Establishing Grass

[dhunter65]

I just had a 1/3 mile gravel driveway completed on my property. There was quite a bit of grading done which left a lot of exposed dirt.

I want to put down some grass seed but am concerned about the timing. Would I have any luck putting down seed in the second week of May (By the way, I'm in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia)? Or should I wait for the fall? There's no way I can water the seed because the area is much too large.

Do you have any suggestions on what type of seed I should put down? I don't want to have to mow it that often and have to cover quite a bit of ground so would prefer an inexpensive option.

Lastly, would mixing in some wild flower seeds be a bad idea?

Thanks,

Danny

 

[hhw]

You could try a simple P. Rye/K. Blue/Fescue mix. It's hardy and relatively low maintenance. You will definitely need some starter fert, even if it's the cheap stuff. Given the fact that we haven't really hit "the heat" yet this year you should still be OK. The inability to water could cause a problem. Ideally if you could cover it with straw and add some water initially at least, there would be a better chance for good growth. I'm sure you know the basic drill; bed prep, seed spread, fert. spread, light cover rake, straw and water for 10 days. In your case, I guess you will hope for some rain. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

You're going to have a terrible time getting satisfactory results if you can't water it. If you have a loader, fill it with water and drive to where you need to water the new seed. It will give you more seat time, and you'll get better results.
John

 

[Egon]

Mixing wild flowers may be an excellent idea. It means you will not have to mow. Wild flower seeds are expensive.

Egon

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Wild flower seeds are expensive. )</font>
One can often get a good price by buying a bird feed mix. John

 

[Dachshund]

The tri-mix SHOULD work great for you. Watering for the first few days is must, but a light mulch will help retain the water you do put on. I heard about an odd thing, so decided to try it on a small patch. I shredded newspaper, soaked it in water (ubtil it was pulpy), and shot it over the grass with a "hopper gun" (used in the drywall industry). Worked amazingly well. Litterally desinigrated after a couple of weeks or so - held on long enough for the grass to get about 2" tall. You can usually find wildflower mixes at the big box stores (Walmart, HD, Lowe's, Menards, Ace).

 

[gabby]

If you can find a farm nearby with a manure spreader you can add seed and fertilizer to the top of the load of manure and spread it all at once - seed, fertilizer and mulch - all in one pass. Set the spreader floor chain on slow speed to make it go further. Works well for me. Don't even worry about "tyinp up the nitrogen" with the decomposing organic matter. I've used fresh manure and shavings as well as aged and it all works fine.

You can also load a manure spreader with busted up straw bales and accomplish the same thing, but they have to be busted up real well or the straw will end up in clumps on the ground.

You can also hand scatter straw bales then further chop up the straw with your rotary mower to make mulch.
gabby

 

[EddieWalker]

Not sure about your area, but depending on what type of grass you want, you might try spreading some bales of hay. It will slow down the erosion, and after awhile, will start to grow.

Every time I go to Sams, I buy at least one sack of grass seed and spead it just before a rain. It's a slow process, but not very expensive and in time I'll have everything all green.

 

[Egon]

If you are interested in maintenance free have you considered a prairie grass/wildflower mix? The seeds are expensive. Many of the packaged store mixes seem like a good price but the filler to seed mix may be a touch high.

Bird feeder seeds may be a type of staple cereal crop from other countries.

Do search on [ Prairie Frontier] which is a seed supplier. From this you will gets lots of other hits to check out. Different areas will require a different type of seed.

Just consider this a different persective to the manicured lawn type approach. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'm planting some wild prairie grass/flowers on one side of one of the driveway in town. I also have about an acre planted out at the " Farm " but the deer are very hard on the flowers.

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[PineRidge]

You might also consider putting down the cheapest seed that you can buy. Around here we can pick up a 50 pound bag of winter rye for 8 bucks a bag. Get the rye established to control the erosion and then in the fall if you want a better grass over-seed and you're set to go.