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Do you know what type of grass you have, and do you have an in-ground irrigation system to water it? Also, if you have a lot larger than 1/4 acre, do you mow it yourself or have a service?
I have zoysia in my front yard in NY and unless we are in a drought for more than 10 days, I don't water it at all. It does beautifully but really doesn't like shade. I've always lamented not having in ground sprinklers for my backyard, which is not zoysia and is currently turning brown from the dogs and the heat/lack of rain as of late.
We are just shy of a 1/4 acre lot, much of which I have covered with flower garden beds, so mowing ourselves isn't difficult. But when the time comes to move, we would love to have a half acre or more in the Raleigh area.
Good question. I suppose just in summer, I've gotten used to a straw colored lawn in cooler months. I really like the plushness of Zoysia but it's pretty tenacious getting into my flowerbeds. I need better edging I think.
That PDF is great, thanks. Doesn't leave a whole lot of room for conversation here.
I have zoysia in the front and no sprinkler system. The back is a 60% weeds and then some zoysia, fescue, Bermuda and even some centipede. I do not water the back at all. The front SOD was just installed 2 months ago, I water it when it shows signs of stress. I am hoping next year that once it is well established that I do not have to water it at all but we will see. My front yard is south facing with some parts getting no shade at all. BTW, we installed the left over zoysia SOD in the back where it does get some shade, it is doing fantastic and no longer requires any water.
I love the green-all-year-grass of fescue, but we don't have a lawn. We back up to a city park, though, and it's just random fescue and whatever green thing wants to grow. The city comes and mows every week or two (I think every two) and it stays pretty green throughout the summer and all winter, too. I grew up with centipede that goes brown in the winter and I find that really depressing. I am definitely not a lawn person, though, just like looking at green grass, so I couldn't tell you the ins and outs of upkeep. I know the town does not water the grass at the park. If we have a really dry August sometimes it get a wee bit crispy, but it's looking extra lush this summer. Definitely no sprinkler system out there.
Fescue and sun do not mix in this climate. If you have Fescue and some shade you will still need to water to keep it going in hot weather. It is incapable of spreading to repair itself-this means that you MUST overseed if it thins out.
After 3 seasons of trying to keep Fescue alive and throwing a LOT of water and money at it, we resodded with Tifway 419 Bermuda in our East-facing front yard that gets FULL sun. We never water. It looks great.
We did the job at the same time as our next door neighbor to save some money, but they insisted on installing a very pricey irrigation system before they laid the sod on both lawns. Our grass has always looked better despite not having irrigation. We follow a fertilization and cutting schedule laid out by a former sod farm owner who uses the internet handle "Texas Weed". It's called the "Bermuda Bible"-you can google it. That's how I found it.
We put down Tifgrand Bermuda (a more shade-tolerant variety) in our backyard a year ago. It is also doing really well with no watering.
Not a fan of Zoysia. My brother resodded with it a few years ago with pretty poor results. He ended up overseeding with Bermuda.
Bermuda has its downsides. Some don't like the look of dormant grass-it doesn't bother me at all. It definitely likes to invade planting beds. I am willing to put up with those two things in exchange for the way my lawn looks given the effort I expend. I mow myself but pay someone to apply fertilizer. I don't like storing it and it's cheaper to pay him than it is to buy my own.
Do you know what type of grass you have, and do you have an in-ground irrigation system to water it? Also, if you have a lot larger than 1/4 acre, do you mow it yourself or have a service?
We have fescue and an in-ground irrigation system, which allows me to have green grass year-round - even in the areas that get mostly direct sun. I'm not a fan of hot-weather grass as it tends to be brown for 7-8 months out of the year in the few yards in my neighborhood that have it. But my neighborhood is wooded, so that may have something to do with the shorter "green" season.
Our lot is approximately one acre. I used a service for a while to cut the grass, but was not satisfied with the results. I bought a riding mower and now cut my grass myself.
Fescue and sun do not mix in this climate. If you have Fescue and some shade you will still need to water to keep it going in hot weather.
I think it just depends on your expectations. If you want a perfect lawn, then fescue may not be for you, but I can tell you with authority that the town of Chapel Hill does not ever water the parks near my house and the grass there is mostly fescue and stays green all winter. It's very, very lush and green. It's an open field so gets tons of sun. Is it perfectly even like a golf course? No, not at all. It can be clumpy, but it's thriving. Looks great driving by and is fine to run and play on, too. Fescue is probably not the grass for you if you want that manicured golf course look, but if you want green all year round it's a great grass. BTW, this park was completely reseeded about 4 or 5 years ago when they were doing construction and tore it all up, so the grass that's there now has not been established a super long time.
I agree with Funky Chicken, fescue and sun do not mix. I have a neighbor with an in ground sprinkler system who has a fescue lawn. He spends a great deal of time on it doing all the things you are supposed to do and even though he is not south facing he has dead spots in the summer.
My house is south facing and has no shade in the front. There is no amount of water that would keep fescue looking good on my front lawn. Both homes on either side of mine have warm season grass on their south facing front lawns. One zoysia, one centipede and in June when we had 100 temps and no rain, their lawns were ok even though they do not water them. Fescue in those conditions without watering would have been dead.
Fescue and sun do not mix in this climate. If you have Fescue and some shade you will still need to water to keep it going in hot weather. It is incapable of spreading to repair itself-this means that you MUST overseed if it thins out.
After 3 seasons of trying to keep Fescue alive and throwing a LOT of water and money at it, we resodded with Tifway 419 Bermuda in our East-facing front yard that gets FULL sun. We never water. It looks great.
We did the job at the same time as our next door neighbor to save some money, but they insisted on installing a very pricey irrigation system before they laid the sod on both lawns. Our grass has always looked better despite not having irrigation. We follow a fertilization and cutting schedule laid out by a former sod farm owner who uses the internet handle "Texas Weed". It's called the "Bermuda Bible"-you can google it. That's how I found it.
We put down Tifgrand Bermuda (a more shade-tolerant variety) in our backyard a year ago. It is also doing really well with no watering.
Not a fan of Zoysia. My brother resodded with it a few years ago with pretty poor results. He ended up overseeding with Bermuda.
Bermuda has its downsides. Some don't like the look of dormant grass-it doesn't bother me at all. It definitely likes to invade planting beds. I am willing to put up with those two things in exchange for the way my lawn looks given the effort I expend. I mow myself but pay someone to apply fertilizer. I don't like storing it and it's cheaper to pay him than it is to buy my own.
Same here. I had a really nice fescue lawn up in NJ that greened early and hung around through Turkey Day. Needed a fair amount of water but not as much as you would have to throw on it down here.
My Bermuda lawn is just 15 months in and it looks great. I probably water it more than most but I don't want to risk losing a newly sodded lawn. It would be nice it if stayed green longer and greened up earlier but I think I could get used to a blond lawn around half the year. I mow myself now and pay somebody to weed/fertilize. Not too much money really. Bermuda seems to do pretty well in this climate and I would choose it over any other lawn for NC.
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