Question
Hello,

I'm located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
My questions is regarding my grandmother's lawn and garden.. She has an average sized back and front yard, the problem is that every spring she buyes 50 (30 lb earth bags) plus 10 bags of manure and afew large bags or moss, she dumps everything in the back yard like a huge hill and mixes it all up, then she scatters it around the yard with grass seed.. This mixture goes over the grass from last year.

I do not see anyone else in the neighbourhood doing this, we have people across the street with beautiful gardens, the grass is so green but my grandma thinks this is the way to do it, I think it just smothers the old grass.
 And we got all these brown dirt patches everywhere, when the new grass growns from the seed it just looks the same as last year with some bald patches in between (not that great)

She had this house for about 25 years, does the earth from last year evaporate or something? Where does it all go?!

What I really can't understand is why she buyes so much earth(soil) I never seen anyone in the neighbourhood buy this much, even my grandfather refuses to go and buy the earth so my mother and aunt have to do it.

It's just such a messy job and she does it every year, we are starting to dread the spring season, Is this really gardening?!

Thanks, we would appreciate any advice.
Yasmin


Answer
Hi Yasmin,

About Canadian Granny:

Getting grass seed to  grow can be tricky.
It must not be allowed to dry-out or the seedlings will die.  If there is too much watering,...the seedlings will get killed by a fungus.  So, you should only seed an area large enough to monitor the seedlings for a few-days.  Depending upon the weather,... it may take a couple of weeks to get things going good.  With just a random non-monitored broadcasting of seed, there will be seedlings drying out.  A few hours on a warm-day with high winds could kill all the sprouted seed.  This may explain the bare areas after seeding events with what should be excellent soil conditions.

Continuing to improve the top-soil by adding the amendments you mentioned is generally wise and should only be conducive to a more lush and vigorous more care-free lawn,...IF the other basics exist. Your grandmother's lawn may be an exception for unknown reasons.

You really cannot add too much of the amendments you mentioned, and are essentially limited by the fact of the added soil raising the grade. This could cause muddy run-offs onto drive-ways and patios. Most people would not want to 'stack' the root-zone excessively to cause this or impede the growth of trees.  Some trees cannot tolerate having their trunks buried too much. With an old-fashioned 'organic' vegetable garden, your grandmother's natural philosophy would guarantee a bounty harvest every year.


Perhaps the seed is not the best it could be.  With a low-germination rate, there could be bare areas for this reason alone.

Given even the basics of a mediocre top-soil, 1-3 inches of watering per-week, and lots of sun-light, almost any of the twenty or so common turf grasses should be easy to grow.  Add some extra watering and an occasional fertilizing event, and these grasses should be VERY EASY to grow.  So,...it is curious why you do not have better coverage if you have the basics and have monitored things,... I would think your grandmother's efforts should provide great success.

Maybe the soil base is too acidic. A home pH test kit will not cost so much to test the soil.  Perhaps it drains to fast, and needs more watering.  Is there lots of sun-light?  Only grasses such as TALL FESCUE are very shade tolerant,...and these will need so much sun-light per day to do well.
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Go to GOOGLE.COM and enter the
Keywords: "YOUR/LOCALE/NAME Horticulture;"  this search engine may direct you to many good lawn/garden websites for your precise geographical area.

Additionally,
Check out these seed shopping links:

About Grass seed/selection and a few good mail-order resources:

https://www.turf-seed.com/home/

http://www.scottscompany.com/lawncare/GrassSeed.cfm

http://www.lawngrass.com/states/

Interesting HYBRIDS:
http://www.turfmerchants.com/special.html
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com
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