The strip of fine fescue (with some bluegrass mixed in) next to a walkway to the front door has been perpetually semi-dormant-looking for at least the past 6 weeks. Prior to that, it was invaded by red thread due to all the rain we had gotten.

In the past few weeks, I've raked the grass with a metal spring tine leaf rake to gently dethatch it when needed. I've applied an extremely low concentration of supplemental liquid lawn fertilizer twice (following appropriate rules for summer fertilizing--waiting for a few days in a row of cooler 80-degree temps before doing it, and wetting properly to be sure not to burn the grass). I've also cycled my mowing patterns, height, and frequency as best I can to match the growth of the grass. I've watered when needed (which thankfully hasn't been often due to copious but not excessive rain the past few weeks).

Yet, the fescue just doesn't want to look decent. Sometimes it looks good right after a mowing or dethatching with the rake, or some water. But it doesn't last long. Within a day or two, it's back to looking more brown than green. It's got a perpetual semi-dormant look to it. Probably 65% of the leaf blades are brown at any given time. And this detracts from the color.

I won't make the same mistake of overwatering it like last year (unless the rain keeper decides to unleash a monsoon on us.) Overwatering produces red thread. I'm happy to say that any red thread earlier this year was not caused by me, but by the rain.

Thankfully a soil test is in progress. I just don't know what else to do at this point except wait. I'm not sure if this issue is common for fine fescues in CT this time of year. It's just always on the brink of dormancy, it seems. But when it gets more water, it develops red thread, which stresses it more and makes it even more drought-prone.

In a nutshell, you need deeper water there. What I have done is run a soaker hose along side my driveway. It runs 24/7 at a trickle rate of 1 cup per minute measured at the faucet. Of course my home in the desert is probably hotter than most other homes, so you might not need it 24/7. Actually I probably don't need it 24/7 either as that grass is always slightly greener than the rest.

The blugrass intermingled with it is doing just fine. I really don't get it. The sidewalk is not one that holds a lot of heat (compared to asphalt).

I did cross-cut the entire front lawn today in preparation for the heavy rain we got a few hours later...I cut it in one direction at a slightly higher setting (which I'd been using exclusively until two weeks ago), and then lowered the setting and cut again in a different direction. I figure the grass will dry out better and be less likely to get red thread if we keep getting rain this week. And the mowing should stimulate tillering. (I'm currently working my way down, lowering the mowing height in preparation for aeration and overseeding in a couple of weeks.)