How to Grow Grass
Learning how to grow grass is not difficult. It is basically a matter of having seed, soil, water, and sun. Trying to determine how to grow grass on an already established lawn can be more difficult. The spots needing help are usually worn from human traffic or ones that are primarily in the shade each day.
The grass seeds that grow best are ones placed in newly tilled soil that has had all of the weeds and other plants removed. Buy seed that is for the right temperature in your region. Your garden supplier would know which is the best and if you are buying online, there are usually charts for different parts of the country. Seeds grow best when their only contact is with the soil. In a newly worked bed, plant them around a quarter of an inch under the soil, and then try to firm the soil over them with something like a roller. Even your hands or feet could compact the dirt if it is a very small patch.
If you already have an existing lawn and you don’t want to start over with by rototilling it under, you can try planting your grass seeds with the existing grass. If you can use some kind of aeration to loosen the soil, your seeds will probably germinate better. Raking is another method of loosening the soil. The seeds are more likely to grow if they can enter the soil through a slit or a hole. You also need to scatter more seed as not as much of it will sprout when it is competing with grass that is already there.
Another method of planting grass is called broadcasting and it is the least successful way to grow grass. This is where you take handfuls of seed and just scatter them over the area where you want the grass to grow. This is a lazy method and you might have some good results and you might not. The might not is more apt to be a possibility. If you live in the south, warm weather grasses will rarely grow using this method. If you live in the north and are using a cold-weather grass there is more of a chance. In fact, some ryegrasses will grow surprisingly well with broadcasting, but the sooner it rains after you have planted, the better your chances will be. The rain will push the seeds down further into the soil. Whichever way you plant your grass seeds, cover the area with straw when you are finished.
Learning how to grow grass can be a challenge if you do not watch weather temperatures carefully. The basic extremes are to never plant if temperatures are below 55-degrees or above 85-degrees. Planting the wrong grass at the wrong time can also be a mistake. Imagine a map of the United States. Then imagine a line going right across the middle of the country. If you live in the area of the country above this center line, you need to choose cold weather grass types (ryegrasses, fescues, bluegrasses) and plant them in the early fall or the early spring. If you live below the center line you should use warm weather grasses ( Bermuda grass, buffalo grass, zoysia or St. Augustine grass)
and plant them in the late spring or early summer.
There are machines you can buy or rent from hardware-type stores that help with the seed planting when growing grass. If you use a hydroseeding machine, it mixes seed, mulch and water and the machine blows it onto the space being planted. At the same time the machine compacts the soil by passing over it. This method of grass seeding is usually used by professional landscapers when there is a very large area to be seeded. Slit seeders and turf grass seeders puncture the soil by making a small line in it and then dropping in the seed. This method also is helpful if you are seeding a large lawn.
If you do all of these things and keep the top half-inch of the soil moist until grass appears, you will soon have a thriving lawn. Before long your neighbors will be asking you for advice on how to grow grass.