Question
What is the best lawn seed choice for sandy (no soil) conditions? It stays relatively moist in the evenings near the lake side. I would like a grass that feels nice and soft and secondly but not as important one that doesn't need to be mowed very often. Soft in sand is the priority. Thank you.

Answer
Hi GRLPro;
Depends on what area you live in.
Cool season grasses, fescues, yes, bluegrass, etc don't weather hopt climates like we have here in North Texas.
As for the sand.
If it is too loose to hole water long enough to do the grass any good, you will have to add some good firm soil. Actually, if you tilled some clay soil into it, it would make good soil.
Clay won;t let anything grow through it, but if we till in sand or bark mulch etc to looosen it up, it does very well.
An organic program, over time evens out the PH and condition of the soil, and turns bad soil into good.
To tighten up the soil, if you have a very lkarge area, good top soil can be cost prohibitive.
That is if you have to buy it at a nursery by the bagful.
Sand and gravel companies ususally have sandy loam, only your case, just loam would better.
You need to be sure your soil is tight enough or loose enough to hold water, but will still drain, and let the wwater get through to the roots,m and stay moist down where the roots are, for several days.
With very sandy soil, you may have to water more frenquently, say every 3 days or so.
Check with nurserymen or your county agricultural extension agency, for the best types of lawn grass for that area. You can alos search online for that information.
If you can grow St. Augustine there, that is what I like, and what I have.
It is for very hot climates in the summer, and milder winters.
Cool season grasses are fescues, ryes, Kentucky Bluegrass, and there are some others.
If Kentucky Bluegrass will do well in your area, that, to me is a perfect grass.
When you mow it, it has such a lovely smell. It is a nice soft grass.
St.Augustine is also cqalled carpet grass because it feels like a soft carpet. Broad leafed and nice and soft. Requires milder winters and lots of water.
ermudas are a nice lawn grass too.
I don't agree with mowing bermuda to 1/2 to 3/4 inches high.
I want a soft lawn to sit and walk on. I don't want a golf course in my front lawn, so when I had bermuda, I mowed it at 3 inches.
A nice thick 3 inches high bermuda lawn is lovely.
Besides, most people don't have time to mow their lawn every 3 days.
Let it grow to 3 5 inches and mow it to 3 inches, and it does very fine.
Except for golf courses, that short mowing recommendation is just new in the last 10 to 20 years.
All my life, growing up, we had bermuda, and mowed it at 3 inches high.
In the summer, the taller blades help shade the soil from the heat, and the grass is liss likely to die of the heat.
In winter, that last mowing left high like that helps insulate against freeze damage.
In spring, if you mow bermuda short and often, more food goes to roots, so it sends ut more runners, and spreads faster. Than when it gets up to the 80s, mow at 3 inches, and you have a nice thick lawn.
On a chemical program, youi fertilize, and the grass and weeds too get a growth spurt, so you have to mow more often. Then the fertilizer wears out, and the growth slows down, but the grass starts loking poorly, so you fertilize again. Same thing all over again.
On an organic program, there are no growth spurts. Everything goes along at a nice pace, and you can mow at the same intervals all the time.
Warm seasons grasses I recommend are St. Augustine and/or bermuda.
If you plant both, the St. Augustine will eventually choke out the bermuda.
Cool season grasses, I like Kentucky Bluegrass and fescue ( there are several varieties of fescue).
These two mixed together make a nice lawn.
The are both slender bladed grasses, but mowed at 3 inches high, and nice and think growth in the yard make a nice soft and pretty lawn.
Charlotte