QuestionQUESTION: I bought my home last year. the landscape is very nice, and i would like to keep it that way. I'm new at this. I'm not sure what to do with all the dead grass on top. what is the first thing i need to do to prepare for a healthy lawn.
I also have several scrubs and i'm not sure when the best time to trim them.
Do you know of any helpful websites?
Any feed back would be great!
Thanks
Marc
ANSWER: Thanks for writing, Marc. I need to know what you mean by 'scrubs' -- sorry. Also, please tell me where you are; your zipcode will narrow it down so that I can zero in on your region. It's a big world out there, and a lot of Grass. rsvp
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QUESTION: I live in Tewksbury MA. 01876 north of boston. As far as the names of the scrubs, i'm not sure. i'll have to take some pictures. that my help me get names of some of them.
ANSWER: Marc in Mass., you have come to the right place. There's nothing like a clean slate to make my day.
Just a few things I need to know.
1. How much sun do you have on this Lawn of yours? You need SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN to grow cool-season Grass. Do you have Sun? I don't mean Sun in the morning, or Sun in the afternoon, or Sun 3/4 of the day.... SUN. Grass that BAKES in Sun. Do you have that? Any Trees? They cause Shade. Shade does not equal Sun.
2. Do you have traffic? Any children and/or BBQs? Any Dogs? Any Badminton Nets? Any Croquet Sets?
3. What kind of Grass do you have? Any clue? Bluegrass? Fescue? Rye? Zoysia? Something else? No idea?
While you are answering those questions, you should go out and get a soil sample down to have it tested. You can get some excellent analysis from your local Cooperative Extension service. In Tewksbury, Mass., Soil Tests are done by specialists at University of Massachusetts:
http://www.umass.edu/plsoils/soiltest
The Standard Soil Test with Organic Matter plus Soluble Salts is the test you want, for the low low price of around $16. Follow their sampling instructions very, very carefully; you want accurate results.
Now, most people skip this step. And you are probably tempted to do the same thing. Let me make it crystal clear that it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL for you to get your Soil tested and to do that correctly. Soil testing will SAVE YOU MONEY -- if you have Phosphorus in your Soil, you do not need to buy more Phosphorus; if you are low in Phosphorus, you don't want to buy a high Nitrogen fertilizer to get it. You can't tell what's in your Soil by looking at it any more than you can figure out what's in a TV by watching it. And remember, Great Soil is at the bottom of a Great Lawn.
You can cut corners. But why do that? The corners are not THAT much trouble. They are steps. Besides, there's nothing like having people pull up to your house and gaze at the lawn like it was the high point of the Scenic Route.
Please address Questions 1, 2 and 3 asap so that we can move on to your next step. Meantime, if you don't have a Lawnmower and a Spreader, it's time to pick those up.
Thanks for writing. I await your answers.
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QUESTION: Hello,
Q1A the front yard gets SUN for most of the day. Were as the back yard only gets sun for a short time. My neighbors behind the back yard have lots of pine/maple trees.
Q2A front yard is not high traffic. back yard is higher traffic with 2 children playing back there. no pets.
Q3A I have no idea what kind of grass but it was very thick last year.
I also would like to mention i have a sprinkler system, but i'm not quite sure how often to water and for how long.
thanks again
Answer'Sun for only a short time' plus 'traffic' adds up to only one thing: Perennial Rye/Tall Fescue blend. Rye for Traffic, Fescue for Shade.
Your front yard is pure heaven for any Grass you want to grow. But for convenience and simplicity, you can opt to put your personal Rye/Fescue blend in the back AND the front. For a post-card per-fect Lawn, you have the option of growing instead some serious Kentucky Bluegrass. (Note that even the Sunniest locales become high maintenance hobbies when you plant them with Bluegrass. You can, but you don't have to, plant KBG.)
See, while children are a challenge when it comes to Lawn Care (running all over the Grass is in their DNA), your biggest problem isn't the traffic. It's the Shade. Grass cannot THRIVE in 'VERY SHADY' light. Grass is a full Sun perennial. However, some Grass will tolerate less Sun than others. And they test for that at the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program.
NTEP studied Tall Fescues submitted by International Seeds and Burlingham Seeds. Varieties 慖S TF-138? ?152? ?161?and 'Turbo' swept the NTEP Oscars. We'll know more when ALL the data is released which of those performed best in their Shade and Traffic tests, but for now, the 6.5 ratings tie of those 4 varieties was the highest of all Fescue cultivars. Ryegrass, famous for its traffic wear and lightning fast germination rate, was notable for 6.6 ratings snapped up by varieties called 慉PR 1648?and 慡ilver Dollar? Compare these to the Ryegrass worst-in-show 'Reveille', a dismal performer at 2.7 (on a scale of 1-10).
Bluegrasses that would bask best in the Full Sun of your traffic-free front Lawn: the 6.2 rated 'BD-99203' and 'Diva'.
You can read the reports here:
www.ntep.org/states/co1/co1_fortcollins.htm
Tracking down these tested Grasses may be tricky. Fear not. There抯 a simpler solution: Seedland.com mixes up its proprietary blend of Grasses for the Shade. You might try them, you might like them:
www.seedland.com
When you put these seeds down a few weeks from now, sow light, rather than thick, to give individual blades the least competition and the most light. Water carefully - watering is where most homeowners mess up, by the way -- and when you finally mow your Lawn 3-4 weeks later, keep it high; longer blades photosynthesize better, which makes the Grass Greener and Healthier.
I hope I do not need to address the dangers of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to children and dogs. Or the grownups who love them. Now, when it comes to those children of yours...We can assume children come with friends and pets and swing sets and picnic tables.
This is great! It抯 just not great for your Grass.
Either you are going to have to mark their territory or you抮e going to have to accept the plain and simple truth that it抯 impossible to grow Grass perfectly back there (remember that old Perry Como song, about the shore running to the tide, It's Impossible? Marc, it is impossible to grow thick Grass under trees without light while children are running over it. Im-Pos-Si-Ble.)
First thing that comes to mind is that you will be nicely watering your shade-tolerant grass and along come those little feet again, this time bare and running through the Lawn screeching as they jump over the sprinkler. Forget it.
Now, let抯 get to your question about your expensive built in sprinkler system. I have some bad news for you. Automatic sprinkler systems are not good for Grass. In fact, they have ruined more Lawns in this country than gophers and grubs combined. Reason being, people run them constantly, in the dark at the wrong time of day, whether it rains or it doesn抰, just because they have them. They set up perfect conditions for Fungus, many of which will wipe out your entire Lawn in a few days if conditions are ideal.
Your sprinkler system is GREAT to have on hand when you put down your Seed. The last thing you need is to prepare your Soil and then end up with half-germinated Seed that抯 dead from drought. So go ahead and run it to your heart抯 content, depending on the humidity and heat, just to keep the Soil moist early in the process.
After that, don抰 run it more than once or twice a week. In fact, the Fescue part of your Lawn is so drought-tolerant, you can probably run it once a week once it抯 up and running and then mow it religiously and get the picture postcard view we all know and love.
But because you have Shade in the back, I would be very careful about how much you run that sprinkler. Once a week might be too much. The water that doesn抰 evaporate before dusk becomes the breeding ground for Fungus spores that can move in and set up colonies in just a few hours; by morning, it抯 a done deal. And your Grass is done.
So keep that in mind. The same old rule, Water long and deep only when needed, applies here. Stick to it.
Trust me, your kids will do plenty of damage in the back all on their own. Which is a GOOD thing, right?
Really, you don't want to be one of those houses with a sign outside that says "Keep Off The Grass". You WANT children to come over to play. You WANT the dog to run around and enjoy its dog-self. You want the kids running through the sprinkler and screaming. It's all part of a great and wonderful life.
Grass?
Who cares.
