Grass Seed & Repair
Quick Answer
Grass seed is the one product in the yard with a legally required disclosure on the bag, and almost nobody reads it. The seed label states purity, germination percentage and — most usefully — weed seed and other crop content. Two bags at very different prices often differ mostly in how much of the bag is actually viable seed of the species named on the front.
Species choice comes before brand. A bag suited to the wrong climate will establish and then fail, regardless of quality.
Which Type Do You Need?
- Cool-season lawn, want durability and drought tolerance → tall fescue
- Cool-season lawn, want self-repair and fine texture → Kentucky bluegrass
- Need cover fast → perennial ryegrass
- Warm-season lawn from seed → Bermuda and Zoysia
- Fixing patches rather than seeding a lawn → patch repair kits
Our Top Picks
Reviews in progress
The Types, Briefly
Kentucky Bluegrass
Spreads by rhizomes and repairs itself. Slow to establish, fine texture.
Tall Fescue
Deep-rooted, drought-tolerant, bunch-forming. The transition-zone workhorse.
Perennial Ryegrass
Germinates fastest of the common species. The standard overseeding choice.
Bermuda Grass Seed
Warm-season, high wear tolerance, seeded as soil warms in late spring.
Zoysia Seed
Dense and slow. Patience during establishment is the whole story.
Sun & Shade Mixes
Blends hedging against variable light. Check what is actually in the bag.
Patch Repair Kits
Seed, mulch and often starter fertiliser in one. Convenience over control.
How to Choose Grass Seed
Turn the bag around and read the seed label before comparing anything on the front. It gives purity — the percentage that is the named seed — and germination, the percentage that will actually grow. Multiply the two and you have pure live seed, the only honest basis for comparing bags. The label also discloses weed seed and other crop, and 'other crop' is the line worth checking, because it can include species you would not deliberately plant. A cheap bag with low purity and a meaningful weed-seed fraction is expensive twice: once in seed that never grows, and again in the weeds you bought.
| Specification | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Purity percentage | How much of the bag is the species named on the front. The rest is inert matter, other crop or weed seed. |
| Germination percentage | How much of that seed will actually grow, under test conditions. Falls with age, which is why the test date matters. |
| Pure live seed | Purity multiplied by germination. The single figure that makes two bags comparable. |
| Weed seed and other crop | Disclosed by law. 'Other crop' can include grasses you would treat as weeds in a lawn. |
| Test date | Germination declines in storage. An old test date on a bag sold this season is worth noticing. |
| Cultivar names | Named cultivars have been trialled and have published performance data. 'Tall fescue blend' with no names has not. |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
What to ignore
- — Coatings that add weight to the bag — you are paying for coating by the pound where the label discloses it as inert matter
- — Front-of-bag claims about drought or shade that the species itself does not support
- — Coverage figures, which assume a seeding rate that may not match your situation
Common mistakes
- — Buying seed before establishing the species suited to your climate
- — Comparing bags on price per pound rather than per pound of pure live seed
- — Seeding at the wrong end of the year — cool-season and warm-season grasses seed roughly six months apart
- — Applying a pre-emergent anywhere near the seeding window, which stops grass seed germinating just as effectively as it stops weeds