Things You'll Need:
- Cool-season Grass Seeds
- Garden Hoses
- Lawn Fertilizers
- Lawn Sprinklers
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Step 1
Take a look at durable cool-season grasses. Survey the most popular - Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye, tall and fine fescues - to know which to use where and how to best care for them.
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Step 2
Examine grass textures to tell them apart. Coarse tall fescue's big blades and bunches look rougher than bluegrass's and rye's narrow, fine leaves. See really skinny, needlelike leaves and think fine fescue.
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Step 3
Get to know their colors. Kentucky bluegrass is true green like fine fescue but turns brown easily during hot weather. Look for new cultivars of tall fescues noted for their reliable dark green even in summer, and perennial ryes that sprout bright green, then darken. See an old lawn with dead patches? Think bent grass, now popular only on golf courses because of its high maintenance requirements.
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Step 4
Look at growth habits - how they bunch or clump - to recognize these grasses. Watch rye and tall fescue sprout and take over quickly compared with bluegrass and fine fescue.
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Step 5
Check out popular seed mixes that use each grass to its best advantage. Look for local blends of tough bluegrasses for sun, blue and rye for some shade or moist sites.
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Step 6
Watch how grasses are maintained to identify them. Tall fescue on the playground may only get mowed, while bluegrass needs regular irrigation to survive.
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Step 7
Put your knowledge to work: Shop locally for cool-season grass seed mixes at garden centers and grain elevators. Buy sod as close to the grower as possible for best-adapted varieties.
