2yrs trying to save this damn lawn, help!
- Thread starter angiew144
- Start date
the lawnsman
lawn and garden super freak
you gotta let it dry out, too.
too wet doesn't help.
too wet doesn't help.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
- Messages
- 6,997
- Reaction score
- 5,130
- Location
- Birmingham, AL USA
- Hardiness Zone
- 8a
- Country
Ok, so besides your N-P-K the equally Other Big Three is C-0-H.
Carbon is often given as the humates or humicaterials.
Oxygen and Hydrogen outside of water and pH have contexts that will also elevate your game.
Carbon is often given as the humates or humicaterials.
Oxygen and Hydrogen outside of water and pH have contexts that will also elevate your game.
Last edited:
Greetings, welcome to the Forums.
Don't go plastic, just stop using fungicides and let the soil heal itself. If you chem-bomb the lawn with chemicals for one disease, you've just left a traumatic vacuum in the soil's biota, now available for another disease to move in and take over.
If your lawn area remains too wet for your current grass, consider Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea cvs.) or Sedge (Carex spp.). Such lawn species will have a different feel and texture, but can be very attractive.
Also don't aim for a monoculture of only grass. Patches of Clover (Trifolium), Lotus, buttercup (Ranunculus), Veronica, Lawn Daisy (Bellis perennis) etc, will all add beauty and diversified resilience to your lawn. Plant some Crocus corms as well, for a beautiful Spring display.
Hi @Marck , thanks for the ideas. I'm also looking into mixing flowers with the grass.
What would the strategy to integrate these new plants be? I suppose this is also a matter of taste. But is there a better way to do it, in patches of a single variety or sprinkle everything and mix it all together? Will some plants overtake the others and slowly kill them or can they thrive together? The evolution of the whole would also be interesting to follow in time.
And another question I have is what happens when mowing the lawn? The remaining grass will grow and require regular trimming. Should one switch to a very high cut to avoid cutting the flowers? I don't know what happens when you regularly cut through the flowering plants ... would this eventually kill them?
What would the strategy to integrate these new plants be? I suppose this is also a matter of taste. But is there a better way to do it, in patches of a single variety or sprinkle everything and mix it all together? Will some plants overtake the others and slowly kill them or can they thrive together? The evolution of the whole would also be interesting to follow in time.
And another question I have is what happens when mowing the lawn? The remaining grass will grow and require regular trimming. Should one switch to a very high cut to avoid cutting the flowers? I don't know what happens when you regularly cut through the flowering plants ... would this eventually kill them?
The exact blend of species in a multi-species lawn and their proportions. Will vary greatly due to 1) species present and nearby, 2) overall climate (temperature, precipitation), 3) local 'microclimates (sun or shade, irrigation or not, soil conditions).
Some such lawns begin as 'happy' accidents when various local low-growing plants move into the lawn naturally.
Instead of starting a 'weed war', the turfmaster just allows these newcomers to grow where they are best adapted.
Of course, one can 'stack the deck' by introducing various wildflower seeds or starts to a lawn. This can be done when the lawn is first established or later. Note that actually trying to start seeds on an established lawn can be difficult. It's often best to take advantage of natural bare spots and then lightly cultivate and mulch the ground to start seedlings.
A multi-species or tapestry lawn can be mowed. The act of mowing will select for low-growing species amenable to mowing.
A no-mow multi-species lawn would soon be a complete meadow, which is fine, though it's probably best to stop calling it a lawn at that point.
Some such lawns begin as 'happy' accidents when various local low-growing plants move into the lawn naturally.
Instead of starting a 'weed war', the turfmaster just allows these newcomers to grow where they are best adapted.
Of course, one can 'stack the deck' by introducing various wildflower seeds or starts to a lawn. This can be done when the lawn is first established or later. Note that actually trying to start seeds on an established lawn can be difficult. It's often best to take advantage of natural bare spots and then lightly cultivate and mulch the ground to start seedlings.
A multi-species or tapestry lawn can be mowed. The act of mowing will select for low-growing species amenable to mowing.
A no-mow multi-species lawn would soon be a complete meadow, which is fine, though it's probably best to stop calling it a lawn at that point.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
- Messages
- 6,997
- Reaction score
- 5,130
- Location
- Birmingham, AL USA
- Hardiness Zone
- 8a
- Country
I can tell you from experience that you should not mulch the tapestry lawn as there are many "easily grown from clippings" weedforms that will become dominant. Even just letting clippings dissicate is better than mulching.