Gardening Tips: Renovating a fescue lawn
Many different types of grass can be grown in North Carolina. Warm season grasses, such as Bermuda, centipede, zoysia, and St. Augustine are most commonly found in this county, due to the climate. However, cool-season grasses such as fescue can also be grown here, and do quite well in landscapes which provide the proper conditions and care. If you are thinking of seeding a new fescue lawn or renovating an existing fescue lawn, now is the time to act.
September through mid October is the best time to seed fescue lawns in HalifaxCounty. Because fescue is a cool-season grass, it grows best when temperatures are cool, and will often go dormant during periods of hot temperature in the summer. By planting in fall, a fescue lawn is given several months to establish itself before heat induced dormancy occurs in summer. Planting after the middle of October will give the lawn less time to establish before the cold of winter, and the soil temperature will likely be low enough to delay some germination. Seeding can also be done in spring, but since temperatures will rapidly increase as summer approaches, germination rates in spring tend to be about 60-70% of what would be achieved in fall.
For new lawns, fescue should be seeded at a rate of 6 lbs of seed per 100 square feet. For established lawns that need to be over seeded, use about half that rate, 3 lbs of seed per acre. Prior to seeding, aerate or rake the soil to provide a good seed bed. Existing lawns should be mowed low, and then aerated, to ensure that the seed you put down physically contacts the soil. It will not germinate otherwise. Bare patches in the lawn can be raked in order to loosen the top inch or two of the soil. When putting the seed out, use either a drop type spreader or rotary spreader. Do not sow the seed by hand, even in small spaces, as it will tend to clump together and establish poorly.
Liming and fertilizing should be done prior to seeding a new lawn, in accordance with a soil test, analyzed for free by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. Soil test kits are available at the Halifax Cooperative Extension office. Mix the fertilizer and lime into the top several inches of soil using a roto-tiller. A starter fertilizer such as 5-10-10 should also be used, approximately 2 weeks after the seed begins to emergence, when the grass is 1-2 inches high. Do not fertilize any later than early November.
Water is very important for germination of grass seed, and therefore the newly seeded areas will need to be watered frequently until the grass emerges. They will not need a lot of water at any one time, but a short watering once or twice a day for about 10 days will be necessary. Once the grass emerges, you should water less frequently but for longer periods of time. The lawn will need about an inch of water per week.
On October 6th, 7th, and 8th, the Halifax Harvest Days festival will be held at the 4-H Rural Life Center on Highway 903. The Roanoke Valley Master Gardeners will be at the festival on Friday and Saturday, and will have lots of valuable information to share, as well as demonstrations and plants for sale. You can also learn about upcoming Master Gardener classes and events. Harvest Days will also feature a Rodeo, musical entertainment, military exhibits and reenactments, and much more.
Matthew Stevens is the horticulture extension agent for HalifaxCounty Cooperative Extension. If you have any questions about this article or other aspects of your home gardening, please contact Matthew at 583-5161 or .