Plant your own field of dreams with these stadium grasses

Taking your family to a major league baseball game can cost hundreds of dollars but for $20 you can transform your lawn from a sandlot into a ballpark-like emerald green with grass mixtures used at some of the sports' most storied stadiums. Take a look at the fields in today's opening day games at Yankee Stadium, Busch Stadium and the Great American Ball Park and , if you're a fan, you can find the seed at your home and garden store.

Working with the head groundskeepers at those stadiums and three others, Scotts Miracle-Gro developed the MLB Authentic Collection using grass mixtures that thrive in the climate conditions where the stadiums are located. But because most homeowners lack their own grounds crew, Scotts made the mixtures easier to grow and maintain. "For example, all the consumer seeds have thicker coating to retain more water, so they'll still germinate if they don't get watered every day," said Keri Butler, a Scotts spokeswoman. "We ended up choosing mostly bluegrass for cool-season grass areas and ryegrass for parks closer to the warm-season grass line." Here's the lineup:

• Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals): Bluegrass


• Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies): Bluegrass


• Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox): Bluegrass


• Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds): Ryegrass/bluegrass mix


• Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs): Bluegrass


• Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees): Ryegrass/bluegrass mix

The Yankees, on the other hand, start the season with an all-bluegrass field, but make repairs with ryegrass, which germinates in three to four days instead of the two weeks needed for bluegrass. "You can't have a bald spot in your field for that long in the middle of the season," said Gallant. So the consumer mix has both grasses. Scotts has growing instructions for each seed mixture on its website.

Once your lawn takes root, you'll want to keep it looking game day ready. Most stadiums keep their grass about two inches high, but there's a quarter- to a half-inch variations among teams, says Gallant. He recommends that homeowners keep their grass two to three inches high, which promotes healthy root growth and lessens the need for watering. (You can do that with an all-star mower from our latest ratings.)

What about Yankee fans who live in the South? Well they may bleed Yankee blue, but if they plant bluegrass they'll strike out. For those fans, Gallant recommends the Bermuda grass used by the Atlanta Braves.

—Gian Trotta