Luxury Fine Lawn Mix
For a front lawn nobody plays on, where you want the striped ornamental look and will do the work to keep it.
A luxury mix contains no ryegrass at all. It is built from Chewings fescue, slender creeping red fescue and usually a small percentage of browntop bent, all very fine leaved species that tolerate close mowing and produce the dense velvet surface people mean when they say a good lawn. The seed costs more, establishes more slowly, and needs a cylinder mower and real attention to look right. Grown on the wrong site or mown with a rotary at 40mm, it is a waste of money.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Lolium perenne, Festuca rubra, Poa pratensis
- Type
- Open pollinated
- Category
- Ornamental fine fescue and bent mix
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Hardy, takes Irish frost
- In Ireland
- Grows outdoors unprotected
- Germination
- 7 to 21 days at 8 to 25C
- Sowing rate
- 35g per square metre
- Position
- Full sun
- Mow and feed
- March to October
Sowing and harvest calendar for Luxury Fine Lawn Mix
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Luxury Fine Lawn Mix grass seed in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish A proper lawn seed category, including a shade mix Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
- Woodie's Widest range including two shade mixes, mixed in with feeds Dublin headquartered chain, part of Grafton Group. Cheapest per packet and the only nationwide click and collect option. Visit Woodie's
Why it suits Ireland, and where it does not
The species themselves are well suited to the climate. Fescues and browntop bent are the native fine grasses of Irish and British links turf, they grow in poor soil, and they need less feeding than ryegrass. Anyone who has walked a links course in Sligo or Wexford has seen what they can do here.
The problem is not the grass, it is the site and the winter. Fine turf wants free draining soil, full sun and air movement. The typical Irish back garden has heavy compacted subsoil left by the builders, some shade, and eight months of rain. Under those conditions a closely mown fescue lawn thins in winter and moss fills the gaps, and the fix is drainage and aeration rather than more seed.
So be honest about the site before you spend the money. On sandy or well drained ground in an open sunny position this mix will produce the best looking lawn you can grow in Ireland. On wet clay it will disappoint you every February.
Sowing and growing notes
Sow at 35g per square metre into a very carefully levelled surface, because close mowing exposes every bump and hollow that a longer cut hides. Time spent raking and firming before sowing pays back for years.
Fine fescue and bent need warmer soil than ryegrass and germinate more slowly, so aim for May, or late August into September which is the better window here. Bent seed in particular is tiny and must not be buried, so rake very lightly and firm rather than covering deeply. Germination can take three weeks.
Keep off it for the first two months, and take the first cut high before lowering the height gradually over several weeks. Dropping straight to 15mm on a young fine lawn will kill it.
Feed little and often with a low nitrogen turf feed rather than a heavy general lawn fertiliser. These grasses evolved on poor ground and rich feeding pushes out the fescue in favour of annual meadow grass.
Aerate every autumn without fail, top dress with a sandy loam, and brush it in. On an Irish site this is the difference between fine turf and a moss bed.
Common questions
Do I need a cylinder mower for a fine lawn?
To get the full effect, yes. Fine fescue and bent are bred to be cut at 10 to 25mm, and a rotary mower tears rather than cuts at that height, leaving a browned bruised finish. A cylinder mower with a rear roller cuts cleanly and gives the stripes, which are simply light reflecting off grass bent in alternate directions. If you only have a rotary, keep the blade very sharp, cut at 25mm rather than lower, and accept it will not look like a bowling green.
Can a fine lawn take any wear at all?
Very little, and this is the honest reason most Irish gardens should not have one. Fescue and bent do not recover from damage the way ryegrass does, and they have no rhizomes to speak of in the case of Chewings fescue, so worn patches stay worn until you reseed them. A short cut across it to the bins is fine. Children, a dog or a trampoline are not.
Will it survive an Irish winter without going to moss?
Only with management. Close mown fine turf on damp ground in a mild wet winter is close to ideal moss habitat, which is why golf greenkeepers spend so much of the year on drainage, aeration and top dressing. On free draining soil in full sun with autumn aeration and a potash feed it holds up well. On heavy clay in shade it will be more moss than grass by March, and a general purpose mix would have been the better buy.
More grass seed mixes to consider
General Purpose Lawn Mix
Open pollinated / Hard-wearing family mix
The right mix for nine out of ten Irish gardens, and the only sensible choice if children or a dog use the lawn.
Growing notes and stockistsShade Tolerant Lawn Mix
Open pollinated / Shade mix
For dappled shade under deciduous trees and north facing gardens, provided you accept it will never be as thick as a lawn in sun.
Growing notes and stockistsClover Lawn Mix
Open pollinated / Clover and grass pollinator mix
For anyone who wants a green lawn with less feeding, less watering and something for the bees, and does not mind it looking informal.
Growing notes and stockists