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New England Gardening

Need advice on timing to plant annual rye grass on bank

12 years ago

I have about 100 feet of a 20 foot high bank that I want to plant. My local nursery suggests planting annual rye grass (with a hydro mat mat) and some wildflower seed.

As it is mid-June, should I wait until late August- early September to plant or should I plant now. Note that it will be very difficult to water this area.

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Comments (4)

pixie_lou
12 years ago
I would wait until early September.

After our septic was put in 4 years ago, we had to redo about 5,000 sf of lawn. It was put in in late June. I had to water every day for weeks, and then every other day for the rest of the summer. Total PITA. Plus we ended up with a lot of weeds in that grass. I'm still dealing with problem areas in that part of the lawn.
runktrun
12 years ago
Kurchian,
The advice from your local nursery was to plant Annual rye grass with some wildflower seed. The annual rye seed would only grow this year and would not return or re-seed for next year in your zone. This is a quick temporary fix for your bank. To be clear there are different types of rye grass seed, perennial, winter, annual, etc and annual rye grass seed will not return next year or re-seed but will grow quickly with adequate water and sun and could provide a grassy area for this midsummer though fall .
I suspect the recommendation for a hydro mat was due to your comment that the area is difficult to water. You might estimate the cost of the mat for your square footage as I suspect it could be pretty costly.
What is your long term goal for this area?
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Excellent points from gardenbear. Clover makes a nice permanent "turf." Your watering is way off. What you are doing is encouraging very shallow roots. What you need is very deep roots to handle the heat. In order to get deep roots you need to space out the intervals and water longer. We talk about deep and infrequent as the basic guidelines for watering. Deep means one full inch all at one time. Watering at 4 and 5 is still considered "all at one time." Just don't water 1/7 inch every day. Infrequent means once per month in the cool months and once per week in the heat of summer. By watering deep and then not watering for a long time, the grass roots will dive deeper looking for that water stored deeper in the soil. You cannot go cold turkey to get to deep and infrequent. Start by stretching the interval and watering a little longer. You should also measure how much your sprinkler puts out in 15 minutes. Actually use tuna or cat food cans to measure how long it takes to fill them. That is an inch. My system takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. My neighbor takes 15 minutes. You really need to measure your own system. Deep watering will be better for any trees you have left, too. NOW is the time to redo your lawn. Spring is NOT the time to redo your lawn. If you want to do a real lawn renovation, start now. For 700 square feet it should not be much work. Let us know if that is what you want to do.
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Thanks a lot for all the responses. I have purchased the rye grass seed and I will overseed it very soon. I am concerned about weakening the existing grass, but I just have to try and see this year and decide whether it is better to have the bermuda weakened or to put up with brown grass half of the year. :) Anyway, before I go ahead, I have some final questions in my mind: #1 Here is the current state of my lawn. It is not completely dormant I guess, but almost. Do you think it is better to wait a bit more so that it goes completely dormant, or should I overseed it right now? The weather is expected to be around high 60's (F), max 70F during the day and mid 50's (F), minimum 53- 54 (F) during the night until the end of October. #2 The place that I purchased the seed advised me to apply the seed at a rate of 30 g. per square meters (approx. 6.5 lb per 1000 sq. feet). Is this a good amount? #3 After I overseed, I know I have to water frequently, but refrain from creating a pond on top. Here, the soil is always wet now in the mornings because of the dew, so I suppose, watering early in the morning and at night isn't necessary? Is once midday and once early in the evening with the sprinkler system sufficient? #4 I believe my current grass is not common bermuda, but a variety instead (more dense and thinner and finer looking blades). Is it possible to identify it? Here are two more closer pictures:
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Nope, perennial rye grass will grow in the fall/winter/spring in zone 8b Alabama, but not in the summer. It's considered a 'cool season' grass and not adapted for permanent use in warm climates. Thus, 'perennial' rye isn't perennial in your location. You COULD sow some ANNUAL as a 'nurse grass' over the winter. I do suggest annual rye for this use, not perennial. It will thrive in cool temperatures and hold the soil in place. Then, you could sow something over the top of the rye next spring...a warm season grass such as common Bermuda or Bahia. When the rye begins to die back in the heat, your permanent grass will be coming up like crazy as the soil temperatures really warm up. You don't have a lot of choices for permanent warm season grasses that are available as seed. The two I mention are tough, resilient, heat and drought tolerant, etc. You might want to call your local extension for advice on any new, better introductions of varieties. It's been a long time since I had to spec out a large seeding project and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some improvements in varieties. Remember, site and soil prep is important when when sowing grass seed. You'll want to make sure that the area is prepared to receive the seed. You sure don't want to end up with a bumpy, uneven grassy area full of holes or soggy low spots. I hope that you'll be able to get some water out to this location during the grow-in process.
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kurchian
Original Author
12 years ago
My long term goal for this area is little or no maintenance and something that look halfway attractive. It is an area adjacent to a school parking lot. So it is highly visible. It is choked with weeds now.
pixie_lou
12 years ago
Good catch runktrun - I didn't even notice the word annual in there.

I've been using blue rug juniper to hold some bankings in place. It is a slow grower - I'm planning on 5 years until the areas are fully covered. But it is low/no maintenance. Plant the juniper in wet holes and water a week later if it doesn't rain. Then I add fertilizer every spring.

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