Ryegrass: a Lawn Friend or Foe?

Ryegrass is good for a temporary lawn. Soils around the new developments which are too poor to grow any other grass will grow perennial rye. Here, by repeated sowings in spring and in fall, a lawn of fairly good turf can be maintained for a few years until the surface has accumulated some organic matter to support the better grasses. Ryegrass also fits into another scheme. When the weather becomes too warm to sow the regular lawn grasses and a cover is needed for the summer, especially where there are children, the area can be cheaply covered by sowing ryegrass.

It will furnish a green cover in ten days, a fairly good lawn in a month. Most grass mixtures contain a percentage of ryegrass; the better mixtures have a very small percentage included. Some grass experts prefer to leave it out altogether. They believe that it retards the growth of the better grass-and there is something to that. Except for making a temporary lawn, do not make a lawn of one grass. Get a mixture.

If the soil is in good shape the mixture may contain a good percentage of Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, and one of the bents. If the soil is poor the mixture will contain more fescue and a nurse grass. Mixtures containing timothy and orchard grasses should be passed up. You will find these in the cheaper mixtures. They are agricultural grasses, grow in bunches, do not spread as do the lawn grasses and die out under close mowing.

Most grass mixtures contain a percentage of ryegrass; the better mixtures have a very small percentage included. Some grass experts prefer to leave it out altogether. They believe that it retards the growth of the better grass.