Edmonds faces the Sound. Salt air reaches the patios, the wind comes off the water, and the soils change as you move up off the beach — sandier near the shore, heavier as the hills rise toward the ferry and the bowl downtown. Salt and wind desiccate new grass on the exposed side. We seed the yards that are actually sheltered, and we replant the bluff edge with things that belong there.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98020 · 2020 population 42,690
Seed the protected lawn, not the windburn
Upper streets in the ferry towns have ordinary lawns and take ordinary seed in the fall. The west edge, the one that burns brown in a salty blow, is not a seeding problem. We stop the lawn there.
Where we seed, we keep the grade from pitching water across the new row. A gutter dumping on fresh seed is a washout in the first storm. We move that water or we do not seed that strip.
The ground in Edmonds
A yard with a view of the water is also a yard in the wind. Screens and plantings have to stand up to salt and to gusts that shred a soft shrub in one winter. Madrone, shore pine, and kinnikinnick already grow on these bluffs for a reason. We use that palette when a client wants the bank to stay put without a weekly watering schedule.
Lower down, salt film builds on pavers and railings, and a pressure-wash is maintenance, not a one-time event. Retaining work on the west-facing slopes is about holding a sandy bank, with drainage behind the wall so the hill does not load up and shove. The older neighborhoods up the hill have more conventional clay and bigger trees, so we do not treat every Edmonds lot like a beach cottage.
How we do the work
Seed fails here for three boring reasons: it lands on moss, it lands in the dry week of July, or it is a variety that wants a Midwest summer. We use mixes that can take cool, wet winters and our weak sun. The ground is opened first, by dethatching or cores, or the seed is just decoration.
Hydroseed makes sense on a bare area big enough to justify the tank, especially a cleared bench or a new grade. A small backyard is hand seeded or slit seeded. We say which one when we see the square footage, not from the truck.
What we look at first
- Bare soil versus a mat the seed cannot touch
- Sun hours, because no mix grows under a solid canopy
- How the water leaves the area
- Whether hydroseed or a slit seeder fits the gate and the size
Hydroseed, plainly
A slurry of seed, mulch, and tackifier, sprayed on bare soil. It holds on gentle grades better than dry seed. It still fails on a vertical bank, on moss, and on ground that is underwater. We look at those before we book the tank.
The mix we actually use
Perennial rye for speed and wear, fine fescues for shade and for the wet. We do not push a bluegrass lawn that wants heat we do not get. The bag is matched to the light on that yard, not to a single recipe for the whole county.
Water for the first two weeks
Rain usually does it in September. If it does not, the surface needs to stay damp, not flooded. Once the grass is up, we stretch the watering out. A seedling that is misted forever never roots.
More from this crew
- Lawn seeding across the region
- Lawn aeration in Edmonds
- Sod installation in Edmonds
- Lawn dethatching in Edmonds
- Lawn fertilization in Edmonds
- Lawn seeding in Mukilteo
- Lawn seeding in Lynnwood
- Lawn seeding in Woodway
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
