A helpful article from AllAboutYourLawn.com on how seeding multiple
species of grass is beneficial for the beginner.
The gardener without years of experience will do well to consider planting
a mixture of grasses rather than a solid turf of a single species. If
he knows exactly what he is doing, and understands how to control the
diseases which might attack his particular single species of grass, the
chances are it will survive and thrive without serious injury.
But the beginner rarely has the necessary skill and knowledge
for this, and, even when he does, he often runs into unforeseen trouble.
If conditions change—such as an extremely wet or dry year—a solid turf
of one species may suffer severely, whereas one containing several
grasses will pull through in good shape.
Disease is a good example of the type of problem a mixture
may help avoid. The fungi which attack grasses are quite specific in
their action. That is, some will attack fescues but not bluegrasses,
while others attack bents but not fescues. Except for rust, which is
largely airborne, most of these turf diseases are spread by contact
from one blade to another.
If the turf is made up of more than one species, this plant-
to-plant contact is broken. I have seen one section of a lawn, seeded
wholly to Common Kentucky Bluegrass, go down by late June when attacked
by ‘helminthosporium’ leaf spot, while another part of the same lawn—planted
with Chewing's Fescue and Highland Bent in addition to the bluegrass—showed
only an occasional area affected by the leaf spot. Both areas were
maintained exactly the same.
Another advantage of mixtures is that they tend to adjust
themselves to the varying soil conditions often found within a lawn,
and also to differences in sun and shade. It is not uncommon for the
same lawn to have one area that receives three hours of sunshine while
a short distance away it has sun all day long.
One of the very real problems a “seedsman” has, for example,
is in recommending a grass to the man who doesn't know what a sunny
lawn is. I have actually studied lawns which the owner claimed received
sun "all day long" and found
they had four hours or less.
This is often true in cities, where the line of parkway trees
and the house form barriers that cut off the sun until late in the
morning and then block it again early in the afternoon.
By doing just a little research, which often amounts to asking
a representative at your local nursery or home supply store,
you will find the perfect mixture of grass seed for your needs and
avoid many troublesome and time-consuming problems.
FREE information on how to have the yard of your green
dreams, visit All About Your Lawn today! It's FREE!
Click here: http://www.AllAboutYourLawn.com
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