Question
We planted a grass called No Mow Grass last year.  It came up very spotty and is full of weeds.  Also some of it died through the winter.  We're thinking of redoing the whole yard.  How do we get rid of the weeds and old grass?  Is Round up our answer?  I'm worried about our trees & flowers.  Any suggestions?  Thanks

Answer
Discover Magazine ran an article last summer on researchers at the Salk Institute working to invent a No-Mow Grass.  Their work involves fiddling with plant hormones to create a lawn made of midgets -- the bonsai version of a blade of Grass.  But this Grass is not invented yet.

But the trademark-registered No Mow Grass label is owned by a company that promises a low maintenance, undemanding Lawn today.  Described as a Fine Fescue, a company in California that sells it as sod, Pacific Sod, declares this is a 'Unique Fescue-type grass grown in a method exclusive to Pacific Sod.'  They describe it as 'A bunching, fine textured grass with a distinctive look and feel'.  No Mow Grass, they says, is 'Excellent for areas that are difficult to mow or water often. Ideal for planting among decorative landscaping.'

Guess it didn't work out that way, unfortunately.  The old Gardener's Saying 'Caveat emptor' -- buyer beware -- still applies to Gardeners everywhere.

To start fresh and new: Solarize.

NEVER use Roundup.  It's bad, bad, bad.  Don't use it for ANYTHING.  Don't buy it, don't think about it, don't talk about it.

Solarizing is a no fuss, earth-friendly way of wiping out EVERYTHING that's growing in your lawn.  It's borderline organic because after all it does eliminate all the insects and microbes near the soil surface.  But it takes all weed seeds as well, as well as perennial weedy plants and all kinds of little ones that have yet to grow.

How to Solarize:  First, you need patience.  If you don't have patience, write me back and I'll tell you where to get that.  Because you need it, badly.  And you need it to do this especially.  You need to do this right.  And when you are done, you will have a beautiful, clean slate, with no damage to your trees and flowers, even better there will be no weird conditions coming down on the neighborhood children and pets the way it's happening with the FEMA trailers.  Roundup is like Fermaldehyde.  Is legal, and it will kill you -- yes, this innocent liquid will KILL you, and QUICKLY -- if you use it wrong.  People DIE from using it.  So it's not something you should be buying.

Back to your Solarizing.  Here's what you should do:

Go down to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up your equipment: (1) several large bags of aged manure and (2) several of their biggest, cheapest sheets of clear plastic (found in the painting section).  If you know a chicken farm somewhere in the area, get some chicken manure.  Horses, get horse manure.  Cows, etc.  Alfalfa meal is available at farm equipment suppliers and is worth its weight in gold.  But it's optional.

When you get home, mow down all the weeds, as close to the ground as you can get, and till your plot.

Next, water your former lawn.  Soak it.  You should be able to go swimming in this plot - the soil underground should be totally wet to a depth of 2-3 feet.

Now open the bags of manure and/or alfalfa meal and sprinkle them evenly all over your plot of land.  Water again and thoroughly soak the manure.

Finally, take some of that plastic sheeting, and cover the plot with clear plastic and mulch.  Seal around the edges -- you want the temperature under that plastic to get HOTTER THAN H#%L!

Wait 5 or 6 weeks or, if you are really feeling ambitious, the entire summer.  Then remove the plastic and ROUGHLY rototill.  You are now ready to sow or sod a new lawn.

The concept here, Eileen, is to superheat everything underneath the plastic.  The moisture generates growth and germination of all the weed seeds that are in there and that would protect themselves by remaining dormant if they were dry.  The high-Nitrogen manure and alfalfa produce
toxins that concentrate under the plastic and boost the power of the solar heat by several times - this concept was tested and although the explanation is still a theory, the practice worked and is now standard.

Everything growing under the plastic will be history.  In the fall, you will be ready to spread lime, and sow on first rate soil with new grass seed.

WARNING: Do not till the plot after you solarize; this could bring up deeply buried, viable weed seeds just waiting to germinate.

You can purchase top grass seed from Seedland on the internet (www.seedland.com).

You can read one California farmer's experience with Soil Solarization (news.ucanr.org/newsstorymain.cfm?story=699) or the Montana State University Weed Science tip sheet on solarizing soil (weeds.montana.edu/urban/solarization.htm).

If you finish up in 5 or 6 weeks, make sure you have some Clover, Ryegrass and/or Alfalfa seed ready to sprinkle on your barren soil.  You don't want weeds to take over this area, and planting those Green Manures will get your soil back to its old, nourishing self.

One last word on your No Mow Grass/Fine Fescue: The Cornell Coop Extension Fine Fescue fact sheet (http://www.ccenassau.org/hort/fact_sheets/c109_fine_fescues_dec01.pdf) notes, ''Most of the fine fescues currently for use in home lawns are strains of Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)."

Fine Fescue is generally an undemanding, lower maintenance Grass.  But it needs attention like everything else.  It's not the kind of thing you can put on autopilot and expect to take care of itself.  It is NOT a No Mow Grass!

The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension posts a page on 'Fine Leaf Fescues for Low Maintenance Sites' (http://iaa.umd.edu/umturf/Cultural/ESTABLISH&MAINTAIN_FINE_LE.html): 'Among cool-season grasses, fescue species are the most promising grasses for use as low maintenance turfs...Compared to Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue requires less water, fertilizer, and pesticide inputs to maintain a good quality groundcover.'

This is also a grass for dappled sun: 'Chewings fescue and creeping red fescues do not perform well in full sun in Maryland.'  If you grew your NMG in full sun, you will be running in circles if you select ANOTHER 'low maintenance' Fine Fescue Grass for the same site.  Let me know your situation and location and I'll be able to help you more. Possibly, Zoysia is an option you should think about. But I need to know more about your location and your soil and sun first.  Thanks for writing.