Question
QUESTION: I live in southeast connecticut, near the mouth of the CT river.  My lawn is generally pretty shady, maybe a 3- 4 hours of sun per day. Some areas get more, some less. I have a dog and a toddler that love to run around and play in the grass (i guess you could call it that).  The grass is very thin and is constantly getting torn up.  I'd really like a thick lawn that can stand up to the wear and tear, Im stuck between Tall Fescue and Ryegrass. Can I just mix the 2?  I plan on doing a soil test, raking everything thoroughly and doing some major over planting in the spring. What seed do you suggest? I plan on buying top quality seed from seedland or greeniewfertilizer.  Thanks so much!

ANSWER: If you had a Full Sun plot, this would be much simpler.  Cornell University's Lawn Care website addresses your situation in its 'Coping With Shade' page: "Lawn Grasses need at least 4 hours of direct sun a day.  If they receive much traffic or wear and tear, they need a minimum of 6 hours.'

You can connect to it right here:

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/lawn/lawncare/index.html

Let's read that again: 'Lawn Grasses need AT LEAST 4 HOURS of direct sun a day.'  MORE for kids and pets.

Rye is a very pretty, clumping Grass for impatient people who don't want to wait a month for their Lawn to germinate.  Rye Greens up earlier and grows faster than any other Cool Season Grass.  If you want a Lawn in 3 weeks, you get it with Rye.  Rye also tests better than some other commonly used Grasses in research -- yes, they have studied this--on Dog urine.  'Rebel' and newer varieties would place in the top 5 of any lawn beauty contest, and they are tough.

Tall Fescue will take more Shade than perennial Rye.  But this really is somewhat Sun-loving; deep Shade won't grow it well.  It must be re-seeded every 2 years for optimal performance.  Tall Fescue doesn't mind the pitterpatter of little feet.  Your Dog can play Frisbee and chase Squirrels all day and you won't be holding your breath the whole time.  If you try it, pick up anything but K-31 and Southeast; these two cultivars took last place in recent Turfgrass testing for traffic.

You can't say that about Kentucky Bluegrass.  Or Fine Fescue.  Or Ryegrass.

People like it because it's vigorous and sturdy.  Weed seeds don't have a chance against Tall Fescue.  This is a Grass that takes no prisoners.  It's low maintenance, and it drought, heat and aggravation -- something you'll appreciate when the Dog and the Toddler stampede  around the yard.

But you may not have the Sun you need for these.

Consider instead: Red Fescue, one of the very few Turfgrasses with a gene for Shade.  The only thing that comes close is 'Supernova' variety Supina Bluegrass; unfortunately it does not have the endurance of Fescue.  Using 4 to 5 lbs/1000 sq ft ensures thick, lush growth.

Picky landscapers often combine Creeping Red Fescues like Jasper II or Garnet with a shade-tolerant Kentucky Bluegrass.   Mixing in 20 percent high-quality Ryegrass will give you quick Green-up if you run out of patience.

Finally, assuming your Shade is caused by stands of deciduous Trees, why not have key branches pruned to open up the Tree Canopy?  This is the time of year to do that.

One last thing: Since your Dog and local children will be giving your Lawn the usual extreme endurance, you don't want them to come in contact with any Agent Orange or other Weed Killers or Pesticides.  If the product comes with a Skull and Bones on the container, don't buy it.

Thanks for your question.  Followups welcome.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help, that was a wealth of information that will be invaluable for me.  One last question, have you heard of a company called Greenview?  Their website is Greenviewfertilizer.com and boast about having superior #1 and #2 NTEP rated seed.  I know you regularly promote seedland.com, but was just curious if you have heard anything good, bad or otherwise about this company.  Thanks!

Answer
Greenview is part of the Lebanon Seaboard Corp, a Lawn Care and Garden Products company based in Pennsylvania which is one of a handful of competitors of Scotts Miracle-Gro (and a different company from LESCO, its Cleveland, Ohio based rival, which also produces Grass Seed).  Lebanon Seaboard's website says:

'Lebanon's seed breeding program has also been successful in producing a number of the world's best proprietary seed varieties - top-rated for quality by the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP).'

FYI, I quoted earlier a few summaries drawn from NTEP data.  NTEP tests Seed by location; those sites are all over the country, rated under a lot of different criteria (drought tolerance, traffic, shade, for instance).  A #1 Seed in Kentucky may be a #8 Seed in Illinois.

Greenview and its parent is a good, solid, privately owned U.S. company, and their Seed is undoubtedly a high quality product.  The best for your plot?  If it's Oxford, Firefly or Reliant IV -- the top rated SHADE seeds in the NTEP trials held in Nebraska/Utah/Illinois -- then, Yes.

Lebanon Seaboard submitted Tall Fescues named 'Monet', 'Cezanne', 'Davinci', 'Picasso', 'Masterpiece', and 'Van Gogh'; Bluegrass named 'Zinfandel', 'Pinot' and 'Shiraz'; Perennial Rye named 'Exacta II GLSR', 'Charismatic II GLSR', 'Secretariat II GLSR'; and Fine Fescues named 'Ambassador', 'Pathfinder' and 'Oxford'.

Its Oxford pulled down the outstanding top mean score of 7.4 for Shade Performance in the 3 plots. Ambassador and Pathfinder scored  respectable matching scores of 5.6 in the same Shady plot.  There were about 50 entries.  The lowest score was 2.1 for 'Seabreeze' grown in the Shade in Illinois.  A perfect score would be 9.0.

The 2006 Study for Traffic Stress was done in Madison, Wisconsin.  Ambassador came in 4th place -- not bad -- with a mean of 7.9 for the year, behind Epic (8.5), Cardinal (8.1) and SF 5130 (8.1). Davinci pulled a 5.8 and 6.3 in the two New Jersey tests, trailing Rebel IV (6.6 and 6.2), Inferno (5.8 and 6.2), Justice (5.7 and 6.6) and three others, but still outranking scores of other entries; across the Northeast it scored comparably.  The North Brunswick, NJ plot rated Elisa tops among Tall Fescues tested for Traffic.  You can obsess over the numbers at the NTEP website:

http://www.ntep.org/tf.htm

All things considered, I'd say you have found a good choice with Greenview.  But stay away from their traditional Fertilizers and 'Lawn Care' (i.e., Weedkiller, Pesticide) bags -- your Soil test will tell you what to add.  Keep the Earthworms happy and the Birds healthy, and I think you'll be very pleased with the view this Summer.

Further followups welcome.