No grass; just shredded bark mulch. Make it 6 inches deep (minimum) and recover it every year.

I know you are trying to help, but I didn't ask about mulch, gravel, peat, sand or any other surface.

I am researching information about grass and grass only. We have other surfaces in the dogpark already and but I am concentrating only on the grassy/green surfaces now.

scotkight:

Since your turf need is for a purpose, rather than aesthetics, K-31 may serve the purpose well.

I don't foresee a dog park receiving the same attention as a home owners lawn, with fertilizing and watering regularly.

K-31 does well with little maintenance.
It does fairly well in dry conditions.
The blades are more stout, which "might" take the dogs romping around better.
The seeds are relatively cheap.

Just food for thought.

Scot, since you need a tough grass that the dogs can tear up speak to a nurseryman about maybe a combination of seeds containing creeping bent, zoysia, perennial ryegrass and where shade is, use again the fescue.
The more shade you have, the more fescue but use the other combos for durability.

It is pretty much full sun. I thought creeping bent required a sprinkler system?
zoysia and pr sound like an idea though. Any idea on cultivars?

Scot,

A few follow-up questions if I can:

1. What County are you in? Arlington Co. probably has the most dog parks (per capita or sq. mi.) than anyone - they use 100% shredded wood mulch on the 4 or 5 parks I've been to (gives the Sheriffs Dept inmates a project to keep busy a few times a year). Fairfax has parks too, but probably much larger in size, so they may just keep it "natural".

2. What size area of grass are you looking for?

3. Is this public land or HOA (Home Owers Assoc)?

Thoughts on grass - I agree with the K31 recommendation. Does fine in full sun, and more importantly, is pretty much green year round. I say this b/c while Zoysia or Bermuda would be great in the summer(i.e. aggressive spreaders, fill in patches), the dormancy period is at least 1/2 the year. If it's dormant, it's not growing, and can't repair itself, and come spring, there may be nothing left resembling any sort of "grass only" area.

Now, I'm not saying K31 (a fescue) is going to self-repair, espcially during the winter, but I would guess (and am willing to be corrected on this one) that the fact fescue stays green means it probably has a more "active" root system during the winter months that MIGHT help it survive year-round abuse.

Stay away from creeping bent - unless you mow it short, it does not establish a root system when it spreads - it more "falls over" when it gets higher, vs. bermuda, which spreads as much above ground as below ground [I'm generalizing here - particulars from you bermuda loving southerners not necessary :-) ]. Lack of good roots will allow the bentgrass to be torn up much too easily by dogs.

Lastly - be aware that the smaller the space, the more likely that whatever grass you use will be susceptible (sp?) to burning from urine - especially during those 'lovely' summers we get. I don't know of any grass that would survive these conditions.

Also - I don't know if Zoysia is available as a seed. IIRC, it's planted from plugs, and would need some sort of fertilizer to spread. Wasn't sure what your timeframe is.

Hope this helps.

--Gags

scotkight, forget about the zoysia. It is very slow to recover. Dog urine will kill it and then you'll have bare patches that won't recover fast enough. And Northern Va, wouldn't be ideal for zoysia anyway.

When you talk about zoysia and rye, you're talking about a warm season and a cool season grass that require different maintenance schedules. They wouldn't co-exist very well.

As garycinchicago mentioned above, go with K31. It's low maintenance, cheap, and tolerates traffic pretty well.

I'm in-process of researching just that thing for just that use. A two-acre dog park here in Encinitas, California, has a 180' by 200' central lawn area that's currently over 70% bare. The dogs ware it down becasue the current program by P&R employs closing down a full month each March adn October to reseed the whole area with annula Rye! This is inefective at holding up against the puppy's usage. So far I've whittled my choices down to two alternatives:

First: rototill the whole area and apply proper amendments; then seed the whole place with "course" fescue - the kind they'd put on a high school football field. Wide blades, but ware resistant...way more than 'Marathon' or whatever fine fescue that's meant for front yard lawns - which is what they've been using here.

Second, and aftre the same soil prep mantioned above; plant with plugs of Kikuya Grasss (Pennisetum clandestinum). This stuff tends to look a lot like St. Augustine Grass, but with the blades set a bit further apart. It's an invasive species in most municipalities, but a common lawn grass in some countries. It grows seriously fast, developes a thatch like St. Augustine, and wares like iron.

Either choice would require longer than one month to establish to a point where puppy paws would be wanted on it. But the only other way to go (for my local park) is to continue a loosing program that requires shutting it down two months out of the year to produce a green lawn for two weeks at a time.

I still think mulch is the best way to go, and you can usually get it free from local tree trimmers. For an area that size you'll need 600 to 700 cubic yards to go 6 inches deep.

But it seems you are set on proceeding with grass so, most important: DO NOT ROTOTILL. Rototilling is never a good idea to prepare for a lawn.

How will you determine "proper amendments"? Are you getting a soil test? Seems like a waste of time to amend for either coarse fescue or kikuyu.

The dogs don't wear it down because the park is shut down. They would wear it down regardless of shutting down.

The problem is they are using the wrong type of grass. Instead of using a bunch grass like rye (or fescue), they need a sod forming grass. Kikuyu is one such, but before going nuclear with that one, I would try bermuda. One secret to recurring bermuda is to not overseed it in the winter with winter rye. The rye in the spring will delay to awakening of bermuda. This will be hard for most people to understand, but bermuda is much better behaved than kikuyu!!

St Augustine does not develop thatch. The thing the two grasses have in common is they develop stolons which criss-cross over the surface of the soil to provide a dense turf.