Grass seed is a hot seller in today’s garden center’s and retail stores.  Choosing grass seed isn’t rocket science, but there are somethings that you want to pay close attention too. 

Matching your lawn

Lawns in Ohio generally consist of about 3-4 different types of grass. 

Kentucky Bluegrass
Perennial Ryegrass
Tall Fescue
Creeping Red Fescue

These are the most popular because of their ability to work well in the home lawn.  That being said, when over seeding your lawn or patching bare areas you want to match what your existing lawn consists of.  If you just seed without matching your lawn, you may end up with areas that do not fit uniformly into the rest of your lawn.

Seed Expires

Every bag of seed has a label.  This label is where you find all the information you need concerning the quality of the seed.  Seed has a life expectancy like most other perishable products.  Each label has a date that the seed was tested.  You do not want to use seed that is any more than 2 years after the testing date.  Read the label to make sure you are not purchasing old seed! 

Weed Seeds

You also want to check on the noxious weed seed that is in your bag.  This is also on the label and you want this percentage to be very, very low.  The best seed will have 0% noxious weed seed. Also look at the “other crop” portion of the label.  This term is used for other plants normally grown for profit.  These plants can be some of the worst weeds in a lawn so this number also needs to be very low.

You local nursery or garden center will be able to answer more of your questions.  Take the time to look into your seed to help keep that lawn looking great!