Planting Grass Seeds: What Should I Seed My Lawn?

There are a few conditions to consider when you're getting ready to seed your lawn: (1) Where you live (cool season area or warm season area), (2) The type of grass seed you've chosen (cool season vs. warm season or a mixture), (3) The soil temperature, and (4) The weather will all affect your grass seed.

Let's start with where you live and what type of grass you've chosen. First, you must know what climatic region of the country you live in and have chosen seed appropriate for your area. Take into account what you know about these seed types and their growth patterns as grass plants. You don't want to plant grass seed at a time when the plants are naturally slower growing or even dormant. You want to plant seed when the new plants will naturally thrive in certain conditions.

Take cool season grasses. Your first choice for when to plant will be in the late summer to early fall when the grass will take off. The warm days and cooler nights encourage germination, and the plants will have plenty of time to become established before winter and any fall frost will help control annual weeds from getting established. Your second choice for when to plant would be in the early spring. While the conditions are similar, you'll fight more weeds and you may be facing a shorter time for the plants to establish themselves before the onset of the summer heat. If you plant early enough in the spring, your lawn should come in fine.

Warm season grasses are the opposite. They love the heat and dislike the cold. For these types of grasses, sow your seeds in the late spring. They'll have time to germinate and the plants will flourish in the heat of the summer.

The temperature of the soil is a key factor in seed germination and determining the right time to plant. Cool season grasses will have a hard time germinating in the heat of the summer because the soil temperature is too high. Therefore, the cool nights of the late summer and early fall (or early spring) help keep the soil temperature down for seed germination. Warm season grasses, on the other hand, can't stand cool soil. The late spring gives the soil time to warm up so the seeds can germinate properly.