There is no treat-and-forget solution where it has been well-established in a lawn. It requires constant vigilence like being a lawn security guard. I've tried the oxalis-destroyer but fear it has made matters worse. The problem is that the chemical stresses out the lawn grass while it is attempting to control its targeted foe and a stressed lawn makes it that much easier for any weed to take hold. So you may need to just live with a slightly brown lawn until the violets have succumbed. Fall treatment followed by the following Spring is the best success and figure on a few years followed by close monitoring and more treatments when new eruptions occur. Use a surfactant to help break the wax (yes, the violet leaves have been preparing for our attack for thousands of years). And before you violet sympathizers begin to suffer the effrontery of eradicating this natural botanical... try to understand and sympathize with the lawn maintainers. Homeowners who spend years planting and caring for a lawn (in this context, "lawn" means grass!) resent any invader that seeks to undo all their efforts and expense which created the lawn in the first place. It's not the occasional tuft of violets that is at issue but rather an entire lawn covered to the point where the grass has been all but eliminated. If we wanted a field covered with violets we would have planted them in the first place. And trying to bag clippings is near impossible because violet leaves do not shear like grass and discharge through the chute. They create a slurry of green sludge that must be removed from the bag by hand or with a trowel. There is a difference between coexisting and invading. Wild violets are about as invasive a weed as there is and confounds lawn care all over the country. They have ceased to be "cute" additions to a cultured environment.

Fairway and Ephraim are improved varieties of crested wheatgrass. Crested wheatgrass is not native to North America, but is well adapted to the the arid/semi arid areas of the intermountain west. Crested wheatgrass comes from Siberia originally and was introduced to North America in the early 20th century. Older varieties are bunch grasses, but improved varieties such as Fairway and Ephraim spread by rhizomes (although you may need to water a little to get the spreading to occur) Western and Streambank wheatgrass are native to the area and both are rhizomatous. Western wheatgrass is more difficult to establish and looks less like a lawn grass than the other options because it is almost blue in color and has slightly wider blades. The advantage it has is that it develops really deep roots and stays green much longer. Crested wheatgrass is probably the fastest and easiest to establish and streambank wheatgrass falls somewhere between the other two. If it's going to be a play area for kids, I'd be a little wary of clover for two reasons. For one thing, it will attract bees. For another, it can stain clothes. If you decide to use it, you may want to use Palestine strawberry clover. Strawberry clover is similar to Dutch White clover in appearance and growth (the flowers have a slight strawberry shade to them). It does better in alkaline soils than DWC, but isn't as drought tolerant (but Palestine is the most drought tolerant of the strawberry clovers). I wouldn't till, especially on the slope, where it may cause erosion. If you can water to establish the seed, you could plant right after the heat breaks. Depending on your first frost, that may be pushing it for the western wheatgrass, but the crested and streambank germinate faster. I'd water for three weeks (adjusting for rain) even if you see germination before that. You'll want to try to keep the surface moist the whole time if possible. One option might be to get a little crested and streambank wheatgrass down to hold the soil in place, then do a dormant seeding with all three. Or you may opt to skip the western wheatgrass altogether. The crested and streambank wheatgrass probably look more like traditional lawn grasses than the western wheatgrass does. If your precipitation patterns are like ours (and it sounds like they are), if you don't water at all, your lawn will likely go domrant in mid to late July and spring back in September. Last year, I watered three times. So far this year, I've watered once. I'll probably water again toward the end of July (unless we get some rain before then) and then once in August. My lawn stays mostly green if I water it three times a summer. I'm hoping that as the grass matures, I may be able to cut back to two times a summer, but that may be wishful thinking. Once you get these grasses established, you'll want to make sure you don't overwater them. You don't have to get as extreme as I have with water, but I wouldn't water more than every other week or they'll probably suffer and maybe even die. They can withstand the spring and fall water they'll get from nature, but really do best when they don't get too much.

Thanks for the input SoTX. I'm going to check out the New Zealand white type.. 5 days from sowing: RE: Clover Lawn Performance in the Long Run? Posted by: fingersoup (My Page) on Wed, Sep 7, 11 at 21:45 Just a quick update.. From QuickCam RE: Clover Lawn Performance in the Long Run? Posted by: fingersoup (My Page) on Wed, Sep 14, 11 at 12:30 RE: Clover Lawn Performance in the Long Run? Posted by: fingersoup 7 (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 22:23 Sorry I haven't updated this recently. I totally forgot about this post. -- A year later: From May 29, 2012 Something that I ran into that I haven't seen much discussion about on here is rot. - In the spring when the humidity was high, I had patches simply "melt" with rot.. so that is something to consider depending on your area. (This pic above is actually VERY flattering as it is more blotchy in person.) I have over-seeded twice since the previous above pictures and the result has been less than impressive. I think that I am going to kill it this fall and put in grass. Overall, the coverage is not great and even in the areas where there is full coverage - it still looks unkempt.. so much work and money wasted. Post a Follow-Up Your Name: Your Email Address: Zone (optional): Subject of Posting: Message: Optional Link URL: Name of the Link: Return to the Organic Gardening Forum

Mowing height has nothing to do with the use of organic or synthetic fertilizers. Most grasses should be mowed at the mower's highest setting. Kentucky bluegrass should be mowed at 3 inches (lower than the highest setting). Bermuda, bentgrass, and centipede should be mowed at the lowest setting. Those are most suited to a reel type mower.