The Grass Rhizome

Today is May Day. Is it too late to over seed my yard?

Today’s lawn problem needs attention today. Waiting for August merely is not acceptable. Killing dandelions and henbit today will leave bare areas for crabgrass to move in this summer and when the crabgrass dies this winter, the dandelions and henbit move back in for the spring. It’s a vicious cycle, and the only thing that will stop the cycle is to keep grass growing in those bare spots. No bare spots no weeds.

Longer daylight hours, and gradually warming soil temperatures have started to green up area lawns and golf courses. Hazy brown turf is turning bright green as new grass shoots pop out of the ground in response to the first spring fertilizer treatment.

Thin areas and bare spots show up quickly as the rest of the lawn begins to turn green. Winter injury to newly seeded areas is apparent. Dead crabgrass and foxtail form brown patches and bare spots in the otherwise green turf. Heavily shaded areas look particularly forlorn and muddy.

Question of the week. Can I seed my lawn today? The answer is almost always, YES! Grass Pad customers have been successful in seeding twelve months of the year. Every year and every season brings a new challenge when it comes to overseeding, and if you have reasonable expectations when you seed your lawn in May, you can be successful.

Reasonable expectations. If the coming summer is as wet as the last three, then there is an excellent chance the majority of your spring seeding will survive the summer with routine watering. If the weather pattern changes and we get high heat, blowing wind and no rainfall for extended periods, even the most drought tolerant grass seed will have a tough time surviving without a mature root system.

The good news is that Mother Nature wants to give you some help in greening up your lawn and filling in those unsightly bare spots. Grass plants have a biological clock and will begin to sprout and fill as the weather warms. The bad news is that ordinary lawn weeds will also start as fast

Weed control problems can create an interruption in spring seeding. But patience and timing will help guaranteed success. If broadleaf weeds are a severe problem, treat before starting to seed. Liquid weed control products containing Trimec or Speedzone do an excellent job for spot treatment or granular Loveland Weed and Feed for large areas.

Wait five days after broadleaf weed treatments and then begin your seeding program. Although some seed may be lost by seeding so quickly, the higher risk is summer’s approaching hot weather.

Eliminate crabgrass when overseeding in early May by applying Tupersan, a seed safe pre-emergent, and Golf Course Starter the same day. Once the seed has germinated and has grown tall enough to have been mowed twice, apply Prevent for season-long crabgrass control.

How long do I wait to seed after applying Prevent? Overseeding is not an option after you have applied Prevent. However, you can be successful seeding small bare spot areas using Uncle's Seed Sandwich technique, using a layer of PrimeraFC as an insulator above the Prevent barrier.

Healthy Lawns for a Healthy Earth

Uncle says that the bottled water at the gas station is more expensive than the gasoline. We but water tanks, water filters, water jugs and water piks. We get our water boiled, distilled, chlorinated, oxidized and brewed. Home, health, and industry depend on clean water. But we overlook Mother Nature’s most important water filter. We even walk all over it.

Thousands of billions of grass plants protect our earth and filter our groundwater. In an average 10,000 square foot lawn, there are 8 million individual grass plants. These tightly growing grass leaves are responsible for the photosynthesis that makes the grass plant grow, and in the process, they exchange the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for clean, pure oxygen.

Also, the tightly knit grass carpet traps urban air pollutants so that they are not recycled into the atmosphere. The worst of these include ozone, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide and peroxyacetyl nitrate. They are all absorbed, recycled, and made harmless by transformation of turfgrass. Science has no filter as efficient as grass.

Below ground grassroots are even more impressive. A single grass plant can generate millions of individual roots that weave miles of individual fibers. Multiplied by 8 million plants, this forms a massive underground filter which traps and digests atmospheric pollutants.

This root mass is home to billions of microorganisms which work together to build up the humus and soil fertility and reduce carbon dioxide. This complex organic system transforms lawn fertilizers and herbicides into healthy plants and good organic matter. It is grass that filters our groundwater and regenerates the deep black soils so prized by gardeners. The thick black soils of the world are found in our prairies, not in our rain forests.

See Related: Healthy Lawn Contributes to Cleaner Water

The rain that falls on the streets and parking lots of our cities quickly runs off to rivers and streams. This runoff is not filtered by urban lawns but carries with it vehicle and industrial residue. In the United States, there are some 40 million acres of turfgrass. Each acre captures an average of 600,000 gallons of groundwater recharge every year. In modern urban design, if we want more clean water, we need more healthy green grass.

The Emperors of China and Rome, the Mayans, and the Aztecs, the ancient Persians, the Kings of England and France, all valued turfgrass in the design of their cities and palaces. Some modern architects and urban planners have forgotten these ancient lessons. Today there is a misguided notion that cities need more concrete and less grass. They need a little more science. They also need to talk to more eight-year-olds. When its time to play ball, everyone would rather play on grass.

Painting your Landscape for Summer Color

This is Uncle Nature’s favorite time of year! Taxes are done, robins are singing, and it’s time to paint up the landscape. A flat of annual flowers costs less than a gallon of paint and will give you bright colors all summer long.

Got Sun? Angelonia, Bronze Leaf Begonia, Celosia, Dusty Miller, Salvia, Marigold, Petunia, Lantana, Vinca and Zinnias all love lots of sun. New varieties of Sun Coleus with large fancy leaves and beautiful contrasting colors are excellent for garden beds or containers. In sunny and dry spots in your garden add Uncle’s Max Mix to the soil to help maintain moisture.

Got Shade? No problem. Alyssum, Green Leaf Begonia, Coleus, Impatiens, Lobelia, Pansy, and Snapdragons all will thrive in shade. In shady areas, make sure the soil will not waterlog in wet weather. Raise the soil surface by amending with one third Max Mix for season-long results.

Spikes of violet angelonia bordering a bed of yellow zinnia. The use of complimentary colors is a real eye catcher.

If there is one big mistake gardeners make first time out, it’s skimping on the width of their beds. Make your flower beds wide enough to add flowering shrubs, ornamental grass or even small flowering trees. Wider beds at least five to six feet wide are more attractive and give you more planting opportunities for that lush, layered look you’re after

A bed of red sun coleus blending orange zinnias to yellow African Marigolds. Ornamental grass makes an outstanding perennial backdrop for feature gardens.

Uncle’s Tip: The closer together, the better they look! Have you ever admired the beautiful annual beds created by professional landscapers around commercial properties? You too can have those same results. Annuals planted too far apart take all season to grow together in the bed. Plants 4” to 6” apart fill in quickly and will make you a hero.

Yellow lantana, orange zinnia and red sun coleus are a triad of complimenting colors. Shenandoah red switch grass makes an excellent backdrop.

Help them to grow, amend the soil with Max Mix, get those roots going with Uncle’s Root Accelerator and use Pine Bark mulch. Idiot Proof gardeners that are both lazy and smart keep the weeds out of their mulch beds with Grass Pad Garden Weed Preventer for the special magic, use Uncle’s all season slow-release garden fertilizer. Make a family event of it! Annuals are inexpensive, easy, and fun. Get to the Grass Pad Flower Market and make it happen. Bring your dimensions, and our Green Team will help you fill it up.

Click this Link to Download Planting Quantity Chart

First Week in March: What You Should Be Doing In Your Lawn

It's been a dry winter and lawns are toasty brown. Grass blades have been frozen by winter temperatures and burned by winter sun. These old dried blades do not recover. In time they will be replaced by fresh green growth sprouting from the crowns and root system of the existing grass plant.

Every Spring Mother Nature gives plant life a chance to start over. The winter season has been a long time out. It's the first weekend in March and now there is a chance to begin anew. Gardener’s and home owners can't make Spring come one day sooner, but they can be prepared for an early start.

Uncle's Early Spring tips:

First, mow the lawn short: Lower your mower deck one or two notches. Being careful not to scalp your lawn. Pick up the grass clippings and remove any winter trash. This low mow will cut off the brown winter grass blades and open up the soil to the warm spring sunlight.
Second, give the lawn a booster shot of spring fertilizer. Golf Course Starter or Loveland Renovator formula will start the rejuvenation process four weeks early and help lawns thicken and fill in ahead of summer weeds and hot weather.
Third, over seed any bare spots larger than a salad plate with fresh clean lawn seed and top dress with PrimeraFC top dressing or sphagnum peat. Avoid seed blends that contain coarse bladed annual rye grass or ugly field fescue; and do not use top soil to top dress weed free Grass Pad grass seed. Top soil will contain coarse weed and sedge seed.
Fourth, water when you are able. Winter has had below average moisture. Surface conditions are extremely dry for turf. Water deep once or twice per week till normal spring rains arrive.

See Related: Tips on Spring Over Seeding

Spring thawing and frost heaves open up cracks in the soil that let in air and moisture. These cracks make March an ideal time to apply seed, fertilizer, lawn calcium and lime. Shady areas have been hit hard this winter and are ideal for mixes like Macho Mix or Estate Mix, If you have a house or rental property that needs a make over in the front yard look for a sports field rye blend like Stadium Special. This is real first aid for distressed real estate or a play area where kids and dogs have torn up the play field. Both fescue and bluegrass lawns may be over seeded now. But don't fiddle; new grass plants need an early start to be ready for hot weather.

Uncle's Rant: My Irish Uncle taught me a thing or two about thrift. He said keep your money in the mattress and always buy grass seed by the pound. READ THE LABEL! some seed bags are now only half full with grass seed, the rest is magic dust from the Leprechauns and Fairies. Uncle says this is like pouring water in the whiskey jug and calling it “Jack Daniels.” Homeowners should read the analysis label and only pay for the real grass seed. Recommended coverage is often so much blarney. Mother Nature puts the magic in the grass seed, the inert matter is just expensive dust.

See Related: When to apply PREVENT for crabgrass.

Uncle’s Secret for Crabgrass Control

Uncle’s secret to crabgrass control isn’t really a secret. Uncle has been telling us since we were knee high to a grasshopper. After fifty years’ experience in sod production, Uncle knows a little about killing crabgrass and when Uncle spoke our customers listened. Uncle’s Idiot Proof Lawn Care begins in spring with an understanding there are two different categories of weeds to deal with in your lawn and each requires a different manner of control. Furthermore, understanding routine, timely feedings not only keep the lawn green but keep it thick and aggressive to fight off weed pressure and disease.

Annual grassy weeds, like crabgrass, foxtail and goose grass germinate each spring from seed. Low growing and prostrate to the ground forcing out weak and summer stressed turf grasses for prime real estate in your lawn. Annual grassy weeds die at first hard frost leaving behind bare spots and seeds for the next generation of weeds.

Preventing crabgrass and other annual grassy weeds start now with an application of PREVENT® before the soil warms and crabgrass seeds start to germinate. PREVENT®, when activated, creates a barrier on the soil to kill crabgrass seeds before they mature. In addition, PREVENT® contains a combination of slow and fast release turf food for spring & summer green up.

The real secret to crabgrass control is using two applications of PREVENT®. Uncle’s two application PREVENT® formula extends crabgrass control through heavy spring rains and dry, hot summers while one step formulas simply breakdown and fade away. They didn’t need to tell Uncle, but University testing has shown that two application pre-emergent formulas outperform one application formulas under Kansas and Missouri weather conditions.

Spread the first application of PREVENT® in Mid-March to Mid-April. The second application of PREVENT®, works as a booster shot, going down in late May to early June. For the best results always apply ½” of water within 48 hours after application.