The Grass Seed You Buy Matters More Than You Think — Here’s How to Choose

Typically, fall is the best time to plant grass seed, but early spring is a close second best. Before you run out to the store and buy a bag of seed, let’s explore the best type of grass seed to purchase. Choosing the right seed for your location and lawn condition is important so the grass survives and thrives to become a lush lawn worthy of picnics and games of tag.

It is also critical to buy good quality seed. Buying the absolute cheapest seed can seem tempting, but the germination rate will be low and you might still have patches in your lawn even after all your hard work.

Don’t wait to seed your lawn much longer, summer will be here soon and then you’ll be out of luck until fall. Here are the best types of grass seed for overseeding your type of lawn.

Grass Seed for Cool-Season Lawns

Cool-season grasses are turfgrasses that are best for lawns in the northern regions of North America. Cool-season grasses are adapted to cold winters and hot summers and actively grow when daytime air temperatures are between 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 C) and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. When it gets warmer than that, they slow their growth and have limited ability to take up nutrients. Getting your cool-season grass established before warm summer temperatures is critical to the health of your lawn.

Common cool-season grasses include Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass. Scotts Turf Builder Kentucky bluegrass seed, available from Amazon, is combined with fertilizer and soil improver to improve results and grow dense, healthy turf. Scotts also offers a perennial ryegrass seed Turf Builder mix and a tall fescue seed Turf Builder mix which are both available from the Home Depot.

Grass Seed for Warm-Season Lawns

Warm-season grasses are turfgrasses that perform well in the hot conditions of the southern U.S. Unlike cool-season grasses, warm-season varieties grow during the warmer months of the year and have high heat and drought tolerance. Seeding warm-season grass should be done in the spring or summer when the threat of frost has passed, ideally when air temperatures are consistently between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit (21-32 C).

Common warm-season grasses include centipedegrass, Bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and Zoysia grass. You can find centipedegrass seed and Bermudagrass seed from Scotts at Lowe’s. Zoysia grass and St. Augustinegrass are generally planted as sod or sod plugs since they are such great spreaders. Zoysia grass and St. Augustinegrass sod plugs can also be purchased from Lowe’s.

Grass Seed for Shady Lawns

Beautiful full-shade lawns are tough to achieve. Turfgrass needs sun. If you have an area of your yard that only gets 3-4 hours of dappled sunlight throughout the day, you should consider planting a lawn alternative.

However, there are species of grass that do better in shadier spots in the yard. Seed mixes that combine shade-tolerant types of grass are your best bet if you have a moderately shaded area. Fine fescues like creeping red fescue, hard fescue, and Chewings fescue are cool-season grasses that will work in shaded areas that have little traffic. The dense shade mixture grass seed from GreenView can be found at Lowe’s and is a mix of fescues and perennial ryegrass. St. Augustinegrass is the most shade-tolerant of the warm-season grasses.

Grass Seed for Mossy Lawns

Moss can overtake turfgrass in lawns that are compacted, have poor drainage, and acidic soil. There’s nothing wrong with moss, but if you’d rather have grass it can feel like a losing battle. Lawns in the Pacific Northwest can be particularly prone to moss infestations given the climate conditions of that region.

Gardening Know How senior manager Allie battled moss in her PNW lawn until she found success with Scotts Turf Builder Pacific Northwest mix of grass seed, available from Home Depot, that includes soil conditioners. Dethatching can also help reduce moss colonies. If moss is still a problem, you can find Scotts MossEx at the Home Depot to treat moss and fertilize grass for improved turf.

Grass Seed for High-Traffic Lawns

If you have kids or dogs zipping around your lawn all summer, you will want to purchase a good quality grass seed for high-traffic areas. There is nothing sadder than a brown, worn patch of mud in your yard under the swing when the rest of it is brilliant and lush.

In northern regions, Kentucky bluegrass will be your best choice for high-traffic lawns as it is resilient and grows quickly (this high-traffic mix from Scotts at Home Depot fits the bill). In the south, Bermudagrass is the toughest grass for your climate and Bermudagrass seed can be purchased from Lowe’s.

Aerating a compacted, high-traffic lawn can also help improve the turf. Aeration is the process of removing small plugs of soil to allow air, water, and nutrients to reach grass roots more easily. You can hire a professional service to aerate your lawn or use a Garden Weasel manual core aerator, available from Amazon, for a smaller area that has become compacted.

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