Happy Thursday! (Madison: gardening, yard, transit)

[Chuck Mangione Fan]

I hope everyone is enjoying this nice, warm day! Anyone else planning to get some gardening started?

[RocketDawg]

If you mean vegetables, no; but flowers and other plants, yes.

Meteorlogical spring is upon us. Saw a weeping willow tree leafing out already, but they're always the first. Other trees will come out in a few weeks.

[Rick In Madison]

I'm having the same problem many of my neighbors are having right now. Twenty years ago when we had no trees other than the twigs we planted and the Bermuda grass flourished. Now we have large trees shading the yard and bermuda is dying out or dead.

I spread about five pounds of red fescue in late summer / early fall last year. Most of it germinated and about half of it survived. Only cover it lightly with grass clippings and watered.

Now I'm thinking about overseeding my thinning Bermuda with either straight red fescue or I've heard good things about Rebel shade tolerant grass seed. I've also been told to plant St. Augustine grass.

Confused.

But back more in line with the OP; planning on planting some grass seed and a few azalas and hostas.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

I'm having the same problem many of my neighbors are having right now. Twenty years ago when we had no trees other than the twigs we planted and the Bermuda grass flourished. Now we have large trees shading the yard and bermuda is dying out or dead.

I spread about five pounds of red fescue in late summer / early fall last year. Most of it germinated and about half of it survived. Only cover it lightly with grass clippings and watered.

Now I'm thinking about overseeding my thinning Bermuda with either straight red fescue or I've heard good things about Rebel shade tolerant grass seed. I've also been told to plant St. Augustine grass.

Confused.

But back more in line with the OP; planning on planting some grass seed and a few azalas and hostas.

I have the same problem with bare spots that you do, only my grass is Zorro Zoysia instead of Bermuda. I planted some creeping red fescue in the bare spot last fall and not a single seed germinated. I ordered the seed from Amazon, and the seed ultimately came from a place in Oregon.

[MisterEd51]

A number of years ago I planted some Bermuda. My only complaint was that it lay dormant until June.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

A number of years ago I planted some Bermuda. My only complaint was that it lay dormant until June.

We in north Alabama are in the transition zone for grasses, meaning we can grow either warm season (Bermuda, zoysia) grasses or cool season (fescues, bluegrass if really attentive). But it also means that neither do exceptionally well - warm season grasses have a long dormant season and sometimes have winter kill, and cool season grasses have a tough time with summer heat.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I have the same problem with bare spots that you do, only my grass is Zorro Zoysia instead of Bermuda. I planted some creeping red fescue in the bare spot last fall and not a single seed germinated. I ordered the seed from Amazon, and the seed ultimately came from a place in Oregon.

RocketDawg, do you think the germination problem was due to the seed or the possible existence of pre-emergent from your lawn service preventing the germination? This assume you or a service had put out pre-emergent in the late winter or early spring.

My yard service put out pre-emergent back in early February and from what I've read they can be effective for as long as four months depending on the amount of water the area has received. This puts me in the summer before putting out seed and there isn't enough water in the Tennessee River to allow for that fescue to make it! I may have to wait again to the fall and just go through another bare summer. My fear will be soil erosion more than anything else in the bare spots.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

RocketDawg, do you think the germination problem was due to the seed or the possible existence of pre-emergent from your lawn service preventing the germination? This assume you or a service had put out pre-emergent in the late winter or early spring.

My yard service put out pre-emergent back in early February and from what I've read they can be effective for as long as four months depending on the amount of water the area has received. This puts me in the summer before putting out seed and there isn't enough water in the Tennessee River to allow for that fescue to make it! I may have to wait again to the fall and just go through another bare summer. My fear will be soil erosion more than anything else in the bare spots.

I was assuming it was bad seed, and never thought about preemergent, but that's probably what it was. I believe my service does that in the fall as well as in the spring. If it's preemergent, then he's using good stuff.