Planting a New Lawn

• Plant it yourself.
• Have it sodded.
• Have it spray-planted commercially.
• Leave it to nature.

This 3-part article details how to plant a new lawn yourself right from the bare earth. Read the entire Booldet before you buy seed, equipment, or start to work. It can save you time and money. Also read Greener Grass, for additional helpful information on soils and ground covers for specific areas of the nation.

BUYING GRASS SEED:
If you know how to read the label on a bag of grass seed, you can save yourself countless dollars and hours of hard work. The cheapie grass seed is indeed cheap-and full of weeds and other stuff that will take you months-even years-to eliminate in your lawn. Start with good seed, which is not inexpensive-but not cost prohibitive-and you'll be rewarded the minute the seed starts to sprout.

Here's how to read a grass seed label:

By law, growers and packagers of grass seed must print an analysis of the contents of each seed bag. The package label usually has six classifications stamped on it:

• Purity.
• Germination.
• Crop.
• Weeds.
• Noxious weeds.
• Inert matter.

What the label doesn't explain is what you need to know to get your seed money's worth.

PURITY:
The basic type of seed will be named-for example, Kentucky bluegrass-and its percentage of the total weight will be given. There may be other types of seed listed-Victa, Windsor, Merion. These improved seeds are a big value. Look for at least 35% to 40% purity. The higher the percentage the better the seed will be.

Under the seed analysis, you will probably find two more categories: "Fine Textured Grasses" and "Coarse Textured Grasses." The fine-textured ones will be bluegrass, bent grass, and fine fescue, including such strains as Windsor, Merion, and Victa. Under the coarse textured you will usually find a perennial ryegrass or another coarse-textured grass, such as redtop, timothy, tall fescue, or Kentucky 31. There should always be at least 40 percent of ryegrass or another strain of coarse grass in the package.

The purity percentage gives you a idea of quantity, but not quality, since even all pure seeds won't grow even under the best of conditions.

GERMINATION:
The germination percentage, usually labeled "Germ.," tells you how much of the seed is capable of growth. If the germ figure is 85%, you can be fairly sure that about 85% of the seed will sprout. But keep in mind that this figure comes from laboratory tests under ideal conditions. Your yield may not be as high-or your yield may be somewhat higher. Remember, all seeds do not germinate at the same time. As a rule of thumb, if the germ figure is 85%, you can expect an 80% to 85% growth under normal growing conditions.

CROP:
Look out for this one. "Crop seeds," also listed as a percentage of the total weight, means just what the name implies: crops that a farmer grows (oats, wheat, rye). Therefore, the lower the crop percentage the better. If the crop seed is more that 5% by weight, the label must state the name of the crop seeds in the grass package.

WEEDS:
All seed mixtures contain some weed seed. Obviously, the lower percentage of weed seed the better. Even 0.1% of chickweed in 1 pound of seed could result in 560,000 chickweed plants in a 10,000 sq. ft. lawn. When you buy a mixture with a high percentage of weed, you will also have to buy a lot of weed killer-and this can cost you plenty before the lawn-growing season is over.

NOXIOUS WEEDS:
These weeds must be listed by name and by count on the label. Noxious weeds are more of a problem in farm fields than in home lawns. Classification varies from state to state. For example, poa annua, an annual bluegrass, is classified as noxious in several states. But to be on the safe side when looking for mixtures for your lawn, buy grass seed products that contain no noxious weed.

INERT MATTER:
Inert matter is sand, ground-up corn cobs, empty seed hulls. It is there to add weight to the package and nothing more. Of course, the more inert matter, the less seed. Read the label carefully and buy a mixture wit as small a percentage of inert matter as possible.

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