new to clay soil. now what?

17 years ago

I have never lived around clay having moved from Florida a few months ago.

Recently I had a patio dug up, and the tractor turned my somewhat weedy grass backyard into a red dirt backyard.

So I went and bought a bag of grass seed that proclaimed that it works everywhere... something with fancy packaging.

It seems that grass is sprouting, but various weeds are competing with the grass. Some of the weeds are clover like near the shade, while other weeds look like very-mini-shrubs!

I live in East Tennessee. I have some shade and some sunny spots. Given that I am in the land of clay, what do you suggest I do to get a reasonably good looking lawn going.

I'm not looking for the perfect lawn, but want a practical (lower maintenance) sort of lawn.

(In Florida, I would put St. Augustine plugs down... I'm not familiar with this seed business)

Thanks

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Comments (3)

cookie1944
17 years ago
Hi, welcome to the land of clay. I am in NE Georgia, near the S. Carolina border and the clay gets as hard as concrete when it is very dry. I have had the best luck with the rebel fescue. I have tried zoysia and Kentucky fescue, but without much luck. When planting the first time, I put out lime, starter fertilizer, annual rye and the Kentucky 21 fescue. For one season, I had the most beautiful lawn. Unfortunately, the rye died out (good for only one season), then I had a real mess. I have put in the zoysia plugs without much success, The rebel grew the best for me. I am thinking of adding some perenniel rye next month. It gets very thick and shouldn't dye back. Good luck with your lawn. BTW, I lived in Lakeland, Florida for about 20 years before moving here. Love the changes in seasons. Let me know how you make out.
Cookie
yarddoctor
17 years ago
Dear BK,

Thank you very much for your inquiry. In your situation in East Tennessee, you can choose either tall fescue (TF), bermudagrass (BG), or zoysiagrass (ZG). Each has their shortcomings and plusses. TF is a cool season grass that will do well in every phase of your yard and be green year around, but will struggle July ÂSeptember because of the heat (it probably will not die, but just struggle, your biggest challenge will be to manage it during the summer.) The best time to establish TF in Tenn. is in October, another plus.

Bermudagrass is a warm season grass that is well suited for your climate and will not have any trouble during the summer months. It will go dormant each November and stay that way until April so you will have a brown lawn. (look around your neighborhood this fall and you will be able to tell what grass your neighbors have by this method.) One big downer with BG is that it does very poorly in shaded areas. It also needs to be established in the spring. You can use seed or sprigs to establish BG, similar to St. Augustine.

Zoysiagrass is also a warm season with similar growth characteristics to BG. The big plus for ZG is that it will perform better in the shade. It is harder to establish as ZG is just a slower growing plant. (Once it is established, there may not be a better grass.)

So, there are your choices. Look and ask around your neighborhood. Perhaps that will help as you would rather mix in then stick out. Once you make the choice you can go to the yarddoctor web site for establishment and maintenance tips.

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers
The Yard Doctor
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I'm glad that you're planning to add the lime, as in my experience, New England gardens usually need it. I support you in your "winging it" approach, though I advise caution as you proceed. Pay careful attention to your soil and your plants. A home test kit may or may not do anything useful for you (I've really heard horrible reviews of them). I'd suggest that you seriously consider putting in some sort of mild terracing along your slope, rather than just one wall at the end (unless you believe that one wall would allow you to level the whole thing...but then you're back to adding loads of material to fill it, so I'm guessing not?). I gardened on a slight slope last year, and had to go to some effort to create little berms at various points, so that the water would stay where I put it rather than running downhill all the time. I might suggest some of those "Windsor blocks" that they sell at Home Depot -- I've used them before with great success. They have other sorts of options, too. I garden organically, too. It can take a while to get your soil to where you want it to be, but I think it's well worth it. I like the amendments that you list, and think they'll serve you well. I also managed to find myself a great source of rabbit manure, which I think will prove to be a huge boon. For fertilizers, I've been using a combination of the Gardens Alive! dry fertilizers (available from their web site or catalog), and Neptune's Harvest fish and/or seaweed fertilizer. Since my garden is small (so far!), the last me a while. However, I'm hoping to build up my soil sufficiently with manure and compost and hay mulch that I won't need to buy any more of these after my current supplies are depleted. Only time will tell if this is realistic, but there are plenty of people on the Soil forum reporting that if you do what's needed for the soil, you eventually won't need fertilizers. I see you're in MA and in the city. Are you in the Boston area? If so, send me a private message if you'd like to chat about local stuff like manure sources, or anything else.
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behaviorkelton
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks....is there a best season to *start* a new lawn?

new to clay soil. now what?

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cookie1944

yarddoctor

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new to clay soil. now what?

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cookie1944

yarddoctor

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