The Lawn

I will admit I'm a grass-ophile. Just a bit obsessive about the lawn. A nice even textured and uniformly colored lawn is like the negative space in a painting. It's a place for the eye to rest and adds a visual continuity to buffer the colors and texures of the rest of the yard. To transform a mixture of weeds and sandy bare spots into lawn I began with about a dozen trays of St. Augustine plugs (Palmetto is my favorite). To sod an area this large would have been hugely expensive. I plugged about 10-12 inches apart and hand pulled the weeds between as the grass sent out runners and filled in. It takes about 4 months during warm weather to achieve total coverage this way. Because I hand pulled weeds, not allowing them to go to seed, these areas are vitually weed free without applying herbicides. It takes only an occasional patrol of these areas to pluck an errant weed or two to keep them this way. Every spring I edge the beds with a shovel which I maintain with a string trimmer to keep a nice edge to the beds. I use the shovel cut pieces to expand the lawn in the same way I initially establish the plugged areas. So every year the lawn has grown from a small area around the house to full coverage of the cultivated area of the property. Some basic rules for a healthy lawn:

1. Mow high and take off no more a third of the blade at a time. We mow to 4" when the grass is 6" tall. Taller grass has more surface area for photosynthesis and shades out competing weeds.

2. Water deeply and infrequently. When rain doesn't come often enough, providing an inch of water every 5-7 days will encourage a deep root system more resistant to drought. Keeping the top layer of soil dry between waterings suppresses weed germination.

3. Fertilize every 3-4 months with feed meals-20 lbs. per 1000 sq feet. I use a combination of cottonseed or soybean meal for nitrogen, corn meal for fungus control, and alfalfa pellets for trace minerals. Feed meals are better than chemical fertilizers as they are non-burning, slow release, and feed the soil as well as the plant. I vary the ratio according to the season. I use more cottonseed or soybean meal in the spring as it has a higher protein ratio and gives the grass a jump start. (Protein=nitrogen). In June, I use more corn meal which is a great natural fungicide, preventing such problems as gray leaf spot. After it gets wet, a benificial fungi called Trichoderma grows that fights harmful fungi. http://gardening.about.com/od/naturalorganiccontrol/qt/Cornmeal.htm If you've been using any -cides on the lawn it is best to apply some compost first or the Trichoderma will not develop.

In September or October alfalfa pellets are a larger portion of the ratio. Alfalfa is lower in Nitrogen and higher in Potash which encourages a strong root system to help the grass through the coming colder months.

See, I told you I was obsessive about the lawn!