We don't have so many grass varieties for lawn grass that grows in winter regions. Certainly, you can't grow either native summer lawn grass or foreign summer grass in winter regions in the USA.
For even climate(cold particularly), we need to grow winter-friendly grass that can grow in low temperatures.
Bluegrass is one of those few types of grasses that grow in such climate conditions. It can handle lower temperatures and grow easily below 15 degrees Celcius. Although higher temperatures above 20 degrees Celcius are not good for the Bluegrass lawn.
Let's understand all the aspects and processes of growing and maintaining Bluegrass on lawns.
Bluegrass lawn in USA
Bluegrass lawn in winter
In even cold climates, one doesn't face bigger variations in temperature ranges. But still, you can see small variations in temperature throughout the year.
In winter, bluegrass turns brown and dry. The next time, you will see green bluegrass after the spring season. But during this period, your lawn may get empty spots and some dead grass sections. To recover your lawn properly, you need to treat your lawn.
Lawn bluegrass likes full sunlight in such climates. Even though sunlight intensity can't increase the overall temperature but enough for lawn bluegrass to get growth.
Requirements to grow bluegrass on the lawn
The following are basic requirements to grow bluegrass on the lawn-
Soil type and pH
Bluegrass can grow in slightly acidic to neutral soil. pH range from 6.2 to 7 is very effective for Bluegrass on the lawn.
A draining soil is best for bluegrass but you also can prepare normal garden soil by treatment of soil with proper fertilizers.
Temperature and climate
Bluegrass performs better on the lawn if gets low temperatures. Below 15 degrees Celcius, bluegrass grows ideally. Above 20 degrees Celcius or lower than 2 degrees Celcius temperatures are bad for Bluegrass lawns.
You must aware that it is not good to grow bluegrass in odd climate conditions as they can't handle too much rain or hot summer.
Sunlight and shed ratio
In cold regions, bluegrass grows comfortably in direct sunlight for 5 to 7 hours daily. Although this sunlight is low in intensity but still good for bluegrass.
Bluegrass can handle partial shed but the dark shed is not good for lawn grass health for more than 1 hour during the day. Bluegrass manages its growth in the partial shed for 2 hours a day.
Tools required
In bluegrass lawn, you need some special tools with the basic lawn tools. Following are tools that are required in bluegrass lawns in cold regions-
- Mowing machine
- Leaf raker
- Spreader
- Weeding tool
- Aerator handle tool
- Irrigation sprinklers
Process of growing bluegrass on the lawn
For now, we are considering you understood the above basic requirements for the bluegrass lawn. Now, let's understand the process of growing bluegrass on the lawn-
- Soil preparation
You have to prepare the soil in two separate places. The first is for bluegrass seed germination and the second is for the rest of the lawn.
For seed germination, you need to take soil, sand, and compost in a portion of 60%, 20%, and 20% respectively.
For the rest of the lawn area, you need 60% soil, 30% compost, and 10% sand mixture if you have less fertile soil.
- Bluegrass seeding
To germinate seeds, you need to use a separate section. When this raw seed will germinate, you have to transplant them to the rest of the lawn.
Use the first soil mixture as suggested above for sowing seeds.
Now, sprinkle seeds in the soil and cover them with a very thin layer of the same soil mixture. Spray some water and wait for germination.
- Bluegrass seed germination
In between 20 to 30 days, bluegrass seeds will start germination and turn into small grass plants. Let them grow at least 3 inches above the ground. The next step is transplantation as turf or direct grass transplantation at a distance.
- Bluegrass transplantation
Bluegrass grows faster once it gets germination properly. So to grow bluegrass on the entire lawn, you need to transplant all the grown plants at a distance in the lawn.
Generally, we keep the line-to-line distance of 3 inches and one grass plant-to-plant distance of 4 inches. But you can over-transplant them if you have more than required.
Let the grass stronger its roots. Irrigate as suggested in the maintenance below regularly.
Maintenance and care of Bluegrass lawn
- Overseeding
The purpose of overseeding is to recover the dead spots, increase the density of lawn grass, and get healthier results.
In a year, even after following the procedure, you may see some empty spots on your lawn. Also, you may see thin turf of bluegrass on your lawn once a year.
To treat those problems, we do overseed. It is not useful to use fertilizers many times but overseeding.
- Mowing
It is always good to set a range of 2.5 to 3 inches in a mowing machine. You don't have the option of mowing your bluegrass lawn in winter because of dryness. Spring, autumn, and summer are good seasons to mow bluegrass lawns.
Whenever you see grass growing above 6 inches, you have to mow it.
Regular mowing is necessary for lawn health. It is better to keep lawn grass height 2.5 inches to 3.5 inches in winter. Your last mowing should be 15 days before starting of winter. Once winter will finish, your grass will recover again and turn green, you can mow it again at a certain height.
- Aeration
Aeration provides grassroots extra space for absorption, air, moisture, etc. It is necessary to aerate lawn grass before lawn grass gets dormant.
In the case of a Bluegrass lawn, you should aerate your lawn just before spring or autumn. Aerate helps to recover the empty spots and patches too.
- Irrigation
Irrigation is very important with Bluegrass. Normally, we irrigate the bluegrass lawn to keep it moist. If you find your lawn loses its shine within a week, then you should irrigate it for 1 inch.
In winter, we don't irrigate bluegrass every week. You can increase your timings according to the overall moisture in the soil. Once in 10 days irrigation is quite effective in winter. In summer, you can make it once a week. Except for winter and summer, you can keep it ordinary in spring and autumn.
- Weeding
Weeding is very important on a bluegrass lawn. After the transplantation, you can easily see the gap between the grass. During the initial growth, some spontaneous plants appear in between these gaps. Because of proper moisture and fertilizers, unnecessary spontaneous plants appear fast and affect the growth of bluegrass.
You should aware of cleaning such plants from the lawn. You can use a weeding long-handle tool to clean the spontaneous plants. If your lawn area is very big, then better to call professionals and if you have a small yard, you can do it by yourself.
Bluegrass lawn treatment
Following are some basic steps to recover and treat empty spots in bluegrass lawn-
- Choose the season of autumn or spring for lawn treatment of the bluegrass.
- Locate the empty spots properly.
- Aerate the spots with the help of a proper tool.
- Use fertilizers either of vermicompost or any organic material compost.
- Scrape the empty land spot with a sharp tip tool.
- Overseed the scraped area and cover it with the same soil.
- Spray some water to make the soil moist.
- Let it be in direct sunlight.
Soon, these empty spots will turn into thick bluegrass turf.