At Home Living: What is the best grass for your yard?

Rain in August in Kansas! Wow! What a welcome relief! If there was ever a question in your mind that water would green up your yard take a look around. Even yards full of weeds are looking good. (This is what drought does to a gardeneranything green looks good.) Some of us have lost grass that just couldnt wait for the summer rains. This means that we need to think about over-seeding our lawns. Make plans now but wait to overseed until about the first of September and be done overseeding by about October 15. For now, assess your yard and measure the square footage in the damaged areas. Next, consider the following when choosing grass seed.

Use - The front lawn is usually ornamental, meant to be attractive and inviting to guests. It makes a statement and can add value to your home. First impressions are important especially if you plan to put your home on the market. It is not normally subject to wear and tear or foot traffic. Kentucky Bluegrasses and tall fescues work well here.

Back yards typically receive a lot more wear and foot traffic. Tougher tall fescues do better than Kentucky bluegrasses especially in hot dry summers or where irrigation and fertilizing are not used to help maintain the turf.

Light Turf grasses need at least 4 hours of direct sun or bright light each day. No turf grass grows well in deep shade. It suffers enormous stress and requires constant attention. Pruning trees can aid in allowing more light to hit the ground. But, if the tree is large and dense, pruning may be a losing battle. The best idea for deep shade areas is to grow another type of groundcover such as pachysandra, ivy, vinca, and liriope or mondo grass.

Full Sun is a site that receives at least 6 hours of direct sun or dappled sunlight (as through tree leaves) almost daily. This is the ideal condition for turf grasses to thrive.

Part Shade is a site that receives at least 4 hours but less than 6 hours of direct or dappled sunlight over the course of the day.

Full Shade is a sited that receives less than 4 hours of bright light each day. Areas under dense tree cover can be in deep shade. Pachysandra or ivy are green, very low maintenance and promote tree health. They, or mulching, would be a better choice than turf.

Maintenance is somewhat related to how you want your turf to look.

Low maintenance turf means different things to different people. To some it means NO maintenance (no water, no fertilizer, no/infrequent mowing, no/little pest control), much like roadside turf. Buffalograss is best in this category. But its drawbacks are: it becomes straw-colored with the first hard frost and doesnt green up until mid- to late May, will not tolerate heavy, constant traffic, prone to weed invasion if over-fertilized or over-watered, and may invade flower beds. It doesnt like to be mowed and therefore can look unkempt.

Kentucky 31 or K-31 can be a low maintenance grass. It is very drought tolerant, but tends to be light green and has a variety of weedy looking grasses in the blend. Thinking it should look better, people over fertilize causing more mowing and they use more weed killers.

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At Home Living: What is the best grass for your yard?