Grass is very shallow-rooted unless properly grown (and sometimes the local environment doesn't lead to this no matter what you do), so if deep roots are not established you have to consistently take care of the top 3-6" of the soil system unlike common veggies that can explore 1-2 ft. of soil rather easily.

There's also other variables such as areas that do separate winter + summer grasses...and the area you're trying to do it...Southern Arizona vs. Central California, for instance.

Deep roots, good soil, proper thatching/aeration = less "work" and less additions to your lawn...along with the proper variety for the area.

You can "do it wrong" and still have great looking grass, but it generally requires a bit more work and additions. I'm not saying your old neighbor was "doing it wrong"...everything is so location and method/care specific to how you can expect a lawn to behave.

Establishing a deep root system (where possible) of an area-appropriate grass variety through proper watering, nutrient additions, and thatching/aeration can significantly reduce needed inputs while delivering a quality residential lawn.

I'm not a fan of lawns, myself...my entire (quite small) front yard is a flower garden. Heh... No mowing to do here.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Tue, May 28, 13 at 18:26

Like any other plant grass needs a good healthy soil to grow in. Many people, today, follow the synthetic fertilizer program which artificially keeps a lawn looking lush and green but does not have a good healthy soil and when that program is stopped the lawn will fail. If he previous owner was fertilizing with synthetics the 4 times a year those people recommend then it will need that or it will fail, as is indicated by the current condition.

A lawn growing in a good healthy soil can take some neglect without failing. However, the caretaker of that lawn must still work to keep the soil good and healthy by regular additions of organic matter to keep the Soil Food Web working at feeding the plants growing in that soil.

we have used many mediums, now good loamy soil, they all take the same care.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens bale garden

NC, I wish you'd tell my grassy weeds in the gardens that they are supposed to be shallow-rooted and easy to deal with!

Lawn grasses and "weed" grasses are different animals.

Lawn grasses are bred to be thickly planted and, generally, grow slowly with high crowding.

"Weed" grasses are a lot more primal in nature and love to grow fast on minimal nutrients with a relatively huge spread (and go nuts with high nutrients). Even non-clumping "weed" grasses tend to be wider/thicker/taller in growth.

I admire a beautiful lawn, that a passionate lawn guy creates. The sort of lawn that stands out among all the rest. As hobbies go, creating such a lawn is not so bad. It gets the gardener out of the house, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and the sort of routine that can be very calming. Cheaper than antidepressants, anger management classes, therapists, and potentially cholesterol lowering drugs or a divorce lawyer. ;)

I only know the lawn routine for my area, and the typical grumpy old man lawn guy, that creates on of these prize winning lawns most often is a long time Milorganite user and over seeds each spring with his particular choice of annual grasses for their unique color and texture . Not doing so with look much like what you describe the first spring he wasn't there. In such a case the demise of that lawn is not necessarily poor soil .

I have several times been fortunate enough to befriend one of these grumpy old men upon stopping to tell them what a beauty he has created there. And some just nod. That's okay too. I'm sure they still appreciate that someone notices.

This post was edited by plaidbird on Wed, May 29, 13 at 21:35

I have "weed" grasses then, I guess, for what passes for my little lawn. Mostly all clumpers. One is known locally as 'velvet' grass, it is very pretty when it starts to tassel right about now. Another common in one garden looks just like oats when it heads, so must be wild oat.

He may have been tending the lawn but not the soil.

Having nice grass areas in the suburbs just feels right to me. I'm not crusty old, "You dang kids get off my lawn" guy, and I'm not interested in immaculate totally sprayed-to-be-weed-free monoculture grass. I like a blend of blade and runner grasses each competing and choking out weeds and each other. It's a very bird friendly eco-system where they can frolic and feed. I use a mulching push mower and enjoy the heck out of keeping the grass cut, green and clean. It's good therapy and exercise.

One over looked aspect of lawn care is mineralization. I've taken plain dirt that has built up in other areas of the property and spread it around the lawn areas. The green up was if I had fertilized. Lawns are hungry and will gladly take your gray water, excess organic material, excess dirt, and whatever else you can give it. The most common mistake that people make with lawns is carting away all the nutrients (in the form of clippings) on a weekly basis - a mulching mower closes that loop.

The bottom line is; what's the sense of having lawn chairs if you don't have a decent lawn where you can use them? :)

I know many people that have a lawn service that hauls away those grass clippings, as well as the leaves that fall each year, and bring back the compost that lawn service makes from those materials and charges that customer for the compost and applying it. Then that same lawn service will "dethatch" the lawn because the lack of organic matter in the soil does not allow the Soil Food Web to exist so those wee buggers could digest that thatch.
The typical suburban lawn promoted by the manufacturers of the synthetic fertilizers are not normal and are a hazard to our environment since they require large amounts of synthetic fertilizers as well as plant killers and insect controls to keep these artificial environments appearing healthy.

Turf grass lawns are as normal as sidewalks, driveways, roads and the structural houses we build. They are extremely functional, and healthy turfgrass lawns have a number of environmental benefits (see link below from U of Minn) as well as .

The real issue for turfgrass lawns is how to establish and maintain them in a sustainable way. What works best and is most beneficial varies significantly by grass type and local environment. What worked well on a primarily bluegrass lawn on sandy soil in the middle of MI does not work at all on a mixed St. Augustine / Bermuda lawn in the clay soil on the TX Gulf coast.

There is nothing wrong or environmentally damaging with fertilization, done properly. There is nothing or environmentally damaging with pest management, done properly. The problems come with the careless use of fertilizers and pesticides, which sadly occurs all too frequently. If you like a turfgrass lawn, and I do, then take the time to learn how to care for it, just as you would any other garden or landscape planting. It's different, but no more complicated.

Here is a link that might be useful: Environmental Benefits of a Healthy, Sustainable Lawn

Synthetic fertilizers and herbicides are normal unless you want your lawn to look like hell, there are no shortage of insects in this world as a lot of counties spray for them,

Did someone say there was a shortage of insects?

Need some? How about a few of the "imported" variety?

My grass is super-healthy yet has never tasted synthetic fert or any kind of herbicide.

c6, won't you take your doltish mis-information and irrelevancies elsewhere?

I've mentioned it previously, but there is another way to look at a lawn - the primary source of nutrients for the rest of the garden. I have no idea how many species of grass I have growing, but I keep seeing new varieties that blow in with the wind or come in with the irrigation water. I let the dandelions grow, figure they bring up deeper nutrients, I over-seeded it with Dutch White clover for the N. I mow about 2 acres of lawn, collect something like 50 bushels (~1.5 cubic meters) of clippings each time I do so. That gets used to heavily, like 6 inches thick, mulch flower beds, fruit trees, a big veggie garden, etc.

Right now, by mid-june, I've mowed three times and mulched just about everything I need to, and so I'll just be leaving the clippings on the lawn.

I haven't used any fertilizers on anything in years, and depending on temperature, I have to mow every 8-10 days, it takes about 3 hours to do it. Balance that with virtually no weeding in any of the flower or vegetable beds. And its no exaggeration when I say that I pull back that grass clipping mulch and find a fat, happy worm every sq inch.

Dave, you are talking about fine clippings as with a typical mulching lawn-mower? Or do you let some of it grow to a foot or two and cut with a sickle-bar?

I find that grass cut long is a better mulch, though the N content might be higher in frequently-cut clippings.

Pat, I cut it in 3-ish inch lengths - some parts of the lawn, like over the leach field, will grow grass so fast that it gets to 6-8 inches long in the same time frame, but its a hassle to mow w/o clogging the blades and such.

So its not the finely chopped stuff from a mulching set up, just 3 inch lengths of grass. Its so high in N that if I cut it in the morning and pile it up, by late afternoon its too hot to stick your hand in it.