Growing grass in an extremely windy area - large lawn

I built a house near the Potomac River in the Northern Neck of VA. I have two acres and construction disrupted about 3/4 of an acre. Even though it was in the middle of summer which is a bad time to try to grow grass, particularly in a drought year, it was better than the dust bowl we had. It worked out ok in back of my house and in front near the road, but the area directly in front of my house (about 60ft X30 ft) and on the sides of my house (about 40 ft X 20 ft) are basically packed dirt with grass up close to the house (about 1/2 ft in front of house).

Being near the water on what used to be farm land, there were two problems growing grass which I need advice on (and I have never grown grass myself before this). The biggest problem is wind. It frequently blows 20 mph at least once, if not several days a week. When I had the lawn seeded, the excavator that did my final grade put down see and put hay on top. The winds blew the hay off the lawn in the bald areas and pushed it against the front of the house or completley away.

The second problem is heat during the summer. Since I seeded in summer and the hay blew away, it was difficult to keep the grass cool and wet enough to sprout. In addition, I am on a community well and there is not enough water pressure for more than two or three sprinklers at once. It takes about 6 sprinklers to cover the area that hasnt grown.

So for the first problem of the wind, I have no idea what to do this spring. Is there an alternative to hay that would work in a windy area better? How do I determine when it is warm enough to seed? Is it by the low temperature that is maintained? What temp? For the second problem, I think seeded in the spring will help, but any suggestion there would be great. I also have heard use fertilizer from some people and dont from others. Some say aerate, others dont bother. Thanks

Reply to
solkeston
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far better than hay although they can get expensive. Landscapers buy it in large rolls which go down rather quickly and it will not blow away if it is put down properly. Even quicker is HydroSeeding. It is not normally used on flat areas but it will work there as well as it does on difficult terrain. Over a large area it might be cheaper than traditional seeding using an expensive mat product.

Summer is _not_ the time to put down grass seed as you may have realized. Early spring is a good time. Here in East Tennessee right now is a fine time to seed. The soil needs to be properly prepared before putting down seed. Broken up a bit, PH adjusted, amended with organic material and the worst of the stones and roots removed. If your soil is unable to hold moisture properly then establishing a decent lawn is going to be difficult.

Reply to
John McGaw

Although I have not tried it, a friend in Nebraska who had a similar problem with strong wind got some Idaho Bunch Grass and said it was terrific for his need. I have no idea of its properties, etc, but a bit of research may help.

cheers

oz

Reply to
MajorOz

OP's problem seems to have been that the wind was blowing away the hay that the landscaper put down to protect the grass seed. Planting some other sort of grass seed in the same way doesn't seem as if it would be much of a help. Well, unless the new sort of grass managed to come up to full grown in a day when the wind wasn't blowing. Maybe crabgrass is the answer...

Reply to
John McGaw

I have not had much success starting grass from seed in spring. The hot summer draught (in E TN) usually wipes it out. Best time to seed is about mid September to early October. Times varies to location.

Reply to
Phisherman

Add a tackifier to the seed and mulch you're going to use this spring... this is typically how the hydroseeders keep stuff on slopes.

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season grasses like red fescue, tall fescue, kentucky bluegrass need cool soil temperatures for a fairly prolonged period of time to germinate and establish well. Get that seed down as soon as practical.

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

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