New grass in August-September

Tungsten – posted 05 April 2005 15:11

I’m building a new house in Midlothian,tx which is about 20 miles south of Ft Worth-Dallas and it might not be ready till August. I have to deal with bare backyard and I’m stumped with this dilemma… What grass seeds to plant during August-September? It’s pretty much no grow new grass season … too late to establish the whole backyard with warm weather grass (Zenith zoysia) before cold weather comes. Also, too early to plant cool weather grass (Rye grass). I’m not really sure what to do. I don’t want the backyard to be a mess from the soil erosion. I would have to regrade the yard if it gets that bad. Does anyone have any suggestions?

ted – posted 05 April 2005 20:22

go ahead and plan on the ryegrass- with “Builder time” you’ll be in it sometime in early 2008….

Tungsten – posted 06 April 2005 10:40

Builder’s time?? you mean they won’t stick to the schedule? Anyway, your suggestion is very helpful..

ted – posted 06 April 2005 13:05

do they ever stick to the schedule??? rye’s the answer

tommy – posted 06 April 2005 13:12

Do you gotta have Zoysia? The period you want to plant – is perfect for hybrid bermuda sprigs (stolons). They establish extremely fast in the heat (one month for bermuda 419).

Tungsten – posted 06 April 2005 17:23

lol. They have 50 working days building schedule that they have to perform task each day. They just cleared the lot to start working on the foundation next week. (sigh) it’s the time of the year for crazy spring weather so we’ll see how quickly they can get the foundation built which can make a big difference. It could be mid july – mid august, even September at the latest.

I like zoysia grass. I’ve grown them for fun at my parents’ house years ago. They’re still there sharing the yard with St Augustine grasses. Lol.

What about Tall fescue? it requires less watering and mowing from what I’ve read online. I’ve grown rye grasses during the winter at my parents house and they grow like weeds and Id have to mow quite often . It never ends then the srping comes and you have to deal with St Augustine’s rapid growth so it was some more mowing!

About bermuda grass – which variety works the best in this area? I’m looking at a bunch of different varieties of bermuda at another website. Yukon looks very good. Maybe I’ll try that if my house gets built early enough, otherwise it’ll be rye or tall fescue to keep the topsoil intact through the winter.

tommy – posted 07 April 2005 13:30

Ya….’Yukon’ sounds real good…..never seen it, but it does sound like a winner! If you go with Tall fescue, you may have to wait till fall.