Choosing the right grass seed

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Planting a seed of doubt….…….

Buying the right grass seed can often be a game of chance – putting your trust in the packaging description. A bit of knowledge about the grass variety can demystify a contents label and help you make an informed choice.

Amenity grass seed is bred from its bigger agricultural cousins. An immense industry is involved in breeding and hybridizing cultivars for various traits such as drought hardiness or salt tolerance. Grass seed is mostly offered as a blend to take advantage of various strengths & minimise individual weaknesses:

Ryegrass : Dominates the majority of seed used. In amenity situations dwarf perennial ryegrass is used for its ability to establish and recover quickly from wear, drought and damage.

Slender Creeping Red Fescue: Low-maintenance, fine-leaved and spreads by short rhizomes so knits the soil together in a dense sward

Strong Creeping Red Fescue: Copes really well with a wide range of pH values. Germinates slower than ryegrass but drought, wet and shade tolerant. Colonises bare patches on sandy, dry and also clay soils with long rhizomes.

Hard fescue: Grows in tufts – copes very well with shade and extended drought. Slow-growing so great for a low-maintenance mix.

Browntop Bent: slow to establish, low-growing and very fine leaved its ideal with low-pH soils. Mostly used on fine, quality surfaces e.g. golf greens and premium mixes.

Tall Fescue: Very resilient, deep-rooted perennial grass, tolerates wet soil and extended drought.

Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass: Self-pollinating seed, needs higher temperatures to germinate but very hard wearing and drought tolerant once established.

Progreen offer a wide variety of lawn, amenity and paddock grass seed and can help create a bespoke blend to suit the harshest or most unpredictable of environments -

Call: 0800 032 6262, email: info@progreen.co.uk

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