Things to Consider When Choosing the Right
Grass, for the Right Place
Four Simple
Questions That Will Easily Guide You ...
1- What will you use your new lawn be for?
Pick one of the following
main uses for your lawn, consider that the back yard area and the front yard area may each have their own
specific purpose. For example you may want a show piece front yard and an area for the dog to run around on in
the backyard.
-
A show piece lawn for the front yard
landscape with maximum curb appeal
-
Parking area for social
gatherings
-
Full or part time Soccer orFootball
field
-
Family or pet playground
-
Pathway from one area of the landscape to
another
2 - What are
your landscapes needs?
-
Do you have Large shade trees where
previous attempts at having a lawn have failed?
-
Are weed problems taking over areas
in the plant beds and lawn?
-
Is there wet, poorly drained or lower
areas where water collects after a rain and the soil remains soggy even after more than 5 days
after a rain?
-
Does your lawn consist mostly of sandy
soil that does not retain any water even after a good rain? If so, the
top two or three inches of the ground will be dry to the
touch the day after a moderate rainfall.
-
Is there going to be Heavy traffic from
cars, children playing or natural walk through paths from
family and pets?
-
Does your landscape get direct or indirect salt
spray from winds on the ocean or neighboring marshlands?
3 - What amount of
time and money do you have to put into meeting your goals?
Everybody wants a beautifully manicured expanse of green lawn, but of course the scales balance themselves well,
and as it should be , the closer you get to a picture perfect lawn that draws the eye of every passerby, the
more demanding that variety of sod will be on you, both physically and momentarily.
For
example…rarely is any sod as beautiful as well cared for St. Augustine sod. But to keep a deep green thick lawn
such as St Augustine grass healthy it requires more time to mow, money to irrigate, money and time to fertilize
and keep pests at bay as well as a bit of knowledge on how and when to do those things.
4 - What are
your likes and dislikes?
Keep in
mind that everything comes as a package deal and sod is no exception to that rule. Everone has their own
likes and dislikes and often choosing things we like means having to accept a few flaws or things that we
dont like in the package deal.
Fortunately for all of us perfectly flawed things and people… One man’s trash is another man’s
treasure. Some of us will like a thick deep green blade of grass and others will veiw that same
grass as a weed to be removed from their beautiful lawn.
So now it’s your job to consider
which positives you can’t live without and which negatives you can live
with.
Consider the texture and color of your
grass. Do you have preconceived notions of how grass should look and
feel?
So Now That You Know the Answers to Those Questions…
NOW WHAT?
The
Right Grass:
Now it is time
to begin to look at the varieties of sod available to you for the Jacksonville St. Augustine
areas. Keep the answers to those four questions in
mind while reading to see which grass suits your lawns main
use, site specific requirements, and your personal preferences as well as your maintenance abilities. And you
will be able to effortlessly choose the sod variety that is the right grass… for you.
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