What’s the first thing you do when the temperature drops during the Fall or Winter? You bundle up by putting on extra layers of clothes!
This concept is even more important for your lawn. After all, if you’ve been using-and-abusing your home turf during the warmer seasons of the year, the grass has taken a bit of a beating. This can result in brown spots, and even bare patches. Fortunately, there’s a way that you can provide a “winter coat” of sorts for your lawn: Overseeding!
Overseeding is a process by which you plant seasonal grasses or legumes on top of dormant grass in order to extend the life of your plot and add additional nutrients. Depending on where you live, new seeding may occur during Spring, early Summer, or early Fall. Overseeding often occurs during the Fall or Winter seasons. Despite the title, “overseeding” does not mean “putting too much seed down.” In fact, you apply even less seed during overseeding than you would for a new lawn. For example, if you were planting Hancock’s Pensacola Bahia Grass Seed Mix during the Spring or Summer, you would broadcast at a rate of 5-10 lbs. / 1,000 sq. ft. If you were overseeding with the same product, you would scale it down to 2-5 lbs. / 1,000 sq. ft. Pay attention to product specifications for accurate overseeding rates.
Overseeding a lawn helps on an aesthetic level, but overseeding as a cover crop is essential for farmers. Cover crops can prevent weeds from growing, while protecting the soil. If planted on poor soil, they can even promote growth for future waves of legumes or permanent grasses.
You don’t need to use the same blend for overseeding, however! Often, you can save a few bucks by using a variety designed for overseeding. Here are a few of Hancock’s most popular and effective cool-season options for overseeding.
Hancock’s Ryegrass Seed
Hancock’s Ryegrass Seed is our most basic overseeding option. One of the reasons this variety is so popular is because it comes up so quickly; if you want to get rid of some unsightly dead spots on the lawn real quick before the in-laws show up for the holiday party, this might be your best bet.
That said, think about how those dead spots got there to begin with. Does your lawn take a lot of foot action throughout the year? Rye won’t stand up as well to the family football games, if that’s your plan. But…
Hancock’s Perennial Ryegrass Seed
...that’s where Hancock’s Perennial Ryegrass Seed might can come in handy. We developed this blend to handle heavy usage, by combining the cost-effective nature of Hancock Ryegrass Seed with other, more stress-resistant blends. And data proves it! The National Turf Evaluation Program runs tests to check for resistance to wear and salt tolerance. Hancock’s Perennial Ryegrass Seed was in the Top 10 for both!
This toughness makes this blend a popular choice for those overseeding athletic fields, public parks, and golf courses.
A note for our Florida neighbors, however: The Florida climate does not allow this blend to perenniate.
Hancock’s Turf Type Tall Fescue
When people talk about overseeding, they generally talk about Ryegrass. At Hancock, we’re happy to think outside the box, as long as it works. And Hancock’s Turf Type Tall Fescue works very well.
This is a blend of fescue seeds that provides a verdant, dark green, and can stand with the toughest for its resistance to wear. So why aren’t more people overseeding with Fescue? It all comes down to price. A 10 lb. bag of Turf Type Tall Fescue costs $16.00 more than the same size bag of Rye. Note, however, that this blend is also a perennial—which means you’ll get more bang for your buck. Many will find that spending a few extra dollars now will pay off in the years to come.
A note for our Florida neighbors, however: The Florida climate does not allow this blend to perenniate.
