Thursday, August 2, 2012

The grass is always greener...

I've been quite frustrated recently with our yard. I'm becoming more and more convinced that they must have just thrown the sod down on top of the gravel that was there previously. The back yard grows wonderfully; nice, thick, dark green grass that I'm cutting at least once a week.  But that section was already grass before the flip (at least on google maps - right) unlike the front, which remains brown and anemic despite more watering.

In fact, the only thing that's growing well in the front is crabgrass! I took the mower to the front half today and it had basically not grown at all in nearly two weeks. So instead, I spent the next forty-five minutes pulling out all the crabgrass I could find. On the upside, I must agree with you, mom; weeding is somehow very satisfying sometimes.

I did some more reading on crabgrass about preventive measures and have changed our sprinkler timers so that we only water three days a week but for a longer time.  Hopefully that will allow the fescue to grow deeper (if there's actually soil under there!) and slow the crabgrass down.
This does give us even more incentive to start planning that California native plants garden!  This weekend we're going to map out the yard so we can decide what areas will be pulled up to make room for all the succulents and decorative grasses!

3 comments:

Xaparro said...

(I've got to say that adding comments to a wordpress blog is a lot easier and prettier than adding comments to blogger.) Once the crabgrass is growing I don't think you can do anything but pull it. The crabgrass weedkillers are meant to work on emerging seedlings, I believe. You might dig a test hole in the front sod and see how deep the soil is. It wouldn't hurt and it's always interesting to see what is below the surface.

Unknown said...

Well, our sewer line inspector did advise us to dig a hole at our main line cleanout site (supposedly it's about 24 inches down just past our front walkway) so it can be accessed easily in case we have a big backup. And then I get to buy a shovel! Yay for visits to Lowes!

Camila said...

(Agreed, Mom, about adding comments--I hate having to type in the numbers and letters to prove I'm not a robot, because half the time I can't even read them!). Anyway, good luck cultivating nice grass. We had this terrible stuff that sent out these long runners and were horrible to get out. Hope you don't have that stuff.