Can You Overseed Bermuda With Kentucky Bluegrass?

During the winter season, you will often find that your lawn has become a sad patch of brown. Bermuda grass is a warm season grass, and to keep your lawn looking lush, you should consider overseeding it with a cool season grass like Kentucky Bluegrass. Don't know how? Then we have the answers for you.

If you are wondering if you can overseed Bermuda with Kentucky Bluegrass, the answer is yes, you can. Bermuda is a warm season grass and Kentucky Bluegrass fares better in colder seasons. When you follow the right steps in overseeding them, they will create a beautiful lawn that is lush and green all-year round.

We know that the concept of overseeding your lawn with different season grasses can be a little overwhelming. There are different considerations to keep in mind when mixing them together. Fortunately, we have great tips for you on so please keep reading this post!

all green bermuda grass, yellow green grass, Can You Overseed Bermuda With Kentucky Bluegrass

Can You Overseed Bermuda With Kentucky Bluegrass?

Every year, some grasses turn dormant during the winter leaving your lawn looking in a sad brown state. This is because most lawns make use of warm season grasses like centipede grass, zoysia grass, or the ever popular Bermuda.

wide field full of green bermuda grass

If you are not a fan of seeing your lawn in this state, you should consider overseeding it with a cool season grass. These grasses can withstand extreme weather conditions thus allowing it to keep its beautiful green color even during the winter season.

For many homeowners, a dormant lawn during winter makes the landscape of the house look quite drab. If you have a warm season grass like Bermuda, overseeding it with cool season grass like Kentucky Bluegrass will give you a green winter lawn.

The Kentucky Bluegrass requires frequent watering and a lot of fertilizer. The additional nutrients help this grass stay strong despite the change of temperature. To overseed this grass over Bermuda, you should prepare and begin the process in early fall to give it time to adjust to the cooler months.

When mixed together, a lawn covered in both Bermuda and Kentucky Bluegrass is often called "Bluemuda". It is an active mixture of two grass variants that grows and co-exists well all-year-round. It is a high traffic, low-maintenance grass that will have few bald spots regardless of the season.

How To Overseed Kentucky Bluegrass With Bermuda

If you are looking into overseeding your Bermuda lawn with some Kentucky Bluegrass, you need to prepare the area properly. For this particular type of cool season grass, overseeding must start during early fall.

Mow and trim the Bermuda grass

Begin by mowing and trimming the Bermuda grass of your lawn as short as you can get them. A good length for your grass is to mow them to about 12 mm and this should give you a good height for overseeding. Make a few passes over your lawn to make sure that everything is level.

Fertilize the lawn

Prepare the soil by fertilizing the lawn ahead of time. This fertilizer will also add nutrients to your Bermuda grass which will help them stay healthy even if they become dormant over winter. Make sure to use fertilizer that helps build turf grass to create a healthy start for your lawn.

Begin overseeding

After finishing all the preparations, you can now start overseeding the lawn. You'll probably need about 1 1/2 lbs. of seed for every thousand square feet of lawn, so make sure that you have enough Kentucky Bluegrass seeds on hand.

Get this bag of Kentucky Bluegrass seeds on Amazon.

While a lot of people will argue that you can spread your grass seeds easily by hand, do yourself a favor and use a spreader. A hand powered spreader is easy to use and it will give you an even coverage throughout the entire area.

Check out this seed spreader on Amazon.

Water the lawn

Watering the lawn after overseeding will help drive the seeds down on the ground. It's important that the seeds get in contact with the soil so that it germinates properly. Water the lawn just enough, but don't drown it too much because you will most likely wash out the seeds from too much water.

When Should I Mow After Overseeding?

man trimming the bermuda grass using lawn mower

Mowing is an important part of maintaining your lawn. However, when you overseed your grass, it's important to let the seeds germinate and grow before you start cutting them.

After overseeding, let the lawn rest for about 2 or 3 weeks before you decide to mow the lawn. This will give the grass roots enough time to settle. When you mow the lawn after overseeding, try not to make is too short because you might cut off new growth.

Why Does Bermuda And Kentucky Bluegrass Blend Well?

a close up photo of a healthy green kentucky bluegrass

Kentucky Bluegrass and Bermuda are two different grasses that thrive in completely different seasons. At first glance, it would be quite strange to mix them together. However, these two grasses create a beautiful blend that co-exists really well even when the seasons are changing.

During spring and fall, Kentucky Bluegrass thrives really well and makes for a lush lawn. When winter comes, this grass is still growing green even in the cold. Bermuda grass, on the other hand, loves the heat. It's a grass that grows beautifully under this scorching hot weather.

A long time ago, mixing these two grasses together didn't work. However, as grasses develop and more seed varieties come out, creating Bluemuda grass isn't that hard to do.

1. Better grass genetics

The genetic profiles of both grasses are a lot different from what it was before. Kentucky Bluegrass was a slow establishing grass before, but newer profiles of this grass can now germinate and establish a lot faster.

Newer variants of Bermuda are now greener and can usually sustain their growth longer, even surviving until early fall. They can now survive longer seasons while waiting for the overseed grass to take root, which helps make a beautiful blend of grasses for your lawn.

2. More nutrient rich plant feeds

Aside from better grass profiles for the seeds, fertilizer use is now very common during lawn care maintenance. This means that the grass receives more nutrients, which gives them better chances at growth and recovery. When lawn grass is rich in nutrients, you'll have better growth all year round.

3. Using aggressive cultivation

To cultivate grass, it is important to aerate and decompact the soil to allow the roots to establish themselves better. Lawn care technology is constantly changing, which also means that it has also begun the improvement for grass cultivation.

The improved genetics of these grass varieties now have better chances of establishing and spreading quickly in the lawn because of aggressive cultivation. Together with good maintenance practices, both grass varieties grow well into perfect green lawns for your home.

What Other Grass Can I Overseed On Bermuda?

field full of green kentucky bluegrass on a sunny day

Aside from Kentucky Bluegrass, there are a variety of other grasses that you can overseed on your Bermuda. Of course, the choice will ultimately be up to you on what grass you prefer, but you should also consider the zone where you live in.

Some grasses will thrive better in areas that do not have frost. For other areas, it is best to get cool season grasses that can survive even at the height of winter. Here are some of the grass seedsyou can overseed your bermuda with.

Annual and perennial ryegrass

You can use either of the two grasses, but both cool season grasses will do well when overseeded on Bermuda. Most people prefer perennial ryegrass because it stays green longer, unless the summer heat becomes too extreme.

Fescue

For grass that stays green when Bermuda takes a rest, Fescue is a great choice. This grass lasts for most of the year and will keep your lawns looking pristine except during the summer. By this time, your Bermuda should already grow back, giving the Fescue its due time to rest.

Final Thoughts

all green bermuda grass, yellow green grass

Keep your lawn looking lush all year round by planting them together with cool and warm season grasses. It can be a bit different when it comes to maintaining them, but your lawn will reap the rewards of looking green all the time. Mixing Bermuda and Kentucky Bluegrass will give you this effect and your lawn will look pristine all the time.