Create a Lush Lawn with Grass Mixtures

To the untrained eye, a healthy green lawn is a uniform patch of growth, but in reality there can be great discrepancies in sunlight exposure and soil condition.

While there are many beautiful solid turf grass varieties, a novice gardener will more than likely be frustrated by their suseptibility to disease, drought, and/or changes in precipitation patterns. So,what is the person seeking a lush and hardy lawn to do? One needs only to head down to the area home improvement store or nursery for a viable alternative: grass seed mixtures. Mixtures are very adaptable to different amounts of sun and shade within the same yard, as well as variations in the soil. They also keep disease at bay, because fungi afflict certain types of grass (such as fescues) specifically. A helpful analogy might be the comparison of a purebred dog to a shelter mongrel.

The purebred often has ailments that are specific to that breed, while the "mutt' is such a comglomeration that he is immune.

Grass usually becomes diseased by direct contact with adjacent affected blades; grass seed mixtures thwart this process, because when there is more than one species involved, there is no plant to plant contact.

Thus, a disease such as helminthosporium leaf spot might injure a lawn made up of Kentucky Bluegrass, while one that was seeded with a mixture of fescues and other varieties would escape with just scant areas of affliction.

Living in an urban area can present special challenges as far as sun exposure and shade are concerned. Mature trees and rows of houses block sunlight until later morning. The divide is broken for a while but then resumes again in the afternoon, so unless the homeowner is present all day long to monitor the patterns of sunand shade, he or she might not accurately assess them.

That being said, a weekend is the ideal time for the home gardner to become more familiar with the lawn in relation to sun and shade conditions.

By knowing whether or not one truly has a sunny lawn, or one that only receives a few hours of direct sunlight per day is crucial. Really observing can be an eye opening experience! When it comes time to purchase a grass seed mixture, a person should be armed with basic knowledge. This will better help the nursery attendant in choosing the perfect seed product for the need at hand.

Sources:

*Turfgrass Varieties, University of Florida EDIS

*`Helminthosporium' Leaf Spot, University of Florida EDIS

*Turfgrass Seed and Seed Mixtures, Penn State