Lawnmowers

[shale]

Can anyone recommend a lawnmower for use in very sandy soils? I could use a tip on both a riding mower and a "push" mower. Thanks.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Why would the underlying soil composition make a difference in lawn mowers?

[shale]

I suspect it wouldn't if the soil and lawn were healthy. This area was really abused chemically and is predominantly sand with some clay areas. Gophers, too. The grass and other vegetation that we have is not deeply rooted. Our mower has small, hard wheels and when you hit a patch of soil that has little growth or turn the mower, it uproots whatever vegetation is there. Not the blade, mind you, the wheels of the mower just dig in. We moved in a year ago and already there is improvement, but it is really frustrating to do so much damage when mowing. If there is a better machine, please help.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Okay Shale, I get a little testy about this. The administrators were supposed to fix this last year but they haven't yet. Please go back to your profile and type in your location. I promise nobody will try to find you, so you don't have to be that careful with your personal info. We just need to know whether you live in London, Seattle, Tierra del Fuego, or Dimebox.

And when you write back to say you've fixed that, please tell us what kind of grass you have. Then we can talk about making your lawn healthy in sand.

[shale]

Okay, I added Texas to my address. Don't know why it wasn't there.
Dime box is close. WE are north and west of there. Our house is on the site of a brick factory that operated around 1890 to make brick out of the clay that is on our little knoll. Like most of this area, the soil is mixed. On one side of the house we have mostly sand and gophers, on the other side there is mostly clay which is either soggy or dry and cracked, no in between. The previous owners built the house in the sixties and added some top soil, but the neglect of the yard and the drainage has washed most of it on out to the embankment at the side of the county road.
On the sandy side, facing west and around to the north, we have mostly St.Augustine planted by the previous owners. On the clay side, facing east, there is some common bermuda. To the south we have some bunch grass, lots of evening primrouse, yarrow, and some other wild grassy stuff that I can't identify, but we like it. We like a combination of native plants that we can let go and a bit of lawn around the perimeter of the house.
I appreciate your advice about improving my dirt, but I'd still like a mower that wouldn't bog down in the dirt like it did while I mowed today!

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Shale thanks for the info. That's exactly what I was looking for. And now I'm laughing about Dimebox. What a guess!!

So your St Aug is in the sand and apparently the grass is not dense enough to support the lawn mower. I'm going to assume the St Aug is in full sun since you didn't mention any trees. There are three things you need to do to 'densify' your turf. These concepts apply to both sand and clay but the watering times will be different. The first two are the most important and the third is less so. Here they are.

1. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. (for sandy soil you might have to water more frequently IF AND ONLY IF your grass starts to dry out before the week is up).

2. Mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above.

3. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above.

Notice that I put fertilizing last and suggest that it is the least important. It sounds like your soil, both sand and clay, have no organic matter in them. For you I would suggest a light coating of excellent finished compost, not manure, followed by a repeated dusting with corn meal at 60 day intervals for this year. The application rate for compost is 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. The rate for corn meal is 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You might be able to get compost from a local horse stable if they pile the manure up in one place. Use the oldest stuff you can find. If it still smells like manure don't use it. If it smells fresh like a forest floor after a rainstorm, then you can use it.

What should happen with this is your turf should become extremely dense and you won't have to worry about your lawn mower digging into the underlying soil/sand. Whatever happens, don't let the St Augustine dry out completely. St Augustine does not go dormant with drought like other grasses do. It dies flat out and will not return. If you take care of the St Aug like I suggested, it should choke out all weeds including bermuda.

My back yard was washed out when we got it. I used sand to bring it back up to grade and have St Aug in dense shade. It looks great with the care I described above. When you dig in my formerly white sand it is now black. It is still unmistakably sandy but it is full of organic material that helps hold water longer and keeps the grass fed.

[shale]

Thanks for the great information. The only problem I will have is the watering schedule. We have well water, and my husband is adamantly against over use of water--especially watering the yard. I'll show him your suggestions and see what we can do. He will especially like mowing at the highest setting. We've been arguing the point for years...with me for more frequent mowing at a shorter height and him for not mowing at all and letting the grass grow tall so it will shade the soil! I gave up chemical gardening a while back, but have just starting learning about organic ways and means other than recycling grass clippings and adding organic matter. Thanks again for your help. I'm sure I'll have other questions. :D

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

You can both have your way with the grass if you seed in some buffalo grass. Now I must say that everything I've ever said about buffalo grass has been negative, but I come from a place where people want to do stuff to their lawn. If you don't want to water, don't want to mow, don't want to fertilize, and generally want to totally neglect the turf, then you might look into changing to buffalo. Another thing I've always said is that I've never seen a stand of buffalo that looked good. It always, always, always looks weedy. The reason for that is that people water, mow, fertilize and generally try to take care of it. If you don't take care of it, the buffalo seems to take over and looks pretty good (from the pictures people have sent me).

If you don't water St Augustine, you will soon have bermuda and other grassy weeds there. Once St Aug dies from drought, it does not come back, ever. Bermuda will go dormant when dry and returns; but St Aug goes dead and doesn't return.

You and your husband have some thinking and talking to do. If he's adamant about not watering, then you should probably change grasses. Either bermuda will work (mowed very short, under an inch, every week) or buffalo (never mowed at all). Bermuda also takes a lot of fertilizer if you want it to look good. It needs 10-20 pounds of corn meal every 60 days all season long to look good.

[shale]

The St. Augustine was left from the previous owner; the house has been vacant and the yard untended for about 5 years. I was REALLY surprised that the St. Augustine had survived at all. Then we had such excellent rain last year that it has done beautifully. If we lost it, I don't think either of us would mind too much as long as we had a plan for what to do next. My husband is definitely a believer in mother nature knows best and would rather have vegetation that was natural to the soil and the weather than anything that requires a great deal of caretaking. I like having a bit a town lawn around the house, but I have come to enjoy having as many things that need as little tending as possible, especially since the area around our house is about 2 acres and the total with our shop buildings and so on is almost 10.
Can you seed buffalo grass into existing grass? Or do you have to take up what is there. I used centipede grass at our other place, seeding it into the mixed vegetation (weeds, bahia, bermuda, etc.) and it was doing fairly well at filling in. I had planned to use it in the bare places at this house. But I have seen buffalo grass used in "lawns" that I really liked and might consider switching to it.
Thanks for helping.