Grass Question (Scottsdale: for sale, 2014, rentals)

[asufan]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

I wish the rye could survive all year. My winter grass looks amazing right now.

Definitely better than the summer bermuda. They re-seed our common areas too so it looks great right now, then if I walk to the city park the grass is dormant.

I prefer natural grass to the fake stuff for temperature reasons. The grass really cools the environment around it and also looks better. The fake stuff gets really hot in the summer, and I've been in yards where it smells because the dog waste doesn't clean off of it very well.

[PhoenixSomeday]

What about planting the first round of bermuda from just dirt? I could google this, but, personal experiences? I thought I read something about when overnight temperatures start to stay above 65?

[JGMotorsport64]

It's a little work but essentially you'll need to plant Bermuda in Late March or Early April and let it come in, then around Late Sept-Early Oct you'll need to get a bag of Winter Rye and overseed the Bermuda. There's about a 1 month transitionary period where it doesn't look that great, but after that it does, my wintergrass looks amazing right now. Then around March-April the Rye will die and the Bermuda will come back to life again. Usually when it starts getting warm, I cut the water back and scalp the Rye. It will aggressively try to stay alive in the shade so be ready for that. The week before I overseed the Rye I scalp the bermuda back. Then every 5 or so years I aerate the soil.

Because it's your first year, you won't know, but this city has some aggressive creeping jenny/ground ivy. So lay some pre-emergent weed killer before you overseed. That stuff is very hard to kill.

Don't do turf, it looks awful. You can tell its fake from a mile away. Either do xeriscape or go with grass.

[Chelito23]

BTW seeding yourself is a major hassle. It's a lot of work to prep the ground and remember to have irrigation installed as well unless you want to be watering it constantly by hand or with a sprinkler. The costs and effort add up.

However, if it's just a small patch you could probably seed the bermuda and wáter and eventually it will fill in and spread wherever it gets watered by hose or sprinkler or irrigation system.

Beware, birds will eat the seed you lay down.

IMO, the best way to go is save up money, have someone install sprinklers and then lay sod. For less maintence, let it go dormant and don't plant Winter seed.

[pbenjamin]

There are two very different kinds of Bermuda. Common Bermuda comes from seed and grows quickly, gets seed tops, etc. Hybrid Bermuda (tiff, Santa Ana, etc.) must be planted with sod or stolons. It grows slower and is usually less tolerant to shade. A common mistake for new Valley residents is to move into a home with hybrid Bermuda, note an area where the grass isn't growing and apply Common Bermuda seed. You end up with a mess, grass that grows at different rates and the see-topped common stuff creeping to take over.

[locolobo13]

Growing up here in the valley we had Bermuda. While it wasn't as green in the winter it was still greenish, yellow green maybe. It didn't grow as fast which was nice. It only goes dormant when you stop watering it or when the frost comes. That only lasts a few weeks and it starts greening up again. At least that's my memories.

My current yard is a mix of grasses. So it is green or greenish year round. OTOH I haven't had to mow it in months.

[kell490]

If you go with one of the big sod companies here I went with western turf Bob sod and use their recommended 6" of mulch roto tilled you will find water bills to be much lower. My backyard grass is about 40x20 square just enough for my dogs to use I water it once a week during the summers and my water bill is about $70 a month with a pool. The biggest problem I had was finding a landscaper who didn't want to just throw the sod over compacted dirt had rocks in it big mistake because water will not soak deep below the roots and quickly evaporate landscapers don't like to roto till mulch because it makes it tough to get the grass flat can't compact the dirt that easy. You want deep root watering so it doesn't run off or evaporate quickly in our dry climate.

https://www.westcoastturf.com/BOBSod


https://www.westcoastturf.com/Installation-Guide <<<Read this before you do anything >> this will save you lot of water.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

We aren't all wasteful morons, thanks. (If I bought a house with grass, I'd remove it ASAP and replace it with landscaping that didn't require so much watering, for example.)

Originally Posted by ElleTea

I have just Bermuda grass. It's so much fun to mow when it is 115 degrees! /sarcasm

Talk amongst yourselves.

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Talk amongst yourselves.

You realize that those posts are almost two years apart from each other, right?

And here I thought this was yet another legalization thread, hehe.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Talk amongst yourselves.

Once my budget permits I will be ripping up the grass if you MUST know

I didn't purposely seek out a house with grass, and I don't water it.