maybe early March. Again--let it grow in--and mow at least 3 times before you fertilize your lawn.
PLEASE!!!! Do not make the mistake of applying Crabgrass Preventing Fertilizer (Halts Plus) in early Spring--and then seeding
at the same time. The Crabgrass preventing fertilizer does NOT differentiate between seeds. ALL gone!!!

You will keep your lawn seeds from germinating along with your Crab Grass seeds from germinating.
It is recommended that--IF YOU USE the Hats Plus Fertilizer (Step #1 in the Scotts line of Lawn fertilizers)
you CANNOT seed your lawn for the rest of the growing season.

You can go organic! HD also sells a product called "Milorganite" as a lawn and garden Fertilizer.
NOT to be used on any food crops--as it may contain certain metals!.

It is a clean and odor free product and is made from the Counties Sewage Sanitation Plant as a final product.
It is dark--small, round seed-like in consistency--and the NPK rating is very low. Slow release....
It is NOT Chemical
It is also much cheaper than the other Fertilizers. A 40lb. bag of Milorganite is about $15. Versus "$25-$30 of the name brands.

Try it! You will like it!!!! Just spread it on as any other Lawn product.

I think I have a picture of the bag so you can recognize it. It is in the same aisle (at HD) as all the other lawn foods.

Google "Milorganite" for the whole story on this product. It will educate you!!!

Gita