Interesting article thanks for posting. I've been wondering about sugaring my lawn and garden for some time. Tried it in one place and the following year got a rare mushroom called a phallus on the spot - coincidence? I wanted to quickly build my sometimes sandy sometimes calcified clay into a living soil and thought of the dark soil under the wild apple trees. This story reveals what the sugar is actually doing. I thought sugar would increase nitrogen and humus. That it would indirectly feed the worms but I worried about a yeasty over bloom. At one pound per yard without damage I see I can be very generous with the sugar. It strikes me as very useful. The microorganisms that fix nitrogen do so best in a low nitrogen environment. Therefore soil once treated can help nitrogen fixing plants and their fellow bacteria get back to work sequestering carbon. For myself I think I will try sweeting some compost tea + nitrogen because I want to get life deep into my ground. The real down side is sugar is the energy and inputs and subsidies that went into producing and transporting it. As far as weeds go - its the grass that is the weed. I have a grass that grows roots down more than a foot and infiltrates my perennials. With the exception of dandelions I like all the broad leaf plants in my lawn: johny jump ups, lupin, clover and crocus please.

Plowing is the same thing as tilling, and both can turn up "weed" seeds that might germinate. Your mother did what many of us do with "weeds" if we don't gather them up and compost them, although there are thos neat freaks that cannot bear to see this kind of messy garden and have this strong need to throw away those "weeds" and the nutrients the took from the soil and which you will need to replace.

That's the way you water fescue in SoCal. Kikuyu in Whittier should go for 2 weeks, easy, with no irrigation in the heat of summer. The reason the state used it in the roadways is that it needs minimal care. Here's the basics of watering for normal turf. With kikuyu you should be able to stretch it out longer. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. With kikuyu you might be able to go cold turkey with this watering. Do the can test for a full inch and watch to see if/when it starts to look wilted. It's going to go a lot longer than you think.

'm told by the Florida Department of Transportation, who uses this along our highways, Their recipe, Per gallon of water, Fusilade (2 0z), Plateau (2 oz) and 1/2 oz Methyl Seed Oil or Ethylated Vegetable Oil } Unfortunately I cannot locate smaller than 1 gallon of the first two ingredients and the larger volumes bring the recipe to nearly $300. I'm still searching for a better solution. The weeds are over running my 400 peanut plugs!