My Experience After a Season with Sheep Fescue

Thus far, Sheep Fescue has been a great alternative to traditional grass if you live without kids or dogs. Let me state this upfront for those who prefer the TL;DR version: if you have kids or a dog, Fine Fescue isn’t what you’re looking for. Move on and consider Tall Fescue, Dog Tuff (though it has a late green-up), Blue Grama, Buffalo or some of the other turf varieties I found at TurfMasters Sod. They offer a lot of drought-tolerant turf alternatives.

Now, for those of you sticking around for the full story and probably living with cats or no kids, let’s dive in. First off, you’re like me, and we should hang out! But aside from that, let’s get into the details of Sheep Fescue.

First off, I didn’t stop at just Sheep Fescue. I’m trialing two new lawns with Fine Fescues. In my backyard, I’m testing a pure Sheep Fescue lawn (no native grasses mixed in) as shown below, and in the front yard, I’m using a mix of Sheep Fescue and Hard Fescue, which I’ll picture later in the Spring on another post.

Why Sheep and Hard Fescue?

The primary reason I chose a combination of Sheep and Hard Fescue is their winter hardiness and low water requirements. Both varieties rate their irrigation needs at just 12-15 inches of water per year, which is perfect for Colorado’s climate. It’s also touted as a grass that stays green longer than Kentucky Bluegrass (KBG) or Turf Type Tall Fescue (TTTF). That alone piqued my interest.

The primary reason I chose a combination of Sheep and Hard Fescue is their winter hardiness and low water requirements. Both varieties rate their irrigation needs at just 12-15 inches of water per year, which is perfect for Colorado’s climate. It’s also touted as a grass that stays green longer than Kentucky Bluegrass (KBG) or Turf Type Tall Fescue (TTTF). That alone piqued my interest.

The pictures I’ve seen online are almost comical. This grass barely needs water in Front Range of Colorado. I only mowed it once this season (though it was the first year, so that could change). Still, I love the idea of a grass that only requires mowing once a year. Longevity will be determined over time, of course.

Early Impressions

So far, the grass is holding up to light weekly foot traffic, but the bunches haven’t fully thickened up yet. That should happen over time. Interestingly, I spoke with a rep from the Colorado Springs Water Department, and they mentioned their Sheep Fescue died within six seasons. They didn’t give details on why or how they maintained it, so I’ll be that guinea pig! If it dies due to fungal issues, we’ll only be able to guess. Even at 6 years I’m happy re-seed if needed.

For now, Sheep Fescue is proving to be a great alternative to KBG or TTTF in terms of water usage. Fine Fescue only needs 12-15 inches of irrigation annually compared to KBG’s 40 inches. I’ve already reduced my water usage by 50% in the first year with Sheep Fescue compared to KBG. This is still under the first year seeding recommendations. We’ll see how it holds up through the winter. If it makes it past winter, then we’ll reduce water by 75%.

Also pictured above you might see I have other grasses in the lawn. I’ve also added in some other native bunch grasses to the outer edges of the lawn. I have things like Little Bluestem, Prairie Dropseed, and one non-native which is Blue Oats Grass. Eventually I will also be ripping out the other plants along the retaining wall and continue down with the Sheep Fescue, but for now I have some other projects that are pressing me for time like my crevice garden that I am building for Spring. Since Sheep Fescue can be seeded later than even KBG, I’ll hope to be doing that in the next week or so.