Friday, March 5, 2010

Green grows my Buffalo ... already!

After a very rainy, almost freeze-free winter, it's warming up. The low temperatures have been mostly in the 50s and the highs in the mid-60s to as high as 78. With that bit of encouragement, the buffalo grass started sending up a few tiny green blades of grass. I responded by cutting them all off.


Mowing the grass short in early spring lets the sun reach the base of the plant where the new growth will come from. It trimmed off most of the dry ends, revealing a blotchy greenish lawn. By the end of March it should be all green.

5 comments:

El Beardo said...

Hey Lazy. Question for you. My buffalo is starting to green as well, but since I planted in september of '09, the grass didn't spread much before it went dormant sometime in december. I mowed the clumps last week. and now there are lots of rooted runners and I just lightly mulched and fertilized yesterday. Sound like I'm on the path toward full coverage this summer?

Lazy Gardens said...

Yes, it does. Give it a couple weeks of warm weather and it's poised to take over.

PS: Where do you live (city) ... I'm trying to figure out what triggers dormancy. When was your first hard freeze, or did you not get one?

LG

El Beardo said...

No hard freeze here in San Pedro, CA 90731. Southern California, near Long Beach on the coast. I have a north facing yard and I think as the sun began creeping further behind the house in winter, the dormancy began. This stuff seems to really demand a lot of warm sunlight. One patch shaded by a tree and the neighbors house until early may has really almost disappeared. I may have reconfigure my lawn area if this part does not get enough light....

Alex said...

I have huge gardens outside my house and it takes forever to keep on top of them in the summer. I'm not lazy and like to keep busy but I have half an acre of garden and the previous owner here obviously liked to grow things because half of it is dug up and the other half is grass. I want to have it looking good but not take me all day to do. As an extra nuisance I have hedge all the way around the boundary so that gives you an idea of how much I have to keep on top of. Thanks for your help.

Lazy Gardens said...

Alex ... try the forums here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/

Garden Design would probably be the best place to ask. Be sure to tell them WHERE you live and what kind of hedge and grass you have.