A Plague On My Lawn

[pauln]

If you water your grass, feed it with fertilizer, treat it for bugs and weeds... you are just enabling the weaker inferior grass to live and expand in your yard. Depending on where you live, grass either grows naturally or it don't. If it does, you should only do ONE THING to it, and that is cut it. Pampering your grass will just make it lazy and stupid. Allowing the grass to compete for itself will promote a healthy strong and resistant lawn that will not need exessive care and feeding.

I have never watered my yard and have never added anything to it. Over the years it has just grown thicker and fuller and looks beautiful. I love cutting it and use an old fasioned reel type push mower, which the grass prefers. Using a heavy noisy gas mower just puts wheel lines in the yard and makes so much noise one is limited to when it is used. One can use a reel push mower at any time (like early Sunday morning) without bothering the neighbors. Power mowers also bruise the grass because their blades thrash the grass instead of actually cutting it like the rotating helical bades of the push mower do. No brown tips. A push mower is quiet and good exercise. By cutting often, the grass will have a natural advantage over any weeds.

The reel mower also leaves the clippings in the grass where they decay and provide the very best food for the yard - technically the best food for any organism is another organism of the same species because the protiens are perfectly matched. Not meant to be an argument for canibalism generally, but this is correct biochemically. Grass is canibalistic and cut grass is their best fertilizer.

Just trying to be of help,

Pauln

[oscarsear]

There are homes around here with big spreads of lawn.  It would be too much for me and I would want it perfect.  Reel mowers are the ticket.  Mine is battery augmented with a 24 volt NICAD.  It gives me about 1 hour of cut time.  But even todays regular old push reel mowers are much easier to use than the ones we used to use.  I leave my clippings behind also.  For a big spread you can get reel mower groupings that can be pulled behind a quad or a tractor.  

[pauln]

I use a Scotts Classic. They allow you to sharpen the blades by making a quick adjustment and then pulling them backwards a lap or two around the driveway. Sharp blades is wonderful. The thing is light and very easy to push. Often when I am cutting someone walking by will stop and ask about it assuming it is hard to push... I just offer to let them push it and see for themselves - always fun to see their expression when they realize it takes no more effort than to push a shopping cart.

[Tarheel]

Thanks Pauln and Oscar. Two things I didn't mention that maybe I should have. The service I have been using uses only organic materials. The other problem is I have clay type soil and water runs off before it penetrates. Hard to tell if you are over watering. I usually let nature provide the water but we have been in a significant drought here

Like that lawn mower Pauln....thanks for the picture....I am going to check into it. Have been using a 21" John Deere push power mower but you guys have me thinking.

[oldtimer]

I have clay soil also. There is a brick factory in town that makes high quality bricks from this type of clay. One trick is to water for say 30 minutes, then wait a few hours and water some more to get the moisture an inch deep into the soil. You sort of prime it the first time to be able to accept moisture instead of running off. If you have fungus it is a sure sign of either overwatering, or watering too late at night. Watering late and having high humidity in the air overnight is a sure way to encourage fungus.

Try to improve the soil with organic matter and aeration. I also use a mulching mower to help incorporate organic matter back into the soil.

[Tarheel]

Brian....a lot of folks complain about sandy soils but I would take that any day over clay. You are right about the fungus problem....thing is its so humid here the grass rarely dries. If I had some good wind that would be great but as I said I am in the woods.

Finished watering yesterdays treatment in and will mow monday. The gray leaf spot had really thinned my grass out but I can get that part back in shape. I have heard it said that if you cover your whole yard with triple ground compost over the winter that you will have a much better yard in the spring. May be a little costly....about the cost of a few Bluenote LPs[]

[oldtimer]

cover it in the winter then incorporate into the soil in early spring through aeration. Make your own compost to defray the cost. My favorite store bought is cotton bur compost, that stuff rocks.

[oldtimer]

Another thing you might consider is an alternative ground cover. Horseherb will out compete grass in the shade but is hard to find because most people consider it a weed! Virginia creeper is a vine that looks really cool in a woodland setting, just keep it from over taking the trees.

[oldbuckster]

Astro-turf, that's the answer, always green, never needs water, no cutting, no weeds............................[]