So you’re tired of hearing everyone talk about how good your neighbor’s yard looks, while they consistently overlook your own. Don’t worry, we can get your lawn as lush, green, and brimming as any on the block or the neighborhood. All you have to do is become familiar with grass seed and learn a few tricks of the trade for making it work for you. But, you’re wondering, what exactly is grass seed, and how can that help?

Understanding Grass Seed

Grass seed is simply the seeds that grow grass. At some point in time, every nice lawn you’ve ever seen started out with a healthy dose of this seeded stuff. But you’ve got to know more about this horticulture necessity to produce the sort of vibrant, green lawn that people—and even dogs—learn to love. It’s essential to understand how to plant it during different seasons, including planting grass seed in winter. There are also a couple of different types of varieties to choose from, including zoysia grass seed and Scotts grass seed. Read on to learn the ins and outs of how these different choices and methods of planting them can give you a fertile lawn.

blue sky and green grass

How Do You Master the Planting Part?

There’s a couple of key steps you’ll want to follow to effectively sow your lawn. Faithful adherence to these measures is critical for the success of your lawn and can make all the difference in sprouting verdure that’s pleasing to the eye.

Select High-Quality Products

This first step is invaluable to the success of the stalks that will eventually grow to create dense verdure. There are numerous brands and types of seedlings to choose from. The National Turf Evaluation Program is an excellent place to begin looking for a variety that suits your individual needs. The variations of these lawn essentials are almost endless: some grow better in shade, while others do so in direct sunlight.

Planting Time

The second step is to plant seeds at the right time. Typically it’s best to plant them during the spring and the autumn. During these seasons there’s usually enough warmth for proper germination. Moreover, there’s also enough precipitation to give the fledgling stalks the water they need to become a healthy yard.

Soil Concerns

As a best practice, you usually want to loosen the uppermost two inches of soil in which the seedlings will be planted—especially when creating a new lawn. The best soil is bereft of twigs and rocks, and is just rich earth. You want to make sure there are no declines or dips in the soil, which will attract standing water that makes it difficult for grass to mature. Use topsoil to even things out. When reseeding, mow what stalks are there, remove any rocks or sticks in the soil, and loosen the soil about a quarter inch.

Spreading Seedlings

Spread these substances evenly, aiming for about 16 per square inch. Lawn spreaders are helpful for this. It’s useful to add fertilizer at least once while planting these seedlings while remembering to water daily—without over-watering.

handful of grass seed outdoors

What is Zoysia Grass Seed?

There are many advantages to starting lawns from Zoysia seeds. This variety of grass seed excels in warm climates and can survive in cooler ones. It sprouts a tough, almost dark green blade of grass that glimmers in sunshine. It can grow in shaded areas, but not as well as it does in areas without shade. Other key benefits of this variety of greenery are it requires less mowing and watering than other forms of it do. The blades sprouted from this type of seedling is unusually dense, with a propensity for growing horizontally as much as growing vertically.

The best way to care for lawns germinating from Zoysia sod is to water them about an inch deep every week. During hot periods in the summer or the fall it may be necessary to water this type of lawn a little more. It’s usually a good idea to water at night or when the sun is declining, so the yard has a chance to absorb the water. The verdure should be mowed down to a couple inches in height.

What is Scotts Grass Seed?

Scotts greenery provides a number of innovative solutions for almost any issue you might have with your lawn or grass seed. Whether it’s time to overhaul an unsuccessful lawn with another, repair a particularly stubborn patch of it, or address concerns of overly thin yard verdure, Scotts has a seeding solution that’ll do the trick. Its lawn repair options are also highly specific to the situation in which one’s sod might be growing. There are fixes for tall lawns, overly shady ones, even for ones that are struggling because of the impact of dogs. Oftentimes these Scotts products work in conjunction with other types of seedling materials and to help your yard mature quickly and evenly. However, there are also standalone choices too.

How Do You Plant Grass Seed in Winter?

It might seem counterintuitive, but it is possible to start a really robust in the winter and develop a healthy lawn. In especially hot, dry regions you can successfully plant almost any type of verdure in the winter. In colder climates, you can plant sod that thrives in cooler weather, such as ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass. When planting these materials in winter take care to follow these steps.

plant grass seed in winter

Stop watering warm-season lawns

It’s best to cease watering your yard about two weeks before planting grass seed in winter.

Scalp the existing lawn

Scalping is a term for cutting back the sod already present to make room for the winter crop coming in.

Spread the new seedlings

You want to make sure to spread an even amount throughout the soil.

Water immediately and regularly

You should water the ground as soon as you’ve finished the spreading step for a minimum of 10 minutes. It's always important to do your watering duties regularly, although it may be less necessary to do so in places in which winter brings frequent rains.

overhead of boy lying on grass

The Wonders of Cultivating Lawns

Vibrant greenery is the foundation of beautiful yards. Once you’ve mastered how to plant it, you can move onto more advanced steps like planting in the winter and repairing any problems with Scotts' many options. Zoysia products are useful for most types of lawns and are ideal for growing—and maintaining—that healthy verdure that’s essential to the outdoors.