Hey there everyone! This is Pete Moss asking a question: What is the most common plant on this planet?
Well, technically it’s algae, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a plant with roots, stems, leaves, etc. It’s grass. If you think about it, it’s really a no brainer. Sure, there are lots of trees on the planet, plenty of flowers, but what covers vast amounts of plains, prairies, savannahs, steppes and back yards? Grass!
Now I’m not saying that it’s all Kentucky Bluegrass. There are gobs of varieties of natural grasses. Even many grains that we eat are technically a grass. It only makes sense then that wild grass was cultivated and adapted in to lawn grass that we know today. This may make you feel a little better when you’re out there mowing your lawn. You’re taking care of your very little piece of the Earth’s big yard!
This may also bring up the question: Seed or sod? Which is to say, should I grow a lawn from seed, or put down sod? In some ways that’s like asking should I get take out or make dinner from scratch. Sod is like getting an instant lawn-to-go. Seed is like preparing your lawn from scratch. Let’s look closer:
Sod obviously is an instant lawn and looks like the easy no-care solution. Well, not really. One must still prepare soil for sod, you can’t just lay it on hard, uneven, poor soil and expect good results. Sod takes watering – a LOT of watering at first. Soaking it in for the first few weeks is required to get it take hold and grow. Sod can grow patchy, even though it’s solid when first laid down. It’s also a lot of heavy, hard work to put it down. This can be hired out of course, and a good landscape company can indeed save you a lot of sweat and grunt labor, at a price.
Seed is obviously not an instant lawn. Seed take weeks to germinate and start growing to look like a lawn. Seed is relatively cheap and easy to apply. The ground prep for seed is very similar to sod, then spread the seed and water it. Seed takes far less water than sod at first. Seed just needs to be kept moist for the first two weeks or so as it germinates. This can be frequent watering, but not much water each time. Seed gives you an easy opportunity to choose just what type of grass you want, and you can easily pick from water-saving, sunny, high traffic, even curbside blends.
Patching over thin or damaged areas is easy with seed, can be tricky with sod. Patch mixtures with seed, fertilizer & mulch all-in-one, like Scotts EZ Seed, work very well, can grow grass anywhere and fill in bald spots nicely. Um, I mean the bald spots in your lawn, don’t go getting any crazy ideas here!
Come see the helpful folks at your local Ace Hardware and they can tell you more about seed vs sod. Many of our stores have sod on hand this time of year and most have a very wide selection of grass seed to choose from. They’ll also help you with weed control, starter fertilizer and any soil you may need to patch your lawn or start a new yard. Yes they can help you make the grass greener on your side of the fence!