How To Lawn Care

Zoysia grass has always appealed to me. I saw it many times before I actually realized it. Zoysia is commonly used on many golf courses and more recently on baseball fields. Well, through happenstance one summer afternoon, I came across the real thing- Zoysia grass.

>My wife and I were at a local grass farm looking to buy some St. Augustine sod grass for our new home. Unfortunately, many home builders these days in an effort to keep their costs down do not sod the backyard. New home builders- now that is a subject that I can write about all day long and I don't mean just sod grass. Let me keep moving on with my grass buying experience.

Our first exposure to Zoysia grass was when we were shown the pallets of St. Augustine and Bermuda grass. We were not interested in Bermuda, but the person showing us the facilities of their grass farm thought we might consider it as an alternative. Next to the Bermuda sod was a single pallet of Zoysia Emerald sod cut in 18 inch by 24 inch rectangles. As he was giving us the prices and delivery options, I could not help but notice how beautiful the Zoysia was.

From that point forward, all questions were on Zoysia. A few basics about the type we were looking at which was Zoysia Emerald were:
1. the price was almost double that of St. Augustine
2. it grows much slower than St. Augustine and even slower than Bermuda
3. it does not recover quickly
4. it is best mowed with a reel mower rather than a rotary mower

Noting three out of the four on the list were negatives I felt we should rethink buying Zoysia.

The hesitation was short lived. It was just to pretty. I couldn't help but think of how nice the whole yad would look covered in a carpet like grass. Family gatherings often mean barbeque in the backyard.I know young and old alike would enjoy the soft cushion feel from the short Zoysia grass during a leisure outing. Envisioning a few moments like that was all it took to convince myself that whatever the negatives were the outcome would be worth it.

So, we placed our order for four pallets of Zoysia Emerald that day before we left the grass farm. It arrived the following day and two days later we had our new golf course like lawn. Four years later, we are still receiving compliments from friends as well as strangers passing by. With all the trials and tribulations of the related lawn maintenance, I can say we are still very happy that we made the decision of laying Zoysia Emerald grass instead of St. Augustine.

Author: Dirk Battle
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