Native Grass Project: Attack of the Crabs
July 22, 2010 4 Comments
As I wrote about last week, our summer yard project is the establishment of a native grass prairie in our backyard. We were delighted when one week after seeding the first signs of life began emerging from the area. We’ve had a lot of rain since then and now 2 weeks later the area is becoming very green and lush. Almost too lush… (cue dramatic music)
I took some pictures this morning to send along to the seed company.
And a close up of the little monsters
For the unfamiliar, this is crabgrass, scourge of the suburbs. I fired off a quick email to Roundstone Seed this morning and apparently our best option is to do nothing for the time being. If the natives achieve a good height this year (8 inches or more) we can spray a herbicide that will hopefully kill the crabgrass and leave the natives intact.
Ugh.
Gardening is never easy.
Huh, so that’s crabgrass? That might be what most of my front yard is… although it could be St. Augustine or something similar, too. But if it is, I don’t know what the problem with it would be… grass is grass, right? And most of the turf/lawn grasses aren’t native to my area anyway… unless I could find a coastal Virginia native grass mix.
I’ve been trying to do native plants too in my yard, but more the tree & shrub route than the grass route… the less lawn the better, as I see it.
And you’re right: gardening is never easy.
The problem withthe crab grass is really two-fold: 1) It’s prolific and can easily take over a yard and 2) it’s kind of ugly. The concern with our native grass stand is that the crab grass could choke out the other varieties which don’t handle competition very well in the early stages. If they can grow beyond the crab grass to a decent height we can kill it back with a post-emergent herbicide.
I’m sure if you check with your VA ag department you might be able to find a coastal mix. Often you can get yard-size quantities for free.
Ah, yeah, I can see how something prolific and take-overy would be a problem when you’re trying to get specific stuff like native grasses to grow.
I can see how somebody in Louisville would think that, where bluegrass is a big thing.
Where I am now, a bluegrass/fescue mix is really popular. These are both really thin-bladed grasses.
When I was in Florida, the only yard grasses that would grow were bahia and St. Augustine. (The line of demarcation is north of Gainesville or south of Gainesville.) The bahia is a really thick-bladed grass, and it doesn’t have the stringers that St. Augustine does. It’s a really beautiful grass, native to Argentina (think pampas).
My cousin has crabgrass growing all over his yard, and yes it is really difficult to get rid of.