One of the first things I found difficult about seeding my new lawn was deciding what type of seed mix to use. Where I live, Kentucky Blue Grass (KBG) is the primary grass of choice. Also used in local mixes is Perennial Ryegrass (PR) and Creeping Red Fescue (CRF).

KBG is used as the primary turfgrass because of it's ability to rebuild itself and fill-in bare spots. However, it's drought tolerance is not that great which means it will probably go dormant (brown) in the summer unless watered, but usually revives in fall. PR is usually used because of it's quick germination rate of 7-14 days whereas it can take 21-30 days for KBG to germinate. And finally, the CRF is often used in shady areas as it is more shade tolerant.

A seed mix is a mix of more than one type of grass (KBG, PR, CRF) while a seed blend is a blend of different varieties of the same grass type. Going to any of the local garden/home improvement stores showed that most of the off-the-shelf mixes from companies like Schultz and Scotts are a mixture of these 3 grasses. However, I was surprised to see that KBG was always the smallest part of these mixes. It was typical to see 40% CRF, 40% PR, and 20% KBG.

Initially, I had been turned off to the idea of a mix because my previous yard had very obvious patches of different grass types. I took a long time trying to decide if I should use a mix or just a blend of different KBG varieties. I have virtually no shade in my yard so I had no need to use CRF. This left me with just KBG and PR to choose from.

The Iowa State Extension Office recommended 80% KBG and 20% PR stating that the PR will come in quick and help shield the KBG seeds and prevent erosion. This made sense but I was still nervous. PR is a bunch-type grass meaning it spreads outward in a bunches rather than spreading laterally like KBG. I was concerned I would end up with something similar to my previous lawn with obvious tufts of different grass throughout. The extension office assured me that if the mix was right, I shouldn't have to worry about this. So I took their advice and settled on and 80/20 mix.

The extension office also recommended using 2-3 varieties of KBG in the mix. That way if a particular disease affected my lawn, it would be less likely to kill the whole thing. That makes total sense to me, but with 2 acres to seed, some KBG varieties can just be cost prohibitive. I ended up choosing the varieties I did because they were available in bulk at our local farm supply stores and were reasonably priced. I did throw in a little more expensive KBG (from Schultz) but it is a smaller percentage. Being common types of KBG, these varieties didn't have outstanding scores on the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) ratings, but for the cost, they were about my only option.

So here's what I ended up with for my mix:


45lb KenBlue KBG = 23% of mix
90lb Baron KBG = 46% of mix
24lb Brooklawn KBG = 12% of mix
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TOTAL KBG: 81% of mix

36lb Perennial Ryegrass = 19% of mix