Okay, okay, Bestlawn. Home from work, had dinner, hung out with the kids.

Jarvinen,

Bestlawn has given you a good primer on that other thread. From your description, it sounds like your yard is not super shady, so a blend of KBG varieties could work fine. If you decide to go that route, some or all of the varieties should be among those that have proven to have decent shade tolerance. Here are five good ones: Moonlight, Brilliant, Apollo, Unique, and Princeton-105 (aka P-105). They all can be purchased from Summit Seed. Williams Lawn Seed has some of them also.

If you want to hedge your bets with the shade, then you should mix in some fine fescue. Not only do they do well in shade, they can handle droughty soil, and are extremely cold-hardy. Finding a pre-packaged mix of just fine fescue and KBG might not be easy. The seed sellers usually add a good dollop of perennial ryegrass to create the classic three-way northern mix. The problem for you is the perennial rye isn't likely to persist in your climate, so you'd be spending money for transient grass that will compete with the KBG and FF that will handle da U.P.

My favorite FF is a type called Chewings fescue. Two good varieties are Longfellow II, which can be had cheaply from Crosman Seed, and Intrigue, which Summit Seed carries. You might also want to add some Strong Creeping Red fescue, since it can spread to fill in bare areas, and does well in the Great Lakes region. Good varieties of this grass are Cindy Lou from Crosman, Aberdeen from Summit, and Jasper II--if we can find a source. There are some newer varieties that have been giving a good show, such as Seven Seas, Musica, and Windward, all of which looked good in the trial plots at MSU, but I've not used them or looked into sources.

Mix the KBG and FF seeds together in a ratio of about 60:40% respectively. Since KBG seeds are much smaller and lighter than FF seeds, you will have about 5 times as many KBG seeds as FF seeds. Sow this mixture at 3.5 to 4 pounds per 1000 square feet. Over the years the KBG will come to dominate the sunniest areas, while the FF will reign in the shade.

Now I'm somewhat adventurous when it comes to turfgrass types. If I was up in your area, and the shade didn't seem too severe, I'd go for some KBG varieties that are derived from high-latitude genotypes. These would be North Star and Alpine (from Iceland, of all places!), both of which have a long track record of excellent performance in MSU's trials.

I'm sure this all sounds pretty daunting--you just want a nice lawn afterall--but think it over, and we can probably distill it down to a good plan.

A.J.

Excellent post, AJ. Let me know when you move to NC. :)

AJ, do you still want a few bermuda plugs to play around with?

Thank you very much A.J. That helps greatly. I really appreciate all the assistance.

And one last question....

Seeding in the fall is ideal, but if I were to seed within the next few weeks what should be done from now until fall (besides watching weeds grow along with the grass)?

Do you have the time and patience to give me a quick primer on seeding procedure, watering, and re-seeding in the fall? And Maybe what I need to do next spring to fertilize and maintain the lawn for the next season?

Thank you.