Fixing erosion / a lawn that never took, during a drought?
 

In North Carolina, we remain in severe drought conditions. I have a
newish house where the lawn never took.

Besides eroding swales I need to fix, part of the "lawn" slopes and
the top soil is eroding. I need to stop the erosion and get something
to take. No jokes about Kudzu please. :-)

My plan is to till the worst areas with a gas powered cultivator (I've
done this for other parts of my lawn, when I could still water, and
this has worked well), lay down some top soil, and use annual
ryegrass. Annual ryegrass, though it will die in one season,
germinates fast, and seems to germinate with very little water.

My questions are these:

1) Would it be a waste of money to mix-in some sort of a creeping
grass seed with the cheap annual ryegrass seed? Centipede and
bermudagrass seem to thrive here in central NC--and require little to
no water, fertilizer, or anti-weed chemicals. Once established, the
centipede and bermuda grass are so thick that they choke out the
weeds, and grows slower than other grasses (less mowing). Only
"downside" is the lawn goes dormant / brown in the winter. I'm not
running a golf course, so who cares.

Centipede and bermuda grass seed is terribly expensive. And I wonder
if it would safely lay dormant until it got enough water.

Am I throwing money down the drain, quite literally, by mixing in
expensive seed with annual ryegrass? Or should I do the ryegrass now,
then aerate / overseed in spring of 2009, when hopefully water
restrictions will be lifted.

2) Are there any good online videos or resources, or books, for
methods on stopping erosion on swales?

Mike

Fixing erosion / a lawn that never took, during a drought?
 

If you never intend to plant any other grass type, I would recommend the
Sahara version of Bermuda grass. Very hardy. But, its very hard to get rid
of. Don't seed anywhere near a garden.

--
Dave

My vote in this primary was for the lesser
of many evils...
wrote in message
...
In North Carolina, we remain in severe drought conditions. I have a
newish house where the lawn never took.

Besides eroding swales I need to fix, part of the "lawn" slopes and
the top soil is eroding. I need to stop the erosion and get something
to take. No jokes about Kudzu please. :-)

My plan is to till the worst areas with a gas powered cultivator (I've
done this for other parts of my lawn, when I could still water, and
this has worked well), lay down some top soil, and use annual
ryegrass. Annual ryegrass, though it will die in one season,
germinates fast, and seems to germinate with very little water.

My questions are these:

1) Would it be a waste of money to mix-in some sort of a creeping
grass seed with the cheap annual ryegrass seed? Centipede and
bermudagrass seem to thrive here in central NC--and require little to
no water, fertilizer, or anti-weed chemicals. Once established, the
centipede and bermuda grass are so thick that they choke out the
weeds, and grows slower than other grasses (less mowing). Only
"downside" is the lawn goes dormant / brown in the winter. I'm not
running a golf course, so who cares.

Centipede and bermuda grass seed is terribly expensive. And I wonder
if it would safely lay dormant until it got enough water.

Am I throwing money down the drain, quite literally, by mixing in
expensive seed with annual ryegrass? Or should I do the ryegrass now,
then aerate / overseed in spring of 2009, when hopefully water
restrictions will be lifted.

2) Are there any good online videos or resources, or books, for
methods on stopping erosion on swales?

Mike

Fixing erosion / a lawn that never took, during a drought?
 

On Mar 7, 1:00 pm, "Dioclese" NONE wrote:
If you never intend to plant any other grass type, I would recommend the
Sahara version of Bermuda grass. Very hardy. But, its very hard to get rid
of. Don't seed anywhere near a garden.

Thanks Dave. I've also heard Zoysia grass works well for my area--
really deep roots, little watering required (in part due to the deep
roots), crowds out most of the weeds, requires little to no
fertilizer, etc. Hopefully grows slowly like centipede (less mowing).
Sounds great to me. Don't want to be a slave to a lawn.

Still wonder about getting turf established in a drought. Fortunately,
sod is out--too expensive and requires too much water anyway.

Fixing erosion / a lawn that never took, during a drought?
 

wrote in message
...
On Mar 7, 1:00 pm, "Dioclese" NONE wrote:
If you never intend to plant any other grass type, I would recommend the
Sahara version of Bermuda grass. Very hardy. But, its very hard to get
rid
of. Don't seed anywhere near a garden.

Thanks Dave. I've also heard Zoysia grass works well for my area--
really deep roots, little watering required (in part due to the deep
roots), crowds out most of the weeds, requires little to no
fertilizer, etc. Hopefully grows slowly like centipede (less mowing).
Sounds great to me. Don't want to be a slave to a lawn.

Still wonder about getting turf established in a drought. Fortunately,
sod is out--too expensive and requires too much water anyway.

Unfortunately, at least by my own experiences, Sahara version of Bermuda
grass requires substantial wetting and maintaining that damp soil to get the
seed to germinate.

--
Dave

My vote in this primary was for the lesser
of many evils...