Grass Seed Guide: St. George

Best Grass Seed for St. George

When it comes to putting grass in your yard, you may be disheartened by the high cost of sod and the limited varieties available. Seeding your own lawn is easy, significantly cheaper, and offers you a greater variety of grass types to best suit your area. Here we’ll review what type of grass seed is best for St. George and how to care for your new grass.

How to Choose

Picking the correct type of grass for your climate and soil is essential for growing a healthy, beautiful lawn. For residents of St. George and the surrounding area, we recommend a fescue blend of seed for your grass. Fescue is a cool-season grass that is incredibly drought-tolerant and easy to maintain. 

Known for staying green nearly year-round, fescue is a very popular choice for homeowners in “transitional zones” of the United States. Transitional zones, such as St. George and the surrounding area, are too warm in the summers for cool-season grass, but the winters are too harsh for warm-season varieties. Fescue is a great choice because it can survive the cold of winter and is equally tolerant of the hot summer sun. Fescue will go partially dormant in the hottest summer months to preserve itself in drought conditions. This is beneficial for the St. George area as water restrictions may not allow for adequate watering. While it may not always be perfectly green in these conditions, it won’t die and will come back when it gets more water and as temperatures drop in the fall. 

Fescue Care Recommendations

Once your lawn has been seeded and begins to grow, it’s time to start taking care of your grass. The following are current recommendations for a beautiful, healthy lawn:

Watering

Being drought-tolerant, fescue doesn’t require a lot of water to grow and maintain its beautiful green color. As long as it gets about an inch of water per week, fescue will continue to thrive. When your fescue goes partially dormant in the summer months, as mentioned above, continue to water it at least 1 inch per week to keep your lawn healthy. 

Fertilization

Before you fertilize your lawn, get a soil sample tested. You can buy home tests at many home improvement stores, this will give you more information on what your lawn is lacking. For example, if your lawn is low on phosphorus, you’ll want to make sure your fertilizer has that vital nutrient. Most common lawn fertilizers include phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. Take the information from your soil test to make sure you’re giving your grass what it needs to flourish. For more information on fertilizers and the fertilization process, check out our guide. 

Fescue will need to be fertilized regularly to maintain a great color.  Be careful during hot months to not burn the lawn.  If fertilizing in 90+ degree temperatures make sure you have a slow release fertilizer.  This will provide the nutrients the lawn needs slowly over a couple month period, instead of a huge boost of nitrogen all at once potentially burning the grass. 

Mowing

Fescue does best when mowed to a height between 2-4 inches. Never remove more than ⅓ of the length of the grass blade at a time as this can cause stress to your lawn. Raise your mower height ½ an inch in the summer to allow the grass more protection from the heat. Mowing will likely only be required once every two or three weeks in the summer months when growth slows. 

Weed Control

For weed control, never use any type of herbicide within 60 days of seeding or overseeding your lawn. This will kill the grass seed before it can become established. This exception aside, you’ll want to use a pre-emergent herbicide in the spring to prevent weeds from taking root. To kill weeds that have already become established, use a post-emergent herbicide to spot-treat your lawn. For a deeper dive into weed control solutions, click here.

Having a healthy, vibrant lawn is dependent on picking the correct type of seed and using care practices specific to your area. A fescue seed lawn will thrive in St. George’s climate and, by following this care guide, you’re guaranteed to have a beautiful lawn. If you have any questions or need help, consult the pros here at Cedar Lawn Care to get your lawn looking its absolute best.