From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Subject: Re: Rye seed mix?
Date: 19 Mar 92 07:00:29 GMT

Nancy Bulinski <U27468@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
> The backyard is a mess... part mud, part weed, one small part
> grass.  

First of all, why is the backyard so awful?  Probable causes that need
to be corrected before you get the Jerry Baker MasterLawn include:
low soil fertility
soil compaction
diseases
insect pests
pH problems
too much shade
too much heat
grass beat to death by kids and/or dogs and/or mail carriers
being mown too short too frequently

If you have cultural problems, correct those first, otherwise you're
just throwing your money away on seed, etc.

The common things I see going on in lawns are soil compaction,
nutrients, shade, wear and tear, and lousy mowing.  Unless you've got
some major problems, most of the disease and insect problems will go
away once you've established a healthy lawn.

Is the soil clay-ish?  Doesn't drain well, sticky and heavy to dig?
Most of the time, "lawns" on clay are very vulnerable to soil
compaction.  You can rent gizmos called power aerators, or you can
walk around in golf spikes, or you can use a manual aerator, but if
it's very bad, you're probably better off nuking the remaining grass &
weeds with a non-selective herbicide like roundup, tilling it all up,
working in as much organic matter as possible, and starting over with
seed.  As much as you can, avoid walking on clay soils when they are
wet.  Or even damp.  Turns 'em into brick.  If you can see tracks
where the kids laid out a baseball diamond, or Fido's footprints from
when he's been on border patrol, you've got at least some compacted
areas.  Mom's yard still has traces of my old baseball diamond.
Noticed it last fall.  Gotta do something about it... (Oh!  My back!)

Most lawn fertilizers are WAY too high in nitrogen (the first number
on the bag) to establish a healthy lawn.  Use a balanced fertilizer,
like 10-10-10 or such, not 40-1-1!  "Lawn fertilizers" promote all top
and no roots.  Not a healthy way to grow plants.  Figure 2-4 lbs of
nitrogen per 1000 sq ft per year, divided between early spring and
fall.  Once you've got a decent lawn, (assuming you reapply the lawn
clippings as compost), you can cut back to maybe 1 lb N/1000 sq ft,
and give it as 10-3-3 fertilizer or something similar.  Nitrogen is
always lost from a lawn (assuming no N fixation from legumes), but P
and K should hang around pretty well.

My inlaws couldn't understand why they couldn't have a nice picture
postcard lawn.  They had 18 mature oak trees on a normal size city
lot, so it was a miracle any light made it down to the soil at all.
Even fescues couldn't handle it.  I talked them into hostas and lily
of the valley and mosses.

Lawn mowing is a real art if done well.  That means keep the mower
blade sharp, so it cuts instead of shreds or pulls.  It also means cut
the grass when it needs cutting, not when you want to cut it.  AND
DON'T SCALP THE LAWN!!!!  If you're growing kentucky bluegrass or a
mixed bluegrass/fescue/ryegrass lawn, mow to about 3" in the summer,
2" in spring or fall.  Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass height
at a time.  That means some weeks you mow a couple of times, sometimes
you don't mow at all.  (HINT: Tall grasses will shade out crabgrass
seedlings...)  I prefer to keep my lawn (well, it's just a patch --
too much other interesting stuff) at 3-3.5" all the time, and I try
not to remove much more than 1/2 at a cutting.

Also, figure out what you need.  KY bluegrass does fine in sun or part
sun, but there are very few shade tolerant cultivars (A-34 and Baron
are two of these).  Fescues are generally good in shade, but tend to
scorch in sun.  Perennial ryegrass is not perennial enough in the
upper midwest.

I prefer to plant a grand mixture of cultivars and species rather than
just a single kind.  I figure that gives the lawn a chance to undergo
some natural selection.  So I usually make up a shady mix and a sunny
mix, and apply liberally to bare, worked up soil in the appropriate
areas.  Just for luck, there's always some shade- tolerant species in
the sunny mix and some sun-loving species in the shady mix.  I also
often toss in some annual ryegrass for quick cover, just because it's
so depressing to not see ANY green.  Cuts erosion, too.

In general, if you've got to do major lawn reseeding, the time to do
it (in the North anyhow) is the fall.  The seeds will germinate
better, establish faster, and the weed competition is much less.  And
one of the main secrets to weed control in ANY situation is to get the
desirable plants growing thickly enough fast enough to outgrow the
weeds.  Agronomists call this "canopy closure".

If your lawn is in bad enough shape that major renovation is required,
do the planting this fall (like late August/early Sept in this area).
Till then, either ignore the weeds and bare soil, plant some annual
ryegrass (cheap! cheap!), or start the renovations now (esp. on bare
soil) by tilling and planting a cover crop like buckwheat or oats that
you can till in and increase the organic matter in the soil.  (Nah,
she's never had to work on clay soils!  Just watch her faint when you
tell her the spot she's been assigned for research is clay....)

Good luck!

Kay Klier