Is it impossible to have green grass without chemical service and sprinklers?

[Anonymous]

My dogs destroy the clover with fetch. It stays moist and muddy. I hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.
Plant zoysia.

Please tell me about this zoysia. I am about to reseed my lawn and I got what I found at Home Depot, something called Scott's Contractor's seed.

My house came with a zoysia lawn, so I have no experience with starting one. I think you have to put down sod for it, not seeds. Some people don’t line it because it turns brown in winter but I barely have any weeds in it. All I do is put down compost every spring and fall.

Thanks. I think one of my neighbors has it. It is exactly what you described. I rarely see them doing any yard work, definitely not grass work and their lawn has no weeds at all! But, as you said, turns brown in winter.

Turns ugly brown in winter. My neighbor started it from plugs. It took many years to spread. Pretty awful when you can see it spreading. Still at least they don't have switch grass like I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just count all the weeds as lawn. It all looks good when it's been mowed.

Us too!

That's us too.

I am going to get clover and butter cup and throw that down. I have nothing to lose anymore. My lawn is butt ugly. It is however attracting a lot of birds and pollinators.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you know what kind of grass you have? There are three main types: fescue, zoysia, and weeds (hah!). (Within the weed category the two most common ARE actually grasses: Bermuda grass and crabgrass. Both are the bane of my existence, but Bermuda grass is the true honest to goodness devil.) For all of the reasons others have mentioned, I dislike zoysia. We have fescue and manage to keep it mostly green, generally without watering it. (We haven’t watered it once this year, but I’ve had to break out the sprinkler a few times in recent years due to heat and dry spells). I don’t use fertilizer or other chemicals. The key is in maintaining good soil quality and promoting strong root systems for your grass. Here’s what I do instead:

Reseed:
In the fall (when daytime temps drop to 70 and nighttime temps to 50 for at least 3 consecutive days), I reseed the lawn. I reseed again in the spring when the forsythia begins to bloom. Reseeding helps the good grass develop roots and block out unwanted weeds. You can, if needed, also do what’s called “top dressing,” which is basically adding a thin layer of organic or healthy soil and maybe some compost. I haven’t done this yet but I would if needed. (To figure out whether you need to top dress, dig about 4” down into your soil. Is it dry, compacted, all clay? If so, go ahead and top dress. It will help the seeds have something healthy to grow in.)

As for grass seed, I’ve used different brands—Scott’s, some other name brand I can’t recall, and just straight Kentucky tall fescue I’ve bought at Ace or via Amazon. Any are fine, but the name brand ones are usually coated in all sorts of chemicals (and fertilizer, which I don’t mind), and I’m not convinced the chemicals do anything to make the grass any better. I’ve actually had quicker luck with just straight seed, so I prefer that (it’s also cheaper). I use a Scott’s seed spreader (you can buy one on wheels that you push or use a hand seed spreader). Follow the instructions on the bag; it will tell you how much seed to use and what aperture to set your spreader at so you get the right amount of seed per sf.

Weed preventer:
If you have a lot of weeds in your lawn (50% or more), I’d suggest reseeding in the fall and then applying a weed preventer in the spring. (You can’t use the weed preventer and reseed in the same go because the weed preventer—which basically blocks new seeds from germinating—will also prevent your grass seed from growing). If you plan to grow any plants or veggies by seed, either start the seeds indoors or just sow them outside away from the area where you plan to use weed/seed preventer. Do this reseed/weed block routine for about two seasons, and if things start looking better you can just switch to doing reseeding in spring and fall. (Also, I just want to note: while clover is generally viewed as a weed or lawn nuisance, it does have beneficial properties, but if you don’t like it you can pull it out fairly easily with a rake.)

Aerate:
I also recommend, at least once every 3 years (more often if your soil is heavily compacted) before you reseed your lawn, having your lawn aerated. This will ensure your new grass seed has space to set down roots and not get crowded out, and will allow water deep down to keep the root system healthy. You can rent an aerator, but they’re heavy and I don’t recommend it. Instead, go with a company that uses a plug aerator, which basically pulls grass plug out of the soil. You don’t want to use spike aerators—they just poke holes in the soil and compact it even more, making it more difficult for grass to develop deep, healthy roots, and making it easier for shallow-rooted weeds to come in and take over. We used Meadows Farm Nurseries. It cost about $80 for about 3500 sf.

This might seem like a lot of info but I just wanted to share the rationale behind each of these steps. Once you’ve done this for two seasons or so, it’ll seem like a cakewalk. And reseeding doesn’t take more than 30 minutes so it really isn’t a huge investment of your time, but the results will (hopefully!) be worth it!