First of all, grade the area. You don't want to plant grass on flat land. This article will help with grading and this article will help with soil composition.

What are the varieties in the Lesco blend? They will be stated on the bag.

If you're concerned about an area that does not receive much sunlight, KBG is not the best choice. If this area is not a major portion of the yard, then you might plant bluegrass every else, and then transition fine fescue into that part only. Would you like to consider doing that.

After perusing millions of forums, I still quite haven't decided on a grass seed mixture for my new house's lawn.

I'm wondering why. Have you posted to other forums asking for advice? I'm really just curious because I don't understand the difficulty. Once you answer the questions above, I'm sure we can help you settle on a blend or mix or whatever. I really want to let you know your last question has nothing to do with you. My personal objective is to offer opinions or suggestions that best suit your needs and not mine. My needs and everyone's needs are different from yours. The suggestions could range from purchasing seeds from Home Depot to the Lesco blend you're thinking about to ordering individual varieties online. The final answer depends mainly on your particular desires and growing conditions.

After perusing millions of forums, I still quite haven't decided on...

We used to call this "paralysis by analysis." At this point you are probably more of an expert on seeds than most of us.

What is the area going to be used for? If it is not a football field, I would suggest a lot of things different from what you are planning. You say you have kids. Will they be playing on the entire acre or could you partition some of it off for, say, flower beds, kids toys (swing set, monkey bars, or a fort), arbors, island decks, barbecue, walking paths, statue garden, mini orchard, gazebo, rock garden, fencing, walls, hedges, or a collection of yard art (pink flamingos, gazing balls, cutouts of people bending over, etc.)? To me there is nothing less interesting than an acre of flat grass except for that acre located inside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The internet is great, but there is so much information out there now, I just get overloaded with choices. That said, I love the look and feel of KBG but would rather not water my lawn in the Summer. Really I am just looking for the best looking lawn, that is somewhat rugged, and requires normal maintenance. I don't mind if it browns a bit in the summer due to drought.

Well I should clarify some things. The land is about to be graded, just flat relatively compared to the rest of the property which is steep slopes and creek basin/flood plain, which I will not be planting near.

I have 3 young children, and 2 dogs. So it will need to take some abuse. The only part of the yard that won't get much sun, is the house's backdoor entrace to the yard. I will eventually put a paver/concrete patio there but right now I just want to grow grass. I am going to fence in about 1/4 of the yard for the kids/dogs to play in, so it will take much of the wear.

So really I am just in a toss up between 100% KBG or 50% pere. ryegrass, 50% KBG.

If I were you, I'd do 100% KBG. If you use any rye, make it a small amount of the mixture. It sprouts quickly and then tries to keep other grasses from sprouting. If you use 50% rye and 50% KBG, you'll end up with mostly rye.

I think KBG is a better choice. I think it looks better, for onw thing. It also spreads by rhizomes, so if you get a bare spot from the kids/dogs, it will fill back in. Rye tillers, but that means that new grass grows right next to an existing plant, so it fills bare spots slowly, if at all.

I live in Cuyahoga County also and have 100% kbg. I like it because it has a uniform appearance (although weeds may be more noticeable) and is a spreading grass so vole tracks and other damage will be filled in easily by the spreading nature of the grass. My neighbors on either side of me have blends that are heavy on the PR. One has multiple dogs that create a lot of pee burns, so patching those with PR seeds is a godsend due to fast germination and establishment of PR. However, if we have a cold winter, PR can decline significantly--it will need overseeding to maintain quality and density periodically. Whatever you decide, try and get the best quality seed possible. There are KBG and PR varieties that are very dark green and more disease resistant--generally for not that much more money than lesser seed found locally. Both my neighbors have used Lesco Double Eagle PR blend for overseeding and their lawns are clearly less dark than my kbg.

If you wouldn't mind, could you post your soil test results when you get them? In 2004, mine was pH 7.7, very low P, very low K. In 2007, it was pH 7.4, med P, med K after I made an applications of sulfur, P and K every fall. The alkaline soil was surprising to me as I know people in the area who apply lime as a yearly ritual without any soil testing.

That said, I love the look and feel of KBG but would rather not water my lawn in the Summer. Really I am just looking for the best looking lawn, that is somewhat rugged, and requires normal maintenance. I don't mind if it browns a bit in the summer due to drought.

Here's another 100% KBG vote, although not a very strong one. You don't have to water bluegrass during the summer except during a brutal drought. It'll go to sleep and come back when the rains resume, although during periods of complete drought (no rain at all) it should be watered very lightly every 2 weeks to keep the roots alive.

The modern cultivars of bluegrass are more drought-resistant than the old stuff, too.

The downside is that KBG takes forever to germinate and a long time to get moving after it does.

If you do want to add rye, do so at about 10% of the mix maximum. There's nothing wrong with mixing them. You get good, fast sprout from the rye, and faster establishment.

I am leaning towards buying from Lesco in Brunswick,OH. Their price seems quite comparable for sod quality seed compared to local garden centers. Your points are well taken, and I will prob. go with 100% KBG.

I will post my soil tests once I get them. I have been told my area (Columbia Station, Lorain County) has high acidity in the soil, which is why we have many Blueberry farms within a few miles of me, so we'll see.

Requirements for lawngrass:
1. lack of sunlight behind the house -
Neither kbg nor ryegrass will survive there, plus you will likely have the added nuisance of powdery mildew disease. Either get the paving done or: 1) plant fine fescue, 2) plant an ornamental groundcover that is shade tolerant, 3) just use a wood mulch, rocks, or stones in that area.

2. texture for the kids to play -
KBG will give you the nicer texture.

3. no irrigation during summer -
While kbg offers the better texture, a dormant lawn is rough, dry, and well....hard. The kids won't want to play in it. I remember I always let my backyard go dormant in summer, but I couldn't walk on it. It was too hard and prickly. When the kids played in the pool, I could wet the grass for them to run in out of the pool, so it wasn't so hard and straw-like. But, if they wanted to play, swing, wrestle, and frolic about, I couldn't wet the grass for that. It wasn't fun for them or me. I began irrigating and keeping it green in summer just for them.

4. best looking lawn -
I'm afraid to answer LOL. Everyone knows I am partial to kbg and coupled with your texture requirement, kbg is the best choice to satisfy both.

5. rugged turf w/ normal maintenance -
You want to keep in mind that not watering is not normal maintenance. There's nothing wrong with not watering and allowing the grass to go dormant. However, dormancy is protection mode, its own survival mechanism to keep itself alive for lack of moisture. It's not able to tolerate wear and tear during that time because its growth above ground is ceased for the most part. The grass during dormancy is neither wear tolerant nor repairing damage. KBG will repair itself after it emerges from dormancy, but in the meanwhile . . .

6. withstand 3 young children and 2 dogs -
Ryegrass is superior in wearability than kbg, but kbg is superior in its ability to recover and repair itself. Perhaps the kbg/ryegrass mix is a good choice. I cannot believe I said that. At any rate, I don't know about the rye's texture, so do as Morpheus suggests and make the kbg a much greater portion of your mix. Or, go with kbg alone - my recommendation.

Still wondering the varities in the Lesco blend.

I would agree that KBG is the way to go. Lesco sells a quality product used by professional turf managers and golf courses. I also agree with Bestlawn's suggestion for a fine fescue blend in the shade. Seed everywhere with the KBG. Then determine the shadow line in the back and overseed the shaded areas heavy with fine fescue and blend some fescue into the KBG growing in the sun. Bonny Dunes is a good blend of premium fine fescues available at Summitseed.com and Seedland.com. Good luck with your new home lawn and gardens.
Bill Hill

I can't agree, depending on what it is you're asking......

All of my friends, above, have recommended KBG, because you have insisted that you want a lawn.

You don't. A lawn is something (for the purposes of this discussion) that one of the ladies of the church might walk on, if she steps off of the sidewalk, on her way to the front door. Oh, my!

You want something else entirely. You want something that will withstand kids. Thank you for not saying 'active kids', because if it were active kids, geeze, it would be an even worse situation. Then you mention a dog. That makes it worse. Actually, you mention 'dogs', plural, which makes it even worse than that. Thank you, for not saying 'and by the way, the kids interact with the dogs', because then you'd have about the worst situation possible. Unless you were to add "and after that, the dogs interact with the kids, and then the kids do their best to get even, and before you know it, everybody's chasing each other, and things can get a little crazy around here...."

Geeze, thanks for not adding all of that.

You are going to want to look up 'athletic field', or look up 'golf course', but you are surely not going to want to look up 'lawn'. (Church lady. Steps off of sidewalk. Forget it).

When a two hundred pound guy grabs another two hundred pound guy, and drags him around in the dirt, on Sundays, in front of a crowd, and somebody applauds, and all these guys are running up and down the field, and they're knocking each other over, it's a little tough on the groundskeeper, and he's got to get it all repaired, by six days from today.

Or a golf course, where these guys are swiping those clubs, and a little patch (called a 'divot' gets whooshed out of there, and there's a bare spot, two hundred times a day, and the groundskeeper has to make that bare spot repair itself, quickly, it's a little difficult. But one can change the line of approach to the fairway, and while the left side is repairing, we'll all play on the right side. But yes, it's a little difficult, to make it work.

Those patches of grass (on both 'athletic fields' and 'golf courses'), difficult as they are, can repair themselves, because those patches get a little rest. A little break. A little down time.

But not your place, babe. Nope. Is it three dogs and two kids, or is it three kids, and two dogs? No down time. No rest.

Your magic word for today is "fertilizer". You might toss in 'water'. But the point is, you can't just add KBG to the yard, and figure you've got it knocked. You don't, and never will. KBG will repair itself, grow, spread out, rejuvenate, if it has a lot of fertilizer, and that does not mean a little bit of fertilizer.

You could go over there, and ask the athletic field guys, or ask the golf course guys, for advice, but after you say 'three dogs and two kids', they're liable to be asking YOU for advice. Your place will have much more wear and tear than theirs will. They will be very interested in how you solve your problems, and theirs will be rather small, in comparison.

You get the point: after some wear, the lawn needs the gumption to recuperate. It needs to have the energy, the FERTILIZER, to make that happen, and happen quickly, because more wear and tear is going to happen, coming right up, thank you, and even MORE is going to happen, right after that.

So yes, you need KBG: it will repair itself, it will spread out, it's durable. But you need even more, FERTILIZER, to keep all of that happening, non-stop. Just like a sod farm: those guys take bare ground, every year, and from seed manage to fertilize, and the shoots grow into a dark green carpet of healthy lawn. It's the fertilizer, it's not the choice of seed. Lots of fertilizer. Light doses, fairly frequently applied. Grow, baby, grow. Non stop.

You need three parts fertilizer, to one part Kentucky Blue Grass. Maybe four parts fertilizer, to one part Kentucky Blue Grass. Keep it growing, non stop, because that patch of ground is not going to get any rest.

And go ahead, go over there to the golf course....you can say, with admiration, 'two hundred golfers, with a thousand spectators, and a week later, it looks this good?'.....I got news for you: that guy is going to look at you, with admiration, and he's going to say "Did you say three dogs, and two kids, or did you say three kids, and two dogs?"

Good luck with it.

All points well taken. Philes's take is probably the most accurate, the full-time football field that will surround my house will take a beating.

The home we just moved out of had a backyard that looked like a battlefield after the Spring rains, divets everywhere and that was before the kids even ran on it. It was poorly graded and my neighbor had a storm catch basin that clogged constantly, so the lawn drained poorly. It had been overtaken with clover and was mostly fescue/ryegrass. Anyways..

Now I have a clean slate and want to do it right this time, and not try to fix a lawn that is 35 years old. Again I don't have to have the perfect lawn, I just want the best I can for the kids and it sounds like the KGB blend, with Fine Fescue in the portion of the backyard shadowed by the house. I probably will put wood chips down at the rear entrance for now, until I can get the patio built.

Thanks for all of the advice.

You have grass experts giving you advice, so I will not give advice. I will tell you about some of my experience.

The first time I planted real grass in my yard, I had some trees, and therefore, shade. I planted something called "Scott's shady area mix". It was several kinds of bluegrass and several kinds of fine fescue. It grew under my trees, and it grew on the north side of my house and fence.

After a few years, it got somewhat "patchy". The bluegrass did well in sunny areas, and took over there. The fescue did well in the shade. I think it can grow even with only indirect light (north of my house and fence). The colors were similar, so the yard looked good from a distance. Up close, the texture was different.

If you are not too "intense" about your grass, something similar might work for you. I finally decided to tear mine up and plant something different when I had to do major landscaping and surface level adjusting to merge my existing yard with that of the "house next door" that I bought to convert into a garage, shop, and garden.