Home And Garden Tips and Info

Most mistakes are made when buying seed. Cheap, inferior seed will never result in a lawn. Buy only fine, top grade seed of the true lawn grasses. Many mixtures contain coarse grasses used for hay. The particular seed you buy must be suitable to the soil, the site and the region. Many grasses today, you will find, are mixed for the soil and for the region. But you should know something about the different grasses used on lawns.

Then, when you read the names of the grasses in the mixture you buy you will know precisely what you are getting. Lawn grasses have two distinct types of root systems. One type has runner roots which branch out beneath the soil surface, sending up new tops. The other type has runner roots which creep on top of the surface and make new roots at the joints. The first type is the best for home lawns that may have garden water features such as a patio fountain; the other is used on golf putting greens.

They need constant care in feeding, watering and cutting. Kentucky Bluegrass, with runners beneath, is one of the most important lawn grasses in the home lawn mixture. It is grown over all regions except Florida, its adjacent areas and in Southern California. It needs a well-drained soil, rich in plant food and neutral to slightly alkaline. It is best sown in the fall and must be fed twice a year. Do not mow during extremely hot weather unless the lawn can be kept well watered.

When the heat subsides mowing can be resumed. Rough Stalked Bluegrass, also called Rough Meadowgrass, is generally planted in shady areas. It requires lime, frequent feeding, and watering to help it compete with the tree roots. Fescue grasses are among the most useful for the home lawn. Not particular about soil, they will often grow on poor sandy soils or lawns with outdoor fountains, wall fountains, and garden statuary where other grasses fail. Fescues are more and more being used in lawn mixtures.

However, just because a mixture has fescue doesn’t always mean that the mixture is good. There are many fescues and chief amongst them is Chewings. This variety makes good grass and a firm sod. It will stand close mowing, will tolerate some shade and is one of the best for poor soils. Creeping Red fescue makes a similar turf, spreading by underground runners. It grows fast, withstands dry conditions and hard wear, and is good on slopes.

Illahee and Alta fescue are strains of Creeping Red fescue. These are better in some respects than Creeping Red. Agrostis, or more commonly, bent grasses, are the grasses of golf putting greens. These make beautiful sod, but, as pointed out, are difficult to maintain. However one of the bents differs from the rest and this is called Colonial bent. The root runners of this grass are underneath the surface. Another variety, Astoris bent, is very similar to the Colonial.

Both grasses will stand close mowing, grow on various soils, withstand dry conditions very well and seem not to mind hot weather, large waterfalls, or garden water features. Bent grass will grow in most regions except the lower South, Florida, Southern California, and Texas. Redtop is another grass you will find listed extensively in grass mixtures but it is not a permanent grass. Sprouting fast and making a green cover in a short time, it serves to hold the soil until the more permanent grasses take hold.

In this capacity it is called a nurse grass. By itself, it makes a coarse sod, not a particularly good one and it lasts for only two years. But it will grow in very poor soil. Good grass mixtures contain only a small percentage of Redtop. Perennial ryegrass also performs as a nurse grass. It sprouts very fast, is somewhat coarse in growth and lasts for less than two years. However, ryegrass has important uses in addition to that of nurse grass.

in the mixture you buy you will know precisely what you are getting. lawn grasses have two distinct types of root systems. One type has runner roots which branch out beneath the soil surface, sending up new tops. The other type has runner roots which creep on top of the surface and make new roots at the joints. The first type is the best for home lawns that may have garden water features such as a patio fountain; the other is used on golf putting greens.

They need constant care in feeding, watering and cutting. Kentucky Bluegrass, with runners beneath, is one of the most important lawn grasses in the home lawn mixture. It is grown over all regions except Florida, its adjacent areas and in Southern California. It needs a well-drained soil, rich in plant food and neutral to slightly alkaline. It is best sown in the fall and must be fed twice a year. Do not mow during extremely hot weather unless the lawn can be kept well watered.

When the heat subsides mowing can be resumed. Rough Stalked Bluegrass, also called Rough Meadowgrass, is generally planted in shady areas. It requires lime, frequent feeding, and watering to help it compete with the tree roots. Fescue grasses are among the most useful for the home lawn. Not particular about soil, they will often grow on poor sandy soils or lawns with outdoor fountains, wall fountains, and garden statuary where other grasses fail. Fescues are more and more being used in lawn mixtures.

However, just because a mixture has fescue doesn’t always mean that the mixture is good. There are many fescues and chief amongst them is Chewings. This variety makes good grass and a firm sod. It will stand close mowing, will tolerate some shade and is one of the best for poor soils. Creeping Red fescue makes a similar turf, spreading by underground runners. It grows fast, withstands dry conditions and hard wear, and is good on slopes.

Illahee and Alta fescue are strains of Creeping Red fescue. These are better in some respects than Creeping Red. Agrostis, or more commonly, bent grasses, are the grasses of golf putting greens. These make beautiful sod, but, as pointed out, are difficult to maintain. However one of the bents differs from the rest and this is called Colonial bent. The root runners of this grass are underneath the surface. Another variety, Astoris bent, is very similar to the Colonial.

Both grasses will stand close mowing, grow on various soils, withstand dry conditions very well and seem not to mind hot weather, large waterfalls, or garden water features. Bent grass will grow in most regions except the lower South, Florida, Southern California, and Texas. Redtop is another grass you will find listed extensively in grass mixtures but it is not a permanent grass. Sprouting fast and making a green cover in a short time, it serves to hold the soil until the more permanent grasses take hold.

In this capacity it is called a nurse grass. By itself, it makes a coarse sod, not a particularly good one and it lasts for only two years. But it will grow in very poor soil. Good grass mixtures contain only a small percentage of Redtop. Perennial ryegrass also performs as a nurse grass. It sprouts very fast, is somewhat coarse in growth and lasts for less than two years. However, ryegrass has important uses in addition to that of nurse grass.

Tags: garden water features | garden water features | outdoor fountains | outdoor fountains | large waterfalls | large waterfalls | garden statuary | garden statuary | patio fountain | patio fountain | wall fountains | wall fountains | roots | grass | grass | lawns | lawns | lawn

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Furniture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.