The traditional grass lawn remains a standby of residential landscaping. When it comes to establishing a new lawn, nothing offers the instant impact of rolling out newly farmed sod. However, other choices are available and even gaining in popularity. Synthetic turf options, sod lawn varieties, and hydroseed blends have all seen improvements over recent years to cover a wider range of applications. There are now better options for locations with difficult conditions for establishing new grass, from shade-blend hydroseed mixes, to shade-friendly grass sod with more drought-tolerant varieties.
Sod for Instant Impact
Sod varieties have improved over the years, too, from the shade varieties mentioned above to special grass turf designed for sports fields and the wear and tear involved in that use. Depending on the application, most areas can be sodded with better product options than in the past. Expertly installed sod still gives a homeowner the closest thing possible to an instant new lawn.
Realistic Synthetic Turf
Even the most difficult to reach, maintain, and establish areas can be part of a new lawn with synthetic turf. These products have seen marked improvements over the past decade or so. Synthetic lawn turf no longer looks like a spongy and obviously fake off-green carpet. A number of available options now look very much like natural grass. Some of the newer products make it difficult to tell from a short distance that the lawn is synthetic, though its uniformly green color can give it away. The options are versatile, too. Canine-specific turf, sports field turfs, turf that uses cork instead of rubber infill, and a variety of grass blade lengths and widths are all in use today.
Adaptable Hydroseed
For new lawns with irrigation, hydroseed is a good lower budget option, and seed mix choices are almost infinite. The process involves a spray truck to distribute a wet mixture of seed and fertilizer over the entire lawn area very quickly. Specialized seed mixes are available for shady areas, erosion control on slopes, wildflower meadows, pastures, fine lawns, sports fields, and just about any other application needed. If a mix for a specific requirement isn’t already available, it probably can be developed. One limitation is that the best time to apply hydroseed is in the spring of the year.
Care to finally sod or turf that area of the yard that never gets used? Need an expanded outdoor play space for the kids? Contact us and we can help find lawn solutions suitable to your unique outdoor space.
I like that you talk about how hydroseeding can offer a good, low budget option. It makes sense that hydroseeding can result in a very nice lawn with the right maintenance and upkeep. I’ll have to remember this for my home because I don’t want to have to worry about how it’ll look. Thanks for the post!
I like how you say that sod has started to get better options and basically gives you an instant lawn. My husband and I have been putting in a new retaining wall and redoing our whole yard, and now it has come time to plant things in it. It seems like using sod would quickly give us the sort of lawn we’d like.
I think I’d agree. If you want to talk more about it please let us know. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks for helping me understand that sodding is the best choice to create an instant lawn. With that in mind, I might hire an expert to do this to my lawn this weekend because I needed to make my property more appealing. We are going to have a dinner party this Sunday with some of my bosses to celebrate the success of the project that is why I have to make the house look better instantly.
Thank for your comment. Please know that its not a good idea to walk on new sod for about 20 days. Good luck on your project!
I have been looking a lot into hydroseeding for my landscape lately. It seems like a great option and something with a lot of advantages. I appreciate the advice on having it installed in the spring to get the best results.
Thanks so much for your comment. In our experience people we have worked with are not as satisfied with hydroseeding as we would have hoped. We are doing our best to manage expectations by warning people that the sod we may install has grown sometimes for a year prior to being cut so we can provide it to you. Although you will have a lawn with hydroseed in less than 4 months it won’t be completely established and may look quite sparse if viewed from, let’s say, an upstairs window looking down. Nonetheless if you have a large space and on demand irrigation the cost savings is huge.
We think people will be very happy with hydroseed if they consider how long it takes to get to awesome. If you’d like to talk more about this or anything feel free to give us a call. Our number is on our contact us page. 🙂