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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: Grass
Message-ID: <830@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 18:49:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.830
Posted: Fri Jul 12 18:49:37 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Jul-85 02:02:09 EDT
References: <11461@brl-tgr.ARPA> <770@aluxe.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 29

Grass is much maligned, at least east of the Mississippi.  It is not hard to
have a nice, dense, weed-free lawn, provided you will mow it fairly
frequently in the spring, and apply the number-one weapon:

  Fertilizer!

My parents apply a LOT of urea (~25 pounds/acre) in the spring.  Urea is
cheap at Southern States,its essentially organic, and you can't buy a higher
nitrogen fertilizer (I think it's 25-0-0!).  This makes the grass grow
furiously, and, except around the bare spots, the weeds don't stand a
chance.  The first year you try this, you'll probably need to apply
weedkiller; after that, about the only thing that can compete is
shade-lovers like violets (which are a benevolent weed in a lawn anyway).

The big problem you'll find is with shade.  There is no grass I know of that
will grow under a Norway Maple, and, as I said above, even in less intense
shade, some things can compete.  Out in full sun, only mushrooms stand a
chance.

The main problem you'll find with almost any other ground cover is that they
can't stand any foot traffic.  There's lots of pretty things like Vinca
which do fine where feet do not tread.  About the only things that can stand
feet, though, are  white clover, violets, and ajuga, and ajuga and clover
attract bees like mad.  Violets can't take all that much trampling either,
but they multiply so voraciously that maybe it doesn't matter.

I'll stick with a roll in the grass. With a few violets.

Charley Wingate   umcp-cs!mangoe