on Bing Laying Grass in the Autumn in a Dry, Mediterranean atmosphere
The grass types grown for lawns in hot dry climates, are ordinarily perennial species and varieties, favorable unsurprisingly, for hot dry summers. These species such as Bermuda, Zoysia or St Augustine grass, are often dormant while the winter, and if laid as turf too close to the onset of winter, will fail to root in time.
Laying Grass in the Autumn in a Dry, Mediterranean atmosphere
This is fairly well known, yet nonetheless, I'm often anxiously urged by customers setting up a orchad in autumn to put down an "instant" lawn because they've heard that even if the turf has yet to institute roots, it should get through the winter, and then start to institute roots when the weather warms up in the spring. There is unfortunately enough truth in this concept for it to carry weight and persuade citizen that there's no need to wait and to look at bare soil and mud through the winter. literally there are excellent reasons for not laying turf at this time of year, while there is way of overcoming the bare earth issue as well. Firstly as to why I think turfing is a fully bad idea, when winter is about a month away.
* As the grass has yet to root, it should not be walked on let alone used as a functioning lawn for playing, sitting and entertaining. This means that it just "sits" uselessly.
* Many perennial warm atmosphere species lose their color under normal circumstances when the temperatures drop. Some like the Zoysia and Bermuda varieties often look like straw even in frost-free areas. So turf sod which is not even attached to the soil has literally no aesthetic value.
* Masses of winter weed seeds will germinate and grow in the "lawn" because the grass is too week to inhibit them. While weeds will inevitably grow in an established lawn as well, these can literally be controlled by the occasional mowing. Not so of policy in the case of disconnected turf, and by springtime, the area is liable to be smothered in weeds, which in turn added decelerate the development of the new grass. Turf laid in the autumn is liable therefore to struggle far more than one laid the following spring.
* In warm, dry spells, coarse to Mediterranean winters, the rootless grass has to be irrigated, a criminal waste of water, when the sprinklers should be turned off fully for the duration of the winter.
So if you are planting a new orchad in the fall, does it mean that the area designated for a lawn has to be bare and horrible for some four or five months? Happily the write back is No! My hint is to make a temporary winter lawn by sowing seeds of a cool season yearly grass. The seeds should germinate within a incorporate of weeks, and the area can be green and grassy after about a month. The winter grass can then be literally removed when it's time to lay the permanent perennial sod.
