How to Plant Sod or Grass Seed

How to Plant Sod or Grass

• 1

  Choose a variety of grass that grows well in the local environment. The National Gardening Association recommends Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescues and perennial ryegrass as lawn grasses in Northern climates and Bermuda grass, centipede grass, zoysia grass and St. Augustine grass for warmer climates. Colorado State University recommends Native American grasses as decorative grasses in dry climates, including switch grass, big bluestem, June grass, Indian grass and western wheatgrass. It suggests Asian and European grasses for wetter climates, including morning light, northern lights, feather reed grass, sea oats and Korean feather reed grass.

• 2

  Choose an area with as much sunlight as possible to plant the grass. The University of Illinois explains that a common grass-killer is too much shade. Even shade-resistant grass varieties need at least a couple hours of direct sunlight per day.

• 3

  Pull weeds out of the soil. Weeds make lawns look less attractive and they also steal moisture and nutrients from grass. The University of Illinois recommends making sure to remove weeds and all of their roots to prevent them from growing back.

• 4

  Prepare the soil by tilling it and adding in some organic compost. The National Gardening Association explains that adding organic compost to soil that is too sandy helps it hold more moisture and adding organic compost to soil that has too much clay helps it drain and aerate better. Organic compost also adds more nutrients to any soil type, regardless of the texture.

• 5

  Make sure the soil is moist before planting the seeds or laying out the sod.

• 6

  Rake the soil to eliminate any large bumps in the planting space. Raking also creates tiny ridges that grass seeds will nestle within better than flat soil.

• 7

  Spread the seeds or unroll the grass sod. Grass seed packages should come with guidelines suggesting how thickly to spread the seeds, and the University of Illinois recommends one to three pounds of Kentucky bluegrass seeds per 1000 square feet, three to four pounds per 1000 square feet for a mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass, three to five pounds per 1000 square feet for a mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and fine fescue and six to nine pounds per 1000 square feet for tall fescues.

• 8

  Water the grass seed or sod regularly, and make sure that the soil constantly remains damp but not overly saturated.