Supercharged Grass

Hi All.

We have a steep northfacing garden and have spent the last 18 months converting from a weed/bramble covered wasteland into something more attractive. Basically grass and hedges planted to give the feel of 'terraces'.

Mowing is a real challenge and I now own a petrol hover mower and a set of steel toe cap boots.

One of the main issues we face is the speed at which the grass grows. You can literally watch it grow ! Easily 12 inches in 2 weeks. This means mowing every week which is too much for us to manage.

When we seeded the garden I think we made a mistake with the seed mix. We felt because the garden was north facing and had alot of shade we would need a seed mix that would suit these conditions. We went for the following.

45% Lambada Strong CRF
25% Olivia Chewings FSC
5% Highland Bent
5% Evora SSMG
20% Ridu Hard FSC.

Shady Place Grass Seed

• Maintains a good appearance even in periods of drought
• Slow growing and suitable for dry soils
• Fine fescues maintain colour in shaded conditions

• Contains: 25% chewings fescue, 45% strong creeping red fescue, 20% hard fescue, 5% smooth-stalked meadow grass and 5% highland bent

• Sow at 50 grams per sq/m - 20kg covers 400sq/m
  

In reality the garden gets plenty of sun and one of the above grass types outgrows all the others by a factor of 10. It's thick and strong and seems to be taking over in places. I try and mulch with the mower but this grass also forms thick 'mats' when cut which seems to smother the smaller grasses below. Raking is difficult due to the angle of the slope.

One conversation my wife remembers having with the seed supplier was that some of the seeds allow the grass to establish quickly ( faster growing ) but the slower 'nicer' grass will eventually take over and push out the faster growing stuff. We thought this may happen in the future but I'm seeing no evidence so far and we are in our second year.

So I'm after advice about anything that can be done to balance out the growth rates etc. Some way of promoting the weaker grasses over the existing dominate type. Any ideas if the dominate grass will slow down in the future ?

Thanks in advance.

 

12 inches is a lot of growth, was the seed supplier a local merchant and did the seed come in a bag that was sealed with the producers identity on it?
Slope work is a pain, I've seen Hoover mowers swinging on ropes at times but you do need to cut often if it's growing quickly as its the only way to keep it in good shape.
The more you cut the less you take off and the better the turf will look. If it's really long and you continue to leave a large amount of cuttings on the lawn this smothers the grass.
As for the grass type unless it's packaged by a recognised supplier it's hard to know what's what.

 

Hi Liz.
probably wasn't 12 inches all over just in a few patches. Lets say 8-9 inches elsewhere. As I say I think it's only one type of grass/seed which is growing at this rate and the finer grasses have grown 2/3 inches.

Seed was from bostonseeds - I think we have the one called 'BS Shady Place Grass Seed'. All bags were sealed. I think we had 3 x 25kg bags.

 

Fescue does not grow that fast. 12 inches in 2 weeks is astonishing.

I've only known forage variety ryegrass to grow that fast.

The cultivars you have mentioned are turf rated.

 

Look like it's going to boil down to regular cutting I'm afraid to say. It may change over time and with temperature changes but it's going to need regular cuts.
Any chance of a photo to see the area in question.
5% smooth meadow grass 10-90cm high
25% chewing fescue grass 20-90cm high
45% strong creeping fescue 22-100cm high
20% hard fescue grass 15-70cm high
5% highland bent grass around 100cm high

These will grow at different rates and there are variables that dictate that but as you can see they all have around the same height distance. I would say it could be more than one type that's growing fast and I could write out more detailed info on each grass type but in reality all you can do is keep on top of it.

See if you can post a pic or two too see what you are up against.

 

You cant have a lawn without cutting the grass

Sure its good exercise!