Taking care of that pesky lawn

KAREN WIGHT

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Or the

other side of the street. Or on the other side of town.

Lawns are looking shabby by the end of summer. Especially ours. I

can tolerate a certain amount of diversity as long as the grass (or

the weeds) look green. But the weeds have been growing full tilt this

summer, and high temperatures, lack of water or both have caused

burned areas in the grass.

We use a gardening service, which is another culprit: transient

weed seeds are being planted into my lawn every week. At first, I

thought that the dry patches in the yard were places that weren’t

getting watered. So St. Ben checked all the sprinklers. No problem

there.

When I began to pull out the dead grass, I found that a strange

mold had decimated the roots, a kind of grass alopecia that left

gaping holes in the yard.

While I was pulling up patches of dead grass, I noticed how many

varieties of grasses and weeds I was hosting. When we laid the

marathon sod four years ago, it was beautiful. Now it looks more like

a patchwork quilt of crab grass, St. Augustine and weeds of every

texture and growth pattern.

Only a few patches of my marathon grass remain, so I consulted my

landscape guru, known affectionately at our house as “Bidge,” to see

how I could bring back my once beautiful yard.

The answer was not what I wanted to hear. In essence, if you share

gardening tools, such as lawnmowers, with other yards, your grass

will pick up all the evils of the neighborhood, or at least the evils

of your gardener’s client list.

Avoidable? Well, if you want to have all of your own lawn-care

tools and have your maintenance company use your tools exclusively,

you can cut down on the weed infestation. You do have to consider

that wind brings in seeds from other yards and that the cute birds

(that you encourage to come with bird seed) use your yard as a loo.

The list goes on. Basically, you can’t win.

So what’s neat-nick to do? You could rip out all your grass every

few years and lay new sod, which isn’t a bad thing if you don’t mind

the cost, or you could extend the life of your lawn by performing a

fairly simple renovation.

Mow your lawn as short as possible, no more that half an inch

high. Remove the obvious weeds, say, the weeds that have grown to a

12-inch circumference, and the pull out the balding areas of grass.

Rake through your now hideous lawn to thin it out because you want

the new grass seed to reach the dirt, or at least get close.

If your soil is rock-hard, aerate by poking holes in the dirt.

This allows for the water to get to the roots. Spread a thin layer of

soil topper to your lawn.

Make sure that the product you use is “weed free.” Yes my friends,

some products can do more harm than good. Remember what cows eat?

They are not particular about eating only marathon grass and its

seeds. There’s a little bit of everything thrown into those mixtures.

Some companies have purer products than others. Check the labels.

Buy a generous amount of grass seed and one of those things that

throws the seeds evenly. It will help to ensure a more even look to

your freshened yard. Cover the seeds with another thin layer of

topper. Don’t mow the lawn for three weeks (or so), until the new

grass is established.

This year, we used a new grass seed called “bonsai.” The guy at

Home Depot was swearing by it (not about it) and he did a convincing

sales pitch. The label says that the grass is so hardy that it will

choke out the weeds. Perhaps they haven’t seen my weeds.

There are a couple of down sides. I can’t open my bedroom windows

until the smell is more palatable. I like “fresh” air. And the

neighbors feel the same way. The yard is indeed ugly, at least for a

while, but we’re hoping that the delayed gratification will

overshadow the eyesore ... soon.

Will it work? I hope so. I wrecked a good manicure in the name of

home improvement. I’ll let you know.

* KAREN WIGHT is a Newport Beach resident. Her column runs

Thursdays.