In article , "Barry"
wrote:

If I wanted to have a green lawn during the winter months, could I spread
some type of winter rye, over my existing lawn (St Augustine)????.. Is there
such a thing as slow growing rye??, and is it worth it..
Thanks
Barry/Austin


Perennial rye is slower growing than annual. It will not be perennial
here. It costs a few dollars more a bag.

I like the idea of putting down winter rye, because in addition to the
benefit of color, it competes with weeds. To me the most important reason
actually is that it is a very cheap way to add organic matter to the yard
that is not smelly. Because, annual rye grows like crazy, it adds a lot
of OM both above ground (if you leave the clippings on the lawn) and
below ground (roots). The rye root system is pretty impressive so it will
help break the tight packing of clay soil, if that is what you have (I
do). So for $30 ($15 for rye and $15 for fertilizer) I can add literally
tons of OM on a wet weight basis and a still impressive amount on a dry
weight basis. Look up "rye green manure" to get actualy dry weight
tonnage/acre if you want exact numbers.

The downside is that you have to mow all winter long. Depending on the
weather patterm it can be a pretty aggressive competitor with summer
grasses when the grasses are breaking dormancy in spring. I have bermuda
(and weeds) in the back yard (which tolerates low mowing) so I can scalp
the lawn to give the bermuda an advantage if I need to - like this year
where it did not warm up sufficiently to kill the rye quickly.

Roland