Lawns Fit for a President

Lawns Fit for a President

A backyard briefing from the White House Groundskeepers

You may not have to worry about helicopters leaving holes in your lawn or hundreds of reporters trampling through your rose garden, but White House horticulturists have some tips for starting and maintaining a lawn that will work anywhere.

What steps should be followed in starting a healthy lawn?

The first thing is preparing the soil. Depending on your soil, you may have to add some nitrogen-rich fertilizer, but not too rich – say 8 to 12 percent -otherwise you'll promote top growth at the expense of root growth. Then you rototill it out and grade it following the contours of the yard. The next step is to seed and fertilize, generally about 1 pound of fertilizer and 6 pounds of grass seed per 1,000 square feet. After that, the most important thing is to keep the seed wet until germination, which takes two weeks in most cases.

When grass appears, what should be done?

Once it gets to be about 3 inches tall, cut it to 2 inches and after that start mowing it to about 3 inches. Don't spray for weeds until you've mowed it three or four times, otherwise you might damage the grass before it's established itself.

Once your lawn is established, what is the best maintenance schedule?

Mow once or twice a week after that. Also water once or twice a week.

Drought Resistors: According to the Lawn Institute, the following grasses do well in dry climates – Excellent: Buffalograss, Blue gama, Bermudagrss. Good: Fairway wheatgrass, Smooth brome, Western wheatgrass, fine fescue. Picture by Elena.

What about fertilizer?

Fertilizer is important. Even in the heat of the summer, keep putting it down at a half-rate so you establish more root growth than top growth – especially if you're watering, because constant watering leaches nutrients from the soil.

You've got to be careful when you're watering in the summer, particularly at night. That's when you run into your fungus problems caused by standing water and high humidity. Conditions are just right for a fungus to drop in.

Is it harmful to water your grass during extreme heat?

We've heard that, too. But it's better to cool it down during the heat of the day. It takes stress off the grass and keeps the roots from coming up to the top instead of driving down.

Come fall, how should a lawn be prepared for winter?

In late August and early September of the lawn's first year, and every four or five years after that, you might want to rent a thatching machine to remove the lower layer of thatch (dead grass) and put down some more fertilizer and seed. That should get you ready for winter and a healthy lawn for next spring. Once your program is going, things should fall in place.