Ah, yes – grass. It takes a while to grow, but please don’t watch it… you may be in for a surprise because it takes longer to grow than paint does to dry! Either way, understanding what to expect when you plant grass to find out how long it takes to grow is a very important part of lawn maintenance that many people need to know and understand. There are many people who decide to use rolled turf or sod that’s all ready to go (and some even buy astroturf or other fake grasses), but some of the best lawns are made using grass seed. A lot of people don’t realize the work that goes into planting and growing a lush full lawn, but we’re going to give you some tips and help you figure out how long it takes.

Age Can Determine Success Score

That sounds like a catchy sales phrase, but it’s a true one. In the terms of growing a successful lawn, when you go to plant see, you want to make sure you check how old the bag is. If there are some that have been sitting on the shelf, you’ll find that some have been there a long time, and some that are newer, this date is often the “packaged” or “bagged by” date. By choosing a newer seed, you’ll have a lot less duds, and more seeds will sprout. Plus, you’ll get more for your money’s worth. You can actually test this though, by starting a seed yourself out of the bag. You can use a damp paper towel inside of a Zip Loc® baggie, and then you’ll notice sproutlings after a while. This means the seeds aren’t expired and are okay so most of the seeds should sprout. You have to also make sure you store grass seed a certain way. If you store it incorrectly, you’ll have expired seeds sooner and save you more in the long run.

Choose the Right Kind of Seeds

Another thing you have to think about it the type of seeds that you are planting. You can’t just have a bunch of summer grasses in your yard. This will cause it to die out in the fall, and then leave you with a typical mess in the winter months. By mixing cool-climate grass seeds with your summer grasses, you can have a lawn all year around. You also need the right type of grass for your soil and climate condition in general. If you live in a tropical climate, you need grasses that will hold up with all that moisture and heat. The germination process though is about the same with both seasons and types of seeds. We can’t stress enough though, that when you store them that you do it properly! You have to make sure your yard’s temp is about 55 degrees, which means that the outside temp has been about a consistent 65-70 degrees. These are the best temps and weather that is essential for a good grass-growing season.

Planting and Starting the Lawn

When you plant your seeds, there are a lot of things to think about along with the temperature. You don’t want to plant your grass seeds when the ground is either too wet, nor when it’s too dry. You may want to test this with a long screwdriver. If you can stab it into the ground and move it around a little bit easily, but your ground isn’t completely muddy, then you are good to go. Another thing to consider, is that if you plant your grass, you don’t want to plant it too deep, so you don’t want to actually bury your grass seed. While you’re planting, a good sweet spot is about a quarter inch into the ground. This is why a lot of people simply spread and rake the soil with starter lawn fertilizer, and then plant their grass seed. When you plant the grass seed, you can literally just use a spreader to drop it onto the ground, have a device (even the back of a rake or shovel will work) to pat the grass seed down, then you can top it with an extreme thin layer of compost, or even hay as some people have been known to do. Sprinkling hay lightly over the seeds will keep the moisture in the ground, but the dead hay or compost will biodegrade as time progresses and your lawn grows. You never want to cover it too heavily, or your seeds won’t grow.

The Waiting Game

Okay, so you took all the precautions, you’ve seeded your lawn, watered it, fed it, taken care of it, now’s the biggest and most important step – wait patiently. Grass can take longer or shorter times to start growing depending on your climate, as well as the type of grass that it is, and the age of the seeds. Of course, this means you have to water it properly too (not too much or too little), since naturally, this means you have done what you can to take care of it. Some grasses though such as Ryegrass and fescue are some of the top selling types of grass. However, Ryegrass and rough bluegrass have an average germination period between 5-10 days. Fescue can take anywhere from 7-14 days to grow though. Some grasses may take longer than 30 days though. 

Conclusion

That brings us to our question of how long it takes for grass seed to go. What’s important when it comes to planting your seed, you need to take special precautions, but when you do it right, your grass should prove growth into a beautifully green, lush lawn. You want to plant your seed during a time of year that will keep it from burning in the summer heat, and it should be warm enough that it doesn’t die out too early. As mentioned above, you also have to make sure you get the right grass seed, and with all of the different varieties, just shop around and make sure you get a bag that you can make sure grows. Happy growing!