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Grass advice for old house
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Posted by mad.win 7 West TN (My Page) on Thu, Feb 4, 10 at 9:45
| We live out in the country. The only real difference in the pasture and our yard, is that we cut the yard shorter. We filled in an old well, and now we have a large muddy area, part of it is very sunny and part is very shady, the dirt is fill dirt, and the yard is used by 4 large dogs. We aren't lawn people, we aren't going to put a lot of work into keeping a lawn. We just need to plant something. Preferably something indestructable and easy to keep, it will also be kept very short. And no, I'm not willing to mulch my entire yard. I like green, even it its green weeds. Is there such a thing? I'm thinking that now is the time we need to be thinking about it. Thanks in advance. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Research clovers and vetch. May be what you are looking for. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Thank you Gary. Wow, there is SO much information on this forum. I'm not familiar with vetch, there seem to be several different kinds. From what I've read, it sounds invasive and scary. Of course, those posts might be written by people who are frightened by clover too, so I'll take it with a grain of salt. I like clover. I think it would be nice mixed with some kind of grass. But the people who like clover seem to like it because they can just let it go and not cut it. I need something that can be cut short. Can clover be kept short? And what kind of grass could we mix in with it? |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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I have to agree with Gary. Go with clover. I have the summer 2006 issue 57 of People Places and Plants and the cover story is about clover. Check with your local library to see if they can get you a copy. There are many varities these days, should you compost it provides nitrogen back into the compost and soil.
goos luck |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Thank you, my sister in law is the librarian, I'll ask her. I do not compost,yet. I'm interested in learning more about it. I throw all my scraps out in the ditch, one year we had cherry tomatos growing in the ditch. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| I've seen Dutch white clover growing successfully and flowering at heights ranging from less than 1/2 inch up to 5 inches. It is very adaptable to mowing. I've also heard/read about it being mixed with lots of different grasses. Bentgrass (very invasive) was a good one for special sports surfaces. Clover does stain, so the dogs might look a little green. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Thank you dchall. I think that a clover grass mix will be perfect, expecially since it can be kept short. My dogs are easy keepers, they don't stain easily. But it would be good to know if you had white dogs. Mama says that I need to go to the extension agent, do a soil test, and see what amendments I need to add before planting time. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| What do you mean by "very short"? |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| By very short, I mean the lowest setting on my mower. Its a zero turn Cub Cadet. I don't know the height, just that its as short as my husband can get it. I go along with it because its the dog yard, I cut the rest on a higher setting. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| If you just want something for the dogs to run on, I'd go with a mix of clover, bermuda, and creeping fescue. Of course, if 4 large dogs run over the same spot over and over.... nothing is going to stand up perfectly to that. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Part of the beauty of clover is that it doesn't require fertilizer. It creates its own, sort of. The seed comes inoculated with a bacterium which, when growing on the roots, absorbs nitrogen from the air and creates plant food. Usually it creates a surplus so all the plants growing there benefit from it. So if you get a soil test, be sure to tell the test lab that you plan to grow Dutch white clover. |
RE: Grass advice for old house
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| Thanks guys for all the info. |
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