How to create and maintain a durable lawn for high foot-traffic areas
If your back yard looks like mine did a few years ago, it basically becomes a mud pit in rainy times. Any grass that had the temerity to try growing was quickly trampled by children playing any number of games and sports there. But now, my back yard is green and quite healthy. Did the kids grow up and move away? No. But I learned what I needed to do to keep the grass strong and durable for that incredible amount of foot traffic.
GET KNOWLEDGE
The first thing we have to do when we want to have a durable lawn is get educated. Find out what your ‘zone’ is. Basically, the USA is divided into the north states, the south states, and a stripe of states running East-West in between the north and south states. The north zone is called the Cold zone. The south is the Warm or Hot zone. And those middle states are the transition zone. Why do you need to know what zone you live in? Because some seeds do better in specific areas.
Once you know your zone, find out what seeds work well in your area. The best, durable grass for each zone follows. The cold zone: Bluegrass and Fescue. The hot zone: Bermuda and Bahiagrass. The transition zone: any of the four mentioned as well as zoysia.
Now that you have the right seed, you need to plant it and nurture it.
PLANTING AND NURTURING
Planting grass seed is not very difficult. First you need to make sure the top inch or two of the soil is loosened and a little moist. Then scatter your seed. You might consider using a nice spreader, as this will be faster and more even.
Now that your seed is down, be sure to keep it wet. Some folks like to roll over the seed or tamp it down some, but that is not necessary if you planted on loose soil and watered right away. So, as I said, keep it moist to help it germinate in a timely fashion. Let the grass grow uncut for a few weeks, until it is about 4 inches high. Make sure, when you cut, you only cut the top 30% or so, so as to not shock the young grass too much.
Continue to water your grass regularly for those first few weeks. After you have cut it two or three times, start cutting back on how often you water and begin to water for longer- so that the moisture penetrates deeper and the roots are encouraged to go deeper to get it. Let the lawn get fully dry for a day or two at this point, helping those roots get even deeper and tougher. Now you want to water about twice a week, both times for about an hour. However, if you are like me you probably like to hand water. If that is the case, water for about 30 minutes.
If you follow these steps, you should end up with a very durable lawn that will stand almost any foot traffic. Things to keep in mind: if it has been raining and the lawn is soggy, don’t allow a lot of traffic out there. Any grass will suffer from this. Finally, trust that nature will do its thing. Grass likes to grow and seeds like to germinate. Let them do their thing.