In 2015, my wife and I became first time homeowners. We still love our home today but the lawn was pretty bad when we moved in. There are mature trees in front and back. A very large Shumard Oak in the front and a Maple and Pecan in the back.
We live in central Oklahoma in what is considered the "transition zone". The U.S. is divided into zones that describe the local climate and it determines types of lawn you can expect to grow. In zones 3-5, it is considered "cool season" and 8+ is "warm season". For those of us in the "transition zone", you can grow either type, but the cool season will require more maintenance and water to succeed.
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| http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ |
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| http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ |
Most of our neighbors are growing bermuda grass, a warm season type, and have nice looking lawns but ours was patchy, at best. The bermuda just cannot thrive under the trees but we enjoy the shade and the trees are a huge part of our attraction to this home. I did a lot of research and attempted to renovate and thought I'd share the process and how I proceeded. It's not perfect but it is miles ahead of where it was. The photos below are from the house listing before we bought in summer 2015 versus late July of 2016. I think it looks even better now but will update once spring arrives and allows me to do a mow. In fact, my new neighbor across the street told me shortly after moving in that my lawn is what he wants his to look like. He has similar challenges with a very large tree.
In the future I'll post the process that led me to this and things I learned. I'll cover zones, measuring the lawn, overseeding, soil testing, mowing practices, nuking the lawn, preemergent, weed control and other things involved with establishing and maintaining a lawn.
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| Early 2015 |
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| July 31, 2016 |
