The Best Kentucky Bluegrass Seed For a Lush Green Lawn

Everyone wants a green lawn, but it can be hard to know which grass is the best choice for your climate.

Kentucky bluegrass is one of the most popular choices because it’s durable and easy to maintain, but choosing the best Kentucky bluegrass for your lawn can be difficult. 

There are so many choices out there, and they all claim to be the best…but which one is really right for you? 

We’ve done the research for you and have come up with a list of things that you should keep in mind when choosing the best Kentucky bluegrass seed for your lawn.

Best Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

There are many different varieties of Kentucky bluegrass seed on the market today, but some are better than others. Be sure to look for one that is suited for your region’s climate and growing conditions.

Our Top Pick – Scotts Turf Builder Grass Seed Kentucky Bluegrass Mix

Scott’s Turf Builder Kentucky Bluegrass mix is a popular choice for home lawns, and it’s easy to see why.

It contains a blend of several varieties of Kentucky bluegrass seed, so you’ll immediately get the vibrant color and lush texture that makes this variety famous. The formula is designed to work with most soil types, so planting won’t be an issue, and it naturally repels weeds and pests, which will make lawn care easier.

Scott’s Turf Builder Kentucky Bluegrass seed mix is designed to continuously self-repair so it can stand up to some wear and tear. The blades are light to dark green and grow strong and sturdy even when the weather gets unpredictable.  It also comes with their exclusive 4-in-1 WaterSmart PLUS coating to help the grass absorb more water, and feeds the seeds with essential nutrients to help protect new grass from disease. 

Other Great Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

Outsidepride Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

Outsidepride Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass seed is a slow-growing perennial type of grass that is known for its perfect deep bluish-green color.

Midnight Kentucky bluegrass seed is one of the highest-rated perennial grasses on the market today. Its beautiful dark green color, soft texture, disease resistance, cold tolerance, and ease of establishment make it a perfect lawn choice. It can get up to 6 inches tall when grown properly, making it ideal for many different types of yards.

This Kentucky Bluegrass seed is ideal for home lawns, parks, golf courses, and athletic fields – because it can be planted year-round, withstands high traffic and stays thick and lush as well as being extremely cold tolerant. It is also known to be one of the best bluegrasses for slopes because it not only holds up under foot traffic but doesn’t easily wash away.

SeedRanch Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

SeedRanch Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass Seed is a self-regenerating pasture and turf grass with superior traffic resistance, disease-fighting power and is also known to be one of the best bluegrasses for slopes.

This Bluegrass has dark green foliage that creates a striking contrast in home lawns and sports fields. Designed to grow in full sun or light shade, this grass grows well in colder temperatures. The strong roots can also help to improve the strength of the soil, while its density creates a healthy under-layer for stronger turf growth. Midnight

Although it doesn’t usually resume growth until late spring, it tolerates high temperatures with ease, making it a very low-maintenance and simple to grow grass that is ideal for gardeners who want a beautiful lawn with minimum work involved.

Pennington Smart Seed Sun and Shade

Pennington Smart Seed Sun and Shade mix is one of our favorites if you are looking for a Kentucky bluegrass seed with fertilizer added in.

Most lawns have both sunny and shady spots but many grass types are only designed for one or the other. The Smart Seed blend offers a minimum of 27% perennial ryegrass which helps to thicken up the grass while providing superior coloration for your yard.  It contains tall fescue to improve overall wear resistance and cold hardiness, as well as fine fescue for shade tolerance. Our final layer is Kentucky bluegrass which has a dark green color and soft texture that will stand up to light foot traffic.

Pennington Smart Seed also offers advanced Penkoted technology with strong germination and virus-resistant qualities. Every seed is coated with nitrogen fertilizer, fungicide, and insecticide to help ensure the seed starts quickly and fights off disease.

This seed blend produces a thick, fine-bladed, dark blue-green lawn that will thrive in both the sun and shade. 

Jacklin Seed – Biltmore Blue Blend – 100% Kentucky Bluegrass Certified Grass Seed 

The Biltmore Blue Blend from Jacklin Seed, unlike some of our other recommendations, is a 100% Kentucky Bluegrass certified grass seed. With this seed, you know that each seed is not only high quality but is identical to all of its neighbors. This ensures that the color will be consistent on your lawn and that no weeds are mixed in with the grass.

The Biltmore Blue Blend has a rich dark green color and is a low-maintenance seed. It spreads at a moderate rate of 3,500 square feet per pound, making it an easy to manage grass that will fill in nicely.

The Biltmore Blue Blend also has a heavy drought tolerance, allowing it to maintain healthy foliage in conditions that would normally stress or kill other grasses. Mainly due to the ability of Kentucky Bluegrass to produce additional stems from buds near its roots, resulting in a thick growing grass that can crowd out weeds and occupy all available space.

This grass seed should be sown in the spring or fall when the temperature is between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Expect germination in 14-21 days.

Benefits of Kentucky Bluegrass?

One of the main reasons that people choose Kentucky bluegrass for their lawn is because it can withstand traffic well. In fact, if you have a playroom in your backyard or a trampoline, Kentucky bluegrass might be your best choice to ensure the durability needed to bounce back from heavy use.

It can hold up under close mowing as well. This makes Kentucky bluegrass a practical choice for homeowners who know they will be doing regular upkeep and don’t want to spend hours after work re-mowing the lawn.

Kentucky Bluegrass is also a great choice if you want an easy-to-maintain lawn with beautiful green color. This low-maintenance grass requires less watering than other grass varieties during droughts or hot weather conditions. Because it grows thickly, Kentucky bluegrass will fill in bare patches in no time. This makes it ideal for yards that have experienced some wear and tear over time because it doesn’t require frequent reseeding or mowing like other types of grass do.

Finally, you’ll save money on water bills too since Kentucky bluegrass does not need to be watered frequently like some other varieties do when temperatures rise above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius). And while most people think that weed control is a difficult part of maintaining a beautiful lawn, Kentucky bluegrass seed has natural weed-fighting abilities that will help keep this at bay.

Growth Habits

Kentucky bluegrass is a low-growing grass that spreads by rhizomes to form a dense turf. It can grow between two and three inches per week during warm weather conditions, and it can develop a deep root system that extends up to four feet down into the soil.

You’ll find Kentucky bluegrass available as either seed or sod. Seed is the most common choice, but if your yard has a lot of shady spots throughout where the sun doesn’t always shine, you should consider buying some pre-cut rolls of sod instead.

Seed is less expensive and more versatile since you can plant it in any open area of your yard, even on slopes. However, if you know where the sun will always shine brightly, sod could be a better choice because it has an established root system that is already growing, so new growth won’t need to take place.

What to Consider When Choosing the Best Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

When choosing Kentucky bluegrass seed, you need to keep a few things in mind.

Seed vs. Sod

First, you should decide if seed or sod is your best option. Think about the sun exposure that your yard receives. If you have a yard with many shady spots throughout, it’s best to choose sod instead of seed. Sod already has established root systems in place when you buy it. This root system will grow and fill in those sunny patches as they are exposed during warmer weather conditions.

If you have a yard with mostly sunny spots, then seed may be the best option for you. When it’s planted, Kentucky bluegrass will grow and fill in those empty spaces quickly without requiring much watering or sunlight. In some cases, it can even out-compete some weeds that try to grow there since it has natural weed resistance.

Product Contents

If you decided Kentucky bluegrass seed is your best option, you need to think about what is actually in the seed. Is it only grass seed or does it contain fertilizers or herbicides? A weed and feed product will contain a fertilizer, a pre-emergent herbicide that will keep weeds from growing, and an insecticide to kill any insects in the area. This is beneficial if you know your yard has problems with certain insects or weeds, but it’s also more costly than regular seed.

Another factor that is important to consider when choosing Kentucky bluegrass seed is any seed coating or other treatments added to the mixture. While some fertilizer treatments may be beneficial if you’re planting in a yard that has a lot of shade, other treatments like soil sealants could prevent the seed from absorbing water and growing at all.

Best Germination Results

Knowing the germination results of the grass seed is an important factor to consider when buying grass seed. Kentucky bluegrass typically germinates in five to seven days, but some varieties only last a few days, which means they need more water and sunlight than the rest.

If you have a shady yard, choose a good quality Kentucky bluegrass that will grow well in these conditions. You can usually find the germination rate information on the back of the seed bag. It’s important to make sure that these seeds will germinate quickly without extra water and sunlight or they may take too long to grow in and fill your empty spaces.

Coverage

Each bag of grass seed covers a designated area of lawn. Before you choose a new variety, make sure to check how much area the seed can cover. You don’t want to get home with your seed only to realize that you need more than one bag to cover your yard.

You also need to know the exact size of your lawn. This one may seem obvious, but we thought we should mention it.

Additional Features and Characteristics

Additional features and characteristics to look for in the best Kentucky bluegrass seed are weed resistance, drought tolerance, and sun requirements.

Knowing whether the seed contains weed killer is important because it will help you determine which weeds to watch out for. Even though many varieties of Kentucky bluegrass have a natural resistance to weed growth, other weeds like dandelions and crabgrass can still grow in your yard.

Even if your seed has weed resistance, you should still watch for dandelions and crabgrass. They may be more likely to grow in your new Kentucky bluegrass lawn than other weeds.

Kentucky Bluegrass Growing Guide

When planting Kentucky bluegrass seed, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Hardy Nature

Kentucky bluegrass is hardy in nature, but it can be easy to kill. It requires well-draining soil and needs to be watered regularly in the first month or two of growth. If you have clay soil, it can be hard for the new grass to break through that barrier.

Full Sun

Kentucky bluegrass prefers full sun, but it can grow in part shade. It should be planted in early spring or late summer so that it has the maximum amount of sunlight to grow.

The Right Sunlight, Soil, and Moisture

As we said before, Kentucky bluegrass needs a lot of sun, so you want to make sure it gets plenty, but if the soil is too dry or you leave it out too long in the heat of summer, it can die.

Preparing Your Soil

Before planting any grass seed you will want to prepare your soil. The best way to do this is to aerate the soil, which you can do with a lawn aerator or using corehole cutters. Once your soil is properly prepared, it’s time to get planting!

Seeding

Once you have selected the best Kentucky grass seed for your location, it’s time to start planting.

The best time to plant Kentucky bluegrass seed is in late spring or early fall. This gives the grass the maximum amount of time to grow and establish before winter.

When seeding your lawn, make sure to spread the seed evenly over the soil surface. This can be done with a hand broadcast or by using a drop-type spreader depending on how large your area is.

You should walk at a slow pace so that you’re not stepping on the newly seeded area. This could compact the soil and damage some of your seedlings.

Once you have planted the seed, make sure to water it daily for two weeks or until the new grass is established. If possible, you should use a light sprayer so that your lawn doesn’t get washed away.

Fertilizing

When planting Kentucky bluegrass, you may also want to fertilize your soil. This will give the grass seed a boost and help it grow stronger and faster, but be careful not to add too much fertilizer.

For best results, you should wait until after your new grass has been watered for two weeks before applying any fertilizer. When seeding in late spring or early fall, you may want to delay fertilizing until the fall when it has time to establish itself before winter.

Kentucky Bluegrass Lawn Maintenance

Now that you have a beautiful lawn, you will need to maintain it to keep it looking great.

To keep your lawn looking good all season, make sure to mow it often. You should never cut off more than one-third of the grass blade at a time, and be careful to not damage the roots by scalping.

As far as fertilizing goes, you will want to apply fertilizer in early spring and once again in late summer to keep your lawn healthy all season.

The best Kentucky bluegrass seed will have a deep, green color and it won’t produce a lot of thatch. However, you should also take some time to find out what weeds grow in your area so that you can watch out for them as your grass starts to grow.

Many varieties of Kentucky bluegrass have a natural resistance to weed growth, but you should keep an eye out for crabgrass, dandelions, and other problematic weeds. One of the best ways to control weeds is to mow your lawn regularly and try not to let your grass grow too high or get too long without cutting it. This will help reduce unwanted weed growth.

Watering

Kentucky bluegrass also needs water regularly for the first year or two after planting. Soil with a low pH level can prevent proper absorption and will kill the grass within weeks.

Kentucky Bluegrass Lawn Care Calendar

• Spring: Reapply Crabgrass preventer and fertilize if needed.
• Summer: Mow the lawn regularly  (after first mowing of season)
• Fall: Apply fertilizer (final application for season)
• Winter: Apply pre-emergent crabgrass preventer in early spring. Remove dead grass as needed.

Final Thoughts

With so many options, it can be hard to know which Kentucky bluegrass seed will give you the best lawn. However, if you consider these factors when choosing your new grass for this year’s growing season, we’re confident that you’ll have a great yard all summer long!