Food for lawn? Food for thought forlorn!

It is sad to think that, in an all too near future, our much-loved bent and fescue may no longer be allowed to grace the epicenter of our gardens. Can there really be no rescue for our favourite pasture in this best of all possible worlds?

The following article, harvested from this week’s Times may be of interest to members of this Forum. It is an ominous warning, a parched analysis of a burning problem, made all the more disturbing by an indisputable logic which targets the keen gardener with a type of harsh criticism which is hard to counter. The piece, however, has no empathy for the understandable reward offered by grateful plants at a time when they can best be enjoyed: the summer.

It is easy to say: Let the grass go yellow, it will be green again in September and for the rest of the winter; our winters are fairly long and severe and not a good time for outdoor contemplation.

Perhaps we can look to Liz the pot for salient advice and help to find a solution with which to compensate our anguished planet with satisfactory practices in perfect equilibrium with its needs?

We saw the deplorable visual deterioration of the Wimbledon tennis courts as the All England Club responded to the players excessive speed, with the result that the now all perennial Ryegrass offers a coarser surface which has lost the legendary sheen of its incomparable velvet. Must we suffer the same fate, but for different reasons?

Our problems differ and here is my question: Is there a grass that is drought-resistant, requires little fertilization, but which can still offer the visual delicacy we have enjoyed with les neiges d’antan?

If not, we’ll have no option but to bite the bullet and get used to the idea that “green is not the only colour!”

The Times' article:

Scorched turf policy is best for lawns in hot summer climate



A sustained drought is every gardener’s worst nightmare: a once vibrant green lawn transformed into dry, dusty straw.

With climate change creating hotter and drier summers, however, British gardeners are being urged by a leading expert to give up the national “obsession” with centre-court style lawns and focus on simply preserving the plot — and embracing the scorched turf.

Matthew Wilson, the designer and broadcaster, said gardeners should consider switching to drought-resistant seeds, allowing grass to grow wild or just slashing the size of the patch, as they adapt gardens to climate change.

“How can we ‘climate change-proof’ our gardens? In short, we can’t,” he wrote in the Radio Times. “But that doesn’t mean we have to abandon our plots to their fate. Much of what we need to do is just ‘good gardening’.”

And what of that very British obsession, the lawn?

“There are far more drought-resistant lawn seed varieties available, which will help. But incumbent on us will be to decide how much lawn we really need, and, perhaps, let the rest go wild.”

Popular in America, more drought-resistant seeds such as Bermuda and zoysia can typically survive and, crucially, stay greener for longer, whereas UK varieties including fescue and bent grass require regular watering or can lose colour when roots are no longer absorbing the necessary nutrients.



In most cases the grass is dormant and will regrow but, like all plants, if starved of water for longer than a few weeks it can die and require reseeding.

Some professionals have been critical of amateur gardeners using excess fertiliser and continually mowing or overwatering their lawn in periods of pressure on the water supply to maintain a pristine green look.

Despite the urge to keep things green, the Gardener’s Question Time panellist said gardeners should water certain plants less. “Unlocking the characteristics of the plants in your garden helps to understand those that might need extra help in times of drought, and those that are just fine without,” he said.

David Hedges-Gower, chairman of the Lawn Association, said the UK had the type of grass to survive the changing climate but public expectations had to change. “We see brown grass as either dead or in poor condition but it’s really a state grasses have to go to in order to survive; it’s a wonderful adaptability.

“There are some obsessional people with their lawns but the numbers are dissipating — football pitches just aren’t sustainable.”

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) recently issued advice to the UK’s estimated 30 million gardeners on how to build a “planet-friendly garden”. This included advice on lawn care as well as planting trees or hedges to store carbon, with a single broadleaf tree storing 2.9 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime.

Mark Gregory, who designed the eco-friendly display at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, said people should not get “hung up” on the idea of a lush, green lawn and using tap water to irrigate the garden should be regarded as a “sin”.

“One of the big issues is water, conservation and management, how we use water and how we take water for granted,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be using potable water to irrigate — certainly lawns and if we’re irrigating plants, it should only be to establish them, and if they’re going to need irrigation to sustain them, is that good practice?

“We need to be saying it’s actually cool for your lawns to be bleached out, because in September they’re going to go green again.”

 

Something I've never understood; expensive, time consuming maintenance and not particularly interesting.

I've been in this camp for decades never watered the grass patch except the odd bit of spillage. Dry periods in summer are an excuse to not cut the grass, the clover, plantains, daisies, dandelions etc stay pretty green.
Currently my grass patches look like straw, full of crickets and grasshoppers and would burn like a prairie fire given a chance.
I do water cropping soft fruit, squashes, sweetcorn and freshly plant brassicas at this time of year if necessary. I have also watered some things that are struggling this year, but wouldn't normally, these get a good soak and are then left until struggling again. Shrubs moved or planted in the past year or so get watered on the same basis. Established perennials and shrubs generally recover. I also admit to a bit of favouritism and also having knowingly planted a couple of things that need watering even in a normal year for example the tuberous Impatiens.

 

Talking of epicenter!

 

Curiously and off topic: I have seen a post in another forum saying "lawn looks as if it has covid". Essentially the turf had been badly layed and the dry weather had got to it.

 

Yes there is a grass that stays green through summer drought. It's called couch grass I can vouch for this because three years ago it had taken over 90% of my 'lawn'. and was moving into the borders.
Not a velvet swathe by any means, especially when it throws out runners that 'loop'.
Beware also so-called alternatives to grass, such as Phyla canescens and Phyla nodiflora. Appalling, invasive weeds even more difficult to get rid of than couch grass!

 

Are you suggesting, Noisette, that couch grass is the only species which will stay green through droughts?

Liz, I am keen to hear whether you think there is a variety of seeds which produce attractive grass AND stays green during drought periods.

I have to say that your advice to get in touch with Agrigem has paid off; the combination they have suggested has brought dramatic results with minimum quantities required (≈50 gr/sq.m).

 

Are you using "understand" as a kind of euphemism? Judging from your astute posts, surely, you do “understand” what has been, after all, an interest shared far and wide for several centuries.

 

I love a lush green striped lawn, clover and the rest I see everywhere that's why they are called weeds. I see it as an achievement to accomplished a good lawn.

Fortunately ( feels unfortunate most of the time ) rain isn't a problem or its not to far away to dry entire lawns up. I haven't watered the lawn or garden once this year but nearly did last week I couldn't care less if someone else thinks its a waste of water it isn't to me, I am getting a bit fed up getting preached to what I should and shouldn't be doing its never ending . According the the RHS slugs / snails aren't classed as a pest now

 

Great to hear they have helped.

Don’t think any grass type that’s here in the U.K. can withstand drought. Nature of the beast really.