Help My Yard! - Knowledgebase Question - Garden.org

Pests and Problems

Fruits and Vegetables

Lula, GA

Question by dallasthomps
April 28, 2007

Our yard has grass in some spots, but it is sparse. There are many large bald spots with nothing but red Georgia clay. Our lawn also slopes downward and catches all the rain from our neighbors yard. I don't know what kind of grass we have. How should I proceed to have a full, thick lawn?

Answer from NGA
April 28, 2007

0	Dallas, I am sorry for this delayed reply to your gardening question. The spring rush has brought a deluge of questions and we are working hard to catch up! Good lawn care can be summarized in three cultural practices: mowing, watering and fertilizing. If you will do these three properly, your lawn will be the best on the block! Frequent mowing is better than infrequent mowing. Mow on a 5-7 day schedule, removing no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade with each mowing. For example, a St. Augustine turf should be mowed to 2 1/2" when it reaches 3", while a semi-dwarf bermuda or zoysia would be mowed to 1 1/2 or 2" when it reached 2 or 2 1/2". While many homeowners like to water 15 minutes a day, your turf will benefit from a good soaking applied less often. Apply 1/2 to 1 inch of water once or twice a week. A coffee can makes a good rain gauge to test out how long it will need to be run to apply an inch. Frequent wetting promotes disease problems and a shallow rooted turf. Let the soil dry out a bit between waterings and the grass will develop a deep root system and do much better. Fertilize with no more than 1/2 to 1 pound of nitrogen in spring after you have mowed the grass twice, and again in fall (around late October). Apply a product with a 3-1-2 ratio of nutrients as this is roughly the ratio of nutrients grass takes in. So, for example, if you purchased a 15-5-10 fertilizer (15% nitrogen), you would apply about 7 pounds per 1000 square feet (1 pound / .15 = about 7). If you purchased a 21-7-14 fertilizer (21 % nitrogen), you would apply about 5 pounds per 1000 square feet (1 pound / .21 = about 5). Healthy turf will choke out most of its weed problems. When the turf is thin and soil is exposed to the sunlight, weeds will sprout and you have a battle on your hands. So first concentrate on the above 3 cultural practices and you will be amazed at the results. Thanks for the question. Best wishes for a wonderful gardening season. Please stop in again soon!

You must be signed in before you can post questions or answers. Click here to join!

« Return to the Garden Knowledgebase Homepage

Member Login:

Garden.org Homepage
Help using the site
About
Contact
Terms of Service
Privacy
Memberlist
Acorns
Links
Ask a Question
Newsletter

© 1972 - 2019 National Gardening Association

Times are presented in US Central Standard Time

Pinterest
Facebook
Youtube
Twitter
Instagram

Today's site banner is by ge1836 and is called "Orange Zinnia"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.