Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
A few days ago there was a lengthy discussion about how often lawns needed to
be watered. My current lawn, small monkey grass (liriope), the kind that has fine blades and grows to about 8 inches, was sprigged in the spring of 1995. I have photo links below. This grass has not had water applied since the day it was sprigged in and has never shown any signs of distress, even when we were going through the worst dry months these past 4 years here in Georgia. It is always the dark green color year around and weeds can't make their way through it. I do have to walk over it in May & June and pull up tree seedlings that sprout up through it, mostly pine, tulip popular and sycamore. This takes 1/2 day each time. That, and cutting with the lawn mower in March and again in September is the total lawn care needed for this lawn. I do apply a light application of 8-8-8 fertilizer mixed 50% with dolomite limestone just after cutting in March. The photo here is an overall view from the street http://avionclub.org/full_grass_lawn.html The view here is a close-up showing the texture of the grass and the current height of 6 inches. http://avionclub.org/full_grass_depth.html The dirt before starting this lawn was North Georgia red clay. I hauled in enough well rotted horse stable cleanings to cover the whole lawn to a depth of over 10 inches. I then used a rototiller to work it into the soil to over 12 inches deep from the original clay surface, giving me a soft loamy soil over 16 inches deep. Nothing has needed to be done since. Tom J who likes his lawn |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
"Tom J" wrote in message ... A few days ago there was a lengthy discussion about how often lawns needed to be watered. My current lawn, small monkey grass (liriope), the kind that has fine blades and grows to about 8 inches, was sprigged in the spring of 1995. I have photo links below. This grass has not had water applied since the day it was sprigged in and has never shown any signs of distress, even when we were going through the worst dry months these past 4 years here in Georgia. It is always the dark green color year around and weeds can't make their way through it. I do have to walk over it in May & June and pull up tree seedlings that sprout up through it, mostly pine, tulip popular and sycamore. This takes 1/2 day each time. That, and cutting with the lawn mower in March and again in September is the total lawn care needed for this lawn. I do apply a light application of 8-8-8 fertilizer mixed 50% with dolomite limestone just after cutting in March. The photo here is an overall view from the street http://avionclub.org/full_grass_lawn.html The view here is a close-up showing the texture of the grass and the current height of 6 inches. http://avionclub.org/full_grass_depth.html The dirt before starting this lawn was North Georgia red clay. I hauled in enough well rotted horse stable cleanings to cover the whole lawn to a depth of over 10 inches. I then used a rototiller to work it into the soil to over 12 inches deep from the original clay surface, giving me a soft loamy soil over 16 inches deep. Nothing has needed to be done since. Tom J who likes his lawn How is it for wear and tear from kids/animals? Has anyone heard of it being used in the north central Texas area? By Dallas? Is it expensive? Easily available? Sorry for the shotgun questions, just curious....I've got half an acre of bermuda grass, and an acre of...well...weeds. Trying to figure out what to do....wondering if this would work in my region. Mary |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
"Mary Marzano" wrote in message ... "Tom J" wrote in message ... The photo here is an overall view from the street http://avionclub.org/full_grass_lawn.html The view here is a close-up showing the texture of the grass and the current height of 6 inches. http://avionclub.org/full_grass_depth.html How is it for wear and tear from kids/animals? Has anyone heard of it being used in the north central Texas area? By Dallas? Is it expensive? Easily available? Sorry for the shotgun questions, just curious....I've got half an acre of bermuda grass, and an acre of...well...weeds. Trying to figure out what to do....wondering if this would work in my region. This grass is not for a lawn that has traffic on a regular basis. It will only stand light foot traffic, and because of the height it needs to maintain, is not for kids play area. The normal use of this grass is for border around other plantings. I'm sure it would be available in your area, but is very expensive ($2.49 per 2" square in my area) unless you do what I did, and that's buy a couple of square feet and pull it apart into individual plants to sprig an area at the rate of about 5 or 6 inches each way, wait for it to shoot out the underground runners in each direction and produce many more plants, and repeat until there is plenty to sprig the whole lawn. My lawn is about 60 X 80 feet, so it took me about 3 years to grow enough plants to sprig 3 inches each way, then it took 2 years for it to go weed free solid. Tom J |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
Tom J wrote:
A few days ago there was a lengthy discussion about how often lawns needed to be watered. My current lawn, small monkey grass (liriope), the kind that has fine blades and grows to about 8 inches, was sprigged in the spring of 1995. I have photo links below. This grass has not had water applied since the day it was sprigged in and has never shown any signs of distress, even when we were going through the worst dry months these past 4 years here in Georgia. It is always the dark green color year around and weeds can't make their way through it. I do have to walk over it in May & June and pull up tree seedlings that sprout up through it, mostly pine, tulip popular and sycamore. This takes 1/2 day each time. That, and cutting with the lawn mower in March and again in September is the total lawn care needed for this lawn. I do apply a light application of 8-8-8 fertilizer mixed 50% with dolomite limestone just after cutting in March. The photo here is an overall view from the street http://avionclub.org/full_grass_lawn.html The view here is a close-up showing the texture of the grass and the current height of 6 inches. http://avionclub.org/full_grass_depth.html The dirt before starting this lawn was North Georgia red clay. I hauled in enough well rotted horse stable cleanings to cover the whole lawn to a depth of over 10 inches. I then used a rototiller to work it into the soil to over 12 inches deep from the original clay surface, giving me a soft loamy soil over 16 inches deep. Nothing has needed to be done since. Tom J who likes his lawn the tips of your grass blades dont look as good as they should. I see some that dont look cut evenly. They look like they been whipped off with a weed wacker or a dull mower blade. I see tan coloring on the tips. Hows your mower blade? |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
"Die Spammer !!!!!" wrote in message ... the tips of your grass blades dont look as good as they should. I see some that dont look cut evenly. They look like they been whipped off with a weed wacker or a dull mower blade. I see tan coloring on the tips. Hows your mower blade? That's the only draw back with this grass. It has to be cut too high to use a reel mower, and the sharpest blades on rotary mowers will still leave the split ends, even with the mower set 2 inches lower in front than in back so only the front is cutting. I've tried different blades and even use a whetstone on one and had it knife sharp and the tips still split. That photo was taken at about a foot away. Standing up and looking at the grass, it looks great, especially when compared to the neighbors when it turns dry here next month! Tom J |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
In article ,
"Tom J" wrote: That's the only draw back with this grass. It has to be cut too high to use a reel mower, A Scott's reel mower can be set to 3 inches high. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
"Greg" wrote in message ... In article , "Tom J" wrote: That's the only draw back with this grass. It has to be cut too high to use a reel mower, A Scott's reel mower can be set to 3 inches high. This grass does best if not cut lower than 4 inches. I can live with the split ends 2 times a year, and still use my 35 year old rotary mower. The new grass blades grow and hide the cut ends in a month. :-) Tom J |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Watering Lawns
In article ,
"Tom J" wrote: This grass does best if not cut lower than 4 inches. Wow! 4 inches. My wife and daughter freak out if I set the mower to 2.5 inches. G |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Washer draining for watering lawns | Gardening | |||
Trees, shrubs and lawns all have different watering needs (plantman article) | Gardening | |||
Watering Lawns | Lawns | |||
Lawns & God | Gardening | |||
Snowdrops in Lawns - especially mine! | United Kingdom |