When To Plant Grass
A Few Tips On When To Plant Grass Seed
Knowing when to plant grass seed can make a difference, between having a beautiful lawn, and putting up a fence to hide what turned out to be something other than the desired result. Unless you live in a tropical or subtropical location, you're obviously not going to do your planting in the winter. Planting during the hottest time of the year doesn't make much sense either, although people do try that from time to time, with mixed results. That leaves the spring and the fall as your prime planting times.
Before getting into which of these times is best, there is some planning and preparation to be done, which doesn't take all that long, but can be a nice little summertime or wintertime project. You'll want to measure the plot where you'll be planting, so you'll know how much seed you'll need. You want to find out the seed type, or the proper mix, that will give you the lawn you desire. And, since you probably don't plant lawn for a living, you'll want to understand the mechanics of putting one in.
Having said that, it's time to find out when to plant grass for the best results. To be perfectly honest, we often choose to plant a lawn either when it is convenient for us to do so, or we just want to get it over with. Most people have heard that either the spring or fall is best, and that is usually when they're going to go about doing it. So, is one time better than another?
Both spring and fall are fine, but planting in the fall has a few more good things going for it. For one thing, you'll likely have fewer problems with weeds. Most of the weeds come into the picture in the spring, and die out during the hot summer months. Weeds may or may not be a huge problem, but tend to be one problem less if you plant in the fall. If you plant in the spring, you'll want the grass to be reasonably established before the very hottest months, as grass will be stressed at that time. That means you want to plant as early in the spring as possible. If in the early spring your soil is cold, and too moist, it can have an adverse effect on germination. You might even have to do a second sowing.
Probably the best reason for planting in the fall, is your lawn will have several extra months to become established, before hot weather arrives. In addition, if it is your back yard you're planting, where there's lots of activity going on, you won't have to put it off limits all summer, because of the new tender lawn. That alone can give you a good reason for deciding when to plant, when it best suits your lifestyle!
Where you live can also dictate when to plant grass. You might live in a location where it doesn't particularly matter; you can even plant on New Year's Eve with a good chance of success. You don't have to follow the rules. What you want to do is take time to evaluate the pros and cons, and once having done that, you'll know with confidence when to plant grass and get the results you want.