Jonathan Green 10315 Black Beauty Grass Seed Mix, 25-Pound

I just like to say that I’ve been using this seed for about 78 years and I really like it. It feels good in the fall and really green in the summer. The only bad thing is it may take a few days longer to germinate than other seeds, but for the quality of seeds, I think it’s worth it.

Despite some negative reviews, I bought this Black Beauty (original) and wanted to give it a try for my back yard where 99% of grass is dead (a new lawn installed in Sep 2017 only by lawn installation company). Seeded on Saturday evening (Sep 15, 2018) and germinated on Thursday morning (Sep 20, 2018) at about a quarter inch height. The germination rate looks very high.Here is a summary. I am a complete novice in gardening and lawn caring. I hope this could be helpful for anyone who is going to buy the same product or similar products to repair their lawn.1. Location: Lansing, Michigan (Zone 5B).2. Removed dead grass and scarified (-10mm) the soil using a lawn de-thatcher one day before reseeding on Sep 14, 2018.3. Spread the grass seeds using Scotts hand held electric seed spreader (about 5 and 3/4 setting).4. After spreading the seeds, covered the seeds with lawn soil and peat moss. I tried both in the beginning and realized that peat moss can cover about 5 times more area than lawn soil so I went for peat moss for the remaining lawn. I also tried two brands of peat moss. There is one brand of Peat Moss sold in Lowes (Canadian made) which is 3 cubic feet but since it is a compressed package, it can expand to about 6 cubic feet once un-packaged. I personally liked this brand. I didn't pay attention to the thickness of applying peat moss but I think it's about a quarter inch thick till you cannot see the seeds anymore. I didn't apply too much peat moss because I was afraid that it might choke the seeds.5. Watered one hour on Saturday evening immediately after applying peat moss and lawn soil. Then watered twice a day (30 minutes each time), once at 9am and once at 3pm.6. The temperature from Seeding (Sep 15, 2018) to Germinating (Sep 20, 2018) is constant at about 60 lowest to 89 highest all the time. Sunny and hot weather from Sep 15 to Sep 18. Then thunderstorm and cloudy on Sep 19 and 20.7. The lawn repaired in my backyard gets sunshine from sunrise to sunset. Guess that's why 99% of grass died this summer.I sincerely hope my humble experience could be useful.Uploaded photos on Oct 14, 2018 to update the process of the development of the lawn.

Put in new backyard patio last spring. Purchased Black Beauty to reseed dozer damage because we live in a drought prone area. It filled in amazingly well, all things considered. Color and texture are excellent. So, this second purchase was to overseed the whole lawn since these deep roots do so well with our infrequent rain. The first picture is weeks after planting about 1/4 the recommended seed at a horrible time of year (Bone dry summer immediately after construction). The second photo is 7 weeks later in August 100-degree heat.

I planted 50 pounds of seed in a relatively large area last fall. The soil is gently sloping, facing south, and pretty sandy. We get occasional pickup traffic through the bottom portion of what is seeded. I'm in zone 7a (maybe 7b now?)The city destroyed my yard doing some "easement" work (which means they can break whatever they feel like and then fight with the homeowners and lowball repair estimates for repair work. They offered me $3,000 and I had a quote from a landscaper for $14,000. For anyone reading this, stick to your guns rather than accepting their first offer. It took over a year to get a fair resolution, but we did eventually get at least a decent compensation package). They finally finished what they were doing last summer so it was time to get my yard back. Part of the agreement I made with them was that they needed to truck in new topsoil and level everything (mine mostly got pushed into a canyon during their project). I was assured it was "nice" topsoil - immediately debunked by the crazy number of large rocks present, this spring I'm even more disappointed in the city.Fall 2023: Once the city finished laying and leveling new soil, I planted 50 pounds of this seed. I think I planted in early September or maybe late August. I applied granulated starter fertilizer at the time of planting, and another 1/2 dose about 3 weeks later. The soil was undisturbed and no plants were growing at time of planting. I broadcast the seed and gently raked into the soil. I have automatic sprinklers which ran for 13 minutes, 4 times daily for the next 3 weeks as the seed germinated and started growing. Unfortunately the first day after laying seed I discovered my sprinklers weren't turning off and found a rock had wedged inside the sprinkler valve. The sprinklers ran for at least a few hours before I realized what was going on and it probably caused some of the seed to wash down the sloped planting area. What came up was nice green blades, but in a kind of linear pattern (I think seed washed down and got stuck in the areas I may have raked a bit deeper), so I didn't get a uniform germination.Winter 2023: we had a nice warm fall and grass stayed green well into november. It still looked pretty patchy with linear bald areas present. The winter was pretty mild as well, so I was hopeful for a nice green-up this spring.Spring 2024: it's apparent as things are waking up from winter that there is significant weed pressure from my "nice new soil"; there are dozens of stands of crab grass germinating and a few other weeds that I haven't yet identified. I don't believe this weed pressure is from the grass seed. I'd say about 75% of my grass survived the winter - for whatever reason the steeper portions of the hillside had significant die-off and where the hill levels off near the bottom I'm seeing nearly 100% survival. The grass that's still hanging around is having a tough time getting going this spring as it's not greening up too well and has barely grown at all. The area that receives light truck traffic looks dead/dying.In-all, I think this is pretty good grass seed. I didn't get quite the results I wanted, but I think I have a tough grow area and problems with watering way longer than intended right after laying the seed probably created some of my patchy growth issues. I do wish the grass that's still present was taking off better this spring, however, and that's the reason for a 4-star review, rather than 5 stars.To remedy my issues, I decided to overseed this spring and hope the new seed fills in what's not looking too good. As far as I can tell, turf-type tall fescue is the gold standard for the "transition zone", especially where I live as summers tend to be blazing hot. The shortfall of most tall fescues is that they don't really spread very well. This is a relatively harsh area for grass to grow, so I think I need something that can spread and fill in damaged areas more readily. Rather than buying more of this seed, I bought a mix of bluegrass (Barvette + J-2495) and perennial ryegrass. Specifically because my yard will have to deal with occasional traffic, I wanted something down there that can handle some abuse, which drew me to planting a specific bluegrass called "Barvette", which doesn't have the best color, but germinates quickly, spreads/fills aggressively, and is very tolerant of trauma. If the new stuff gets scorched by our hot summers, I'll probably buy more Black Beauty this fall and try again.

After one week, the grass is coming in very nicely. I've used this product in the past and I continue to be impressed by it.

Have used this product for a number of years. It is always great. I would not use anything else.

Used mostly to thicken existing front and backyard.Applied to bare ground areas necessary after tree and brush removal. I’ve used this mixture before with good success.

Three stars at the moment because the box came destroyed hanging on by a thread😂 but the product was fine I ordered two bags and they are fine! Will update review once laid and sprouted