Because it’s a cool-season grass, fescue must be planted in spring or fall. Lots of diehard lawn lovers plant it twice a year and that’s not a bad idea, but fall planting tends to yield better results. Planting from seed is a simple, straightforward, and relatively inexpensive process that requires little effort.

It’s best to use a blend of seeds that contains only tall fescues, or one that contains tall fescues blended with fine fescues, Kentucky bluegrass, or even ryegrass in varying percentages, rather than rely on a single variety. I’ve tried dozens of blends over the years, and while I’ve seen subtle differences in them, I’ve had the best success with a blend known as Five Star, which contains five of the top performers in national turf trials.

To prepare your lawn for seeding, begin by cleaning up any sticks, leaves, or other debris, then mow the lawn one notch lower than usual. In areas where the existing grass is really thin or there’s bare soil, use a metal rake to gently loosen the soil. Sow the seed with a drop or broadcast spreader (or by hand if the area is small), being careful not to get seed in adjacent flower beds. Consider saving a pound or two of seed to fill in any spots you might have missed – they’ll be obvious after the grass is up and growing.

Fescue grows best in shade or dappled light, and tends to struggle in sunny locations, where bermuda grass or zoysia thrive. A little morning sun is fine, and yes, you can grow fescue in full sun, but it’ll likely struggle and to survive it’ll require a tremendous amount of water.

Fescue seed will germinate without being covered with soil. But a light covering (just a ¼”) will help keep it moist and prevent birds from feasting on the seeds. That’s where topdressings come in, which are composted products that can be applied with a broadcast spreader after the seed is sown. Examples include Espoma Raised Bed Mix and Nature’s Blend, but topsoil or mushroom compost will work too.

If your soil is extremely compacted, then aerating before seeding may be a good idea. An aerating machine pulls plugs from the lawn and allows water, nutrients, and oxygen to penetrate deep into the soil. Machines are available for rent or you can hire a lawn service to do the job. But I should point out that because the seed falls into the holes made by the machine, your lawn may resemble a really bad hair-transplant procedure. 

The most important consideration when getting seed to germinate is even moisture, because dry seed simply will not sprout. Typically, that means watering every day (perhaps twice a day) just enough to keep the top ¼-inch or so of soil moist. You should see germination within seven to ten days. At that point, you can water every other day until the grass is two-inches tall, then water once a week.

All the nutrients fescue needs for germination are contained in the embryo of the seed. But once the fescue is up and growing -- within a week to ten days -- you’ll need to give the emerging grass a fertilizer boost. The choices among fertilizers are many, and include both natural products (Milorganite, Houactinite) and synthetics (15-5-10 + iron). One of the key advantages to using natural products is that they aren’t very water soluble, meaning their nutrients won’t be released for a week to ten days, just when the grass is up and growing. As a result, you can sow the seed and fertilize at the same time rather than wait for the seed to germinate.

Admiring your fescue as it continues to grow is perfectly understandable, but it’s best to maintain it at a height of three to four inches. Letting it grow much taller than that and then removing more than one-third of the leaf blades may stress it out beyond the point of recovery.