Most tall fescues are pretty similar in color, but I would probably warn against using Vigoro when trying to repair Marathon 1. First of all Vigoro is a real hodge podge of cultivars, none of which do all that well in the NTEP trials. Another thing to think about is growth rate. If I'm not mistaken, most of the Marathons are dwarf types that don't grow all that fast and do better in the heat of California. Vigoro's blend will probably grow faster and not be as heat tolerant as Marathon 1.

+1 Tiemco. I have written two postings in the past two days for folks that wound up with difficult-to-treat weeds after using big-box seed mixes. It's penny-wise and pound-foolish to save a couple of dollars on seed and then wind up having to purchase specialty herbicides to kill the weeds (the herbicides cost $50-$130). Purchasing really good (sod-quality) seed lowers the follow-up work that can go on for 2-3 years. It's similar to purchasing knock-off parts to repair your car - it may work or it may backfire and cause other problems. Also consider that disease-resistance is much better in the newer cultivars, which avoids the do-it-again-and-again cycle of repairing the lawn.

This post was edited by andy10917 on Sun, Dec 9, 12 at 9:56

Agree and agree. And if you a mix dwarf type grass with anything else, you will forever regret it. I would not even mix Marathon I with Marathon II, and certainly not Marathon III. The mixed in grass will look like a weed no matter how the color compares.