On Thu, 24 May 2007 09:40:53 CST, Jme
wrote:
My grass (~18 moth old sod) was a bit of a mess this Spring, so I had
it dethached and had a few days after that weed and feed put down.
That was about 5-6 days ago. The grass is much improved, and I see
that there is a lot of grass with he seeds at the top now. Should I
cut the grass in 3 days, or should I wait until most of those seeds
look to be gone?
Feel free to start mowing at any time.
Also, I keep getting different recommendations for watering. Should I
give a good watering every day, or water an inch a week? I want the
grass to look very full and green, and I understand about root growth
(less water for better roots), but my main concern is the full green
look.
An inch a week will make for healthier roots that will go deeper and
keep the grass greener. A bit every day makes the roots stay close to
the surface and they'll dry out in the first of sunshine.
I live in the Midwest, Southeastern Wisconsin, and underneath my sod
is a very poor quality dirt, mostly clay.
Clay holds water nicely. The once a week (only bother if it hasn't
rained an inch during that week) watering is best. Southeastern
Wisconsin should get a lot of rain storms. No problem.
And mow the stuff as near to every 5 days as possible. Most people do
once a week, but more often is better. Every 3 days would probably be
ideal, but you'd have to be the groundskeeper at a golf course working
on the greens to do that....
Try to ignore the 'common wisdom' you'll hear from your neighbors and
relatives. They're mostly repeating stuff they've heard that sounds
good to them. Like the idea that you shouldn't mow when it's been dry
out for quite a while and should let the grass grow taller. Wrong.
Under that one, when you do finally mow again, the grass will have put
so much energy into growing long that you'll be shocking it and may be
pulling so hard with the mower blade it'll damage the roots. (Yes,
mower blades pull as well as cut.)
The idea that all cut grass should be caught up in bags or trailers
and then kept away from the grass always seemed strange to me. I
don't have anything to back it up, but I think that's nonsense. Let
it fall where it's been growing. Don't worry about the (what I think
is) mythical thatch problem. The fallen grass (as long as you've been
mowing frequently) will fall onto the growing grass, fall between the
leaves of the grass and help fertilize it and shade the roots,
eventually disintegrating into a better soil. And I guess I do have
something to back it up. My beautiful velvet lawn was cut and kept
that way.
Don't bother to feed the lawn often. At most twice a year. Better
once a year. Okay to never do it in many places.
When I was in charge of our lawn at the old house, we had a velvety
yard. Our neighbors got a lawn service because they couldn't stand
the look of theirs next to ours. And all I did was water the inch a
week during dry spells (only during dry spells) and mow often. Very
often. I only once used fertilizer on it and never weed killer.
Healthy grass will crowd weeds right out. Then my husband took over
and did the more common once a week mowing and started weed and feed
two to three times a year, just like the rest of the neighborhood. It
still looked okay, but no longer was velvety. And the weeds started
being able to lift their heads above the grass.
One reason not to weed and feed is that every bit of that stuff goes
into the ground and from the ground into the ground water or runs off
into the drainage system.
If you have an in ground pond, you _don't_ want that stuff near your
pond. Unless you like the blanket of green algae and ishy weed stuff
on most of the top of it.
If you do have an in ground pond, remember to plant a bunch of stuff
as a barrier around it, so that things like lawn chemicals (if you
insist on using them) will be filtered or stopped before reaching the
pond.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
You're welcome. You probably won't follow it. Nobody does. They let
all that common wisdom wash over and into them and have ordinary lawns
that cost them money for weed and feed, but let them use only one day
a week for mowing.
--
r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.
http://www.visi.com/~cyli