A meadow is grass with wildflowers ...and I have it! At least in parts of the lawn, if you squint just right, I have fluffy clumps of grass with scattered flowers.
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| Jute mesh, new grass, and some wildflowers (Ratibida columnaris) |
It's been slow to establish for several reasons:
- We had a cooler spring than usual.
- The summer rains have not come yet.
- I did not till or amend the area before planting.
- The seeds are not a select improved "turf" strain, it's just generic buffalo grass and blue grama grass.
- I fertilized very lightly and did not fertilize early.
- Most of the wildflowers are perennials and will not bloom well this year.
The erosion control mesh is doing exactly what I need it to do - when I water the mesh fills with water like waffles fill with syrup and it sinks in instead of running off. I am watering daily to encourage the final grass seeds to sprout, with an occasional seep watering to get the roots to go deep. I really need some rainstorms.
How dense is this grass compared to bermuda? I want to try it out but keep it at a lower height, but certainly no where like a golf course. Is it really patchy or consistent? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on your climate and the variety you choose. The buffalo grass I grew in Phoenix was selected to be a turf grass, cloned and grown from plugs, and it spread nicely. If you look back at the older posts you can see it.
ReplyDeleteThis batch of grasses was grown from unimproved "range grass" seed that does well around here. It's a mix of Blue Grama, Buffalo, and some other bunching range grasses I collected seed from, such as side-oats grama and Setaria leukopila. Badly needs to be grazed or mowed.
If you buy named seed of varieties developed for your area as turf grasses they will make a nice lawn, quite consistent.
My apologies for leaving out I am in Mesa, near Apache Junction area. Are you indicating you mixed other grasses with the uc verde buffalo grass to accomplish the look at your first house, or it is just straight uc verde buffalograss.
ReplyDeleteThe house in Phoenix has 100% UC Verde buffalo grass, established from plugs.
ReplyDeleteThe distributor for Arizona is Civano Nursery in Tucson.
Read the WHOLE SERIES, especially what I did wrong and would do differently.