Mark

In article ,
Janet wrote:

On 19/05/2016 07:15, Mark wrote:
I live in Blaine - Washington state. Weather here is prety much
like Devon. I joined this group awhile back and apprecitate all
the information I've read.
A question though - my lawn here is terrible and I'm hoping
someone can give some information on how to improve it. Like
Devon (I lived there for a few years) the lawn is subjected to
periods of drought during the summer - but lot's of rain the rest
of the year.

Are you sure that Washington/US lawns use the same varieties of
grass
as the ones available in UK? Differences are why US lawn care is so
different from UK.

http://lawngrass.com/states/washington.html

"Recommended Grass For Washington Lawns

Kentucky Bluegrass, Bentgrass and Fine Fescues are commonly found
throughout Washington. Turf-Type perennial Rye grasses are also
commonly used as a component of a mixture. Sometimes perennial
ryegrass is used as a stand alone lawn grass in western portions of
Washington. All of these grasses have good performance records
throughout the state.".

Unless you know what kind of grass you have (and it's a kind grown
in
UK lawns) it's unlikely any UK advice will help.

All of those except bluegrass are normal parts of UK lawn mixtures,
and even that is used on occasion. However, Devon has periods of
drought only in dry years - try Cambridge for somewhere that has
them more often. Most UK advice will be reasonably accurate.

However, the first question is WHY is it terrible? Until that has
been answered, attempting to fix the problem is a waste of time,
money and effort. If it is because you are getting anything like
drought in the summer on a regular basis, you are shafted; that
is why so many transpondians use an obscene amount of water on
their lawns. Lawns are not viable if the soil dries out badly at
any time, because all lawn grasses will die; the only ones that
can take drying out are clump-forming. Note that it's not just
the rainfall that matters, but how much hot sunlight (and hence
evaporation), which is why almost all UK 'droughts' are such jokes.
The following page may be useful:

http://www.thegrassseedstore.co.uk/l...ds-1/kentucky-
bluegrass/drou
ght-resistant-lawn-mix.html

Note the cutting height, and that even those won't take real drought.
However, that's extremely rare in the UK, though I have seen it in
Cambridge - and it was only a minor drought by the standards of most
of the world.



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Thank you so much for your replys. No, we don't have irrigation -- just
the hose pipe (wife is British). Last year was pretty intense here -
hot, dry and lot's of wild fires close by. Northwest Washington has had
pretty much the same weather as Southwest England until the last few
years - hoping it's just the El Nino effect.

Wonderful group here - now... how the heck do I grow radishes (they
always bolt before I can harvest them)?

Gratefully yours,
Mark Thompson