I’ve recently bought a house, and the lawn has been kind of neglected. I’m not entirely sure what grass it’s been planted with, or even if the green stuff is mostly actual grass. There are quite a few bare patches, too. One problem is that the soil appears to be mostly Georgia Red Clay. For those who don’t live in Georgia, it’s very similar to the clay you make terra cotta pots from. Not really the best stuff to plant a lawn in.
Now, I want something that’ll at least keep the whole yard a similar shade of green. The neighborhood isn’t exactly full of meticulous, well-kept lawns, and I’m a bit on the lazy side when it comes to lawn care. The people at the local Home Depot suggested that I take out the weedy lawn completely with Roundup, till the whole thing, fertilize the heck out of it, and then plant some fescue, but that seems like a lot of work and a lot of chemicals. And I’d just be happy with some sort of ground cover as long as it covers my whole lawn, can be kept reasonably short, and isn’t poison ivy or kudzu.
Any suggestions on what I could plant that’ll grow well in clay and the climate surrounding Atlanta?
Your local Agricultural Extension Agent would be an excellent source of free information. Look in the phone directory in the county government listings.
IANAG (I am not a gardener), but… when we moved into our house, the lawn was a mess. We had a landscaper fix it once, and thereafter we took care of it ourselves. He added some stuff called “green sand” to it, here’s a link (bottom of page) for what it is. http://216.122.176.138/garden/tools_tips/99sept-1.htm It sounds like it might be good for clay like you have. Basically you’re going to have to add some good stuff to your soil. Once that’s done, you won’t have to work at it too much. If you’re really lazy and can afford a landscaper, try one.
I saw a commerical the other day for astroturf for the home lawn. Or something like it. Amazing huh? Don’t need soil or maintenance & stays green all the time.
I’m not familiar with Georgia red clay but most clays are very high in nutrients and minerals but it is very hard for plants (in this case, grass) to access those nutrients.
There are a couple of approaches that you can take to dealing with clay soils:
The first is to find plants that don’t mind growing in clay - if the clay soils are endemic to your area then there is likely to be a lot of native plants from your area that have adapted to grow well in it. This is probably the easiest way. Do you have local plant societies and native plant protection groups in the US? If so I’d start talking to them. Otherwise go to your local library and check out the horticulture and gardening sections.
The second main approach is to improve your soil and start over again. You do this by removing all the weeds and crappy grass that are there at the moment (with roundup or by laying big sheets of black plastic down for long enough to kill everything underneath). Then you break down the clay soil by adding gypsum (you can buy it at your local nursery, application rates will be on the container). Next you build the soil up with as much vegetative matter as possible (compost for preference or plant a few green compost crops like peas and dig them back into the soil before they wither). Then plant your new grass.
The type of grass you plant will depend on how much water it will get, how much sun it will get, whether you have pets or children etc.
I would counsel against just putting topsoil over the top of the clay. Either, the smaller, tighter packed grain sizes of the clay will draw all of the water out of the topsoil via capillary action and you will find it very difficult to grow anything in it, or, if the clay is really compacted, it will stop any water flowing through and you’ll end up with a swamp.
Till your yard and add lots of perlite or soil conditioner to keep the clay from clumping - then plant Rebel Fescue.
Cover your yard in mulch, leave just a bit to plant with flowers.
Pave over the whole damn thing.
Use an aerator and then overseed like crazy, water, and hope for the best.
Send samples of the soil to your local county extension office. They will analyze it and tell you what to add.
Check with a master gardener to find out what native plants will thrive in the clay, plant lots of it.
Have some huge rocks brought in and make you entire yard a rock garden with a small fountain in the middle. Put large potted plants around the perimeter.
Unless you hire a landscaper, don’t expect miracles overnight.
I would recommend you go with the Scott’s brand 4 step thing every year once you get your lawn re-established. This is a product you can get at your local Big Friggin’ Home Center.
Personally, I would really try de-weeding first with some kind of weed-and-feed. If you don’t kill the weeds (including crabgrass), anything else you do is for naught as it just sets the cause of new grass back as it advances the further conquest of your lawn by weeds.
Seems to me how exactly you proceed depends on whether the lawn is on a slope or a flat.
A way that might work is (after de-weeding) to get a lot of good seed, use it in an excessive application (as in if they say X covers 2000 ft/sq, assume 500 instead), covering it with a half to whole inch of some good topsoil. Then proceed with step 1 of the Scott’s program (i.e. new lawn fertilizer). Tilling in a soil amendmend would be best, but would be a whole lot of labor.
You’re correct that you have to get the weeds out first. Roundup then till then rake out the weed roots.
the only thing that will modify the georgia clay to make it grow nice grass is to add organic material. Grass clippings help, and decompose readily, and are full of the nutrients needed by, of all things, grass(!) Get bunches of the stuff, spread it out, till it in. Spread more. Till it some more. Spread more. Till it some more.
Try to stay away from lots of leaves- the tannin in some leaves can do damage to your lawn rather than help it.
Bermuda and Zoysia have lots to reccomend them. Zoysia especially is nice, as it chokes out everything else, and grows thick like carpet, and if you don’t water and fertilize it every minute, it only needs cutting about half as much as regular grass.
Yeah it’s brown more than regular grass, but while it’s brown you don’t cut it and it still holds your topsoil in place, and no other weeds can break through. The biggest problem is it takes a LONG time to establish. You can do the same with a mixture of creeping red fescue and kentucky blue, and have grass in about a year, and if you mix in some annual rye you’ll have a lawn in a month.
I’m gonna second what motog said. One caveat: gypsum doesn’t work on all types of clay. This page has a test you can do easily to see gypsum will help.
You could also try asking at the Lawn Care forum at GardenWeb.
IMHO lawns are very over-rated. They take huge amonts of time and gobs of money just to keep an area that you never use looking green. Not to mention the water that you have to pour out of your wallet to keep the nasty stuff growing. And if you do suceed in growing a healthy lawn guess what you get to mow it every week.
Take my advise and don’t drop a couple of hundred just to get your little mini desert to sprout. Go with the flow and find something else to decorate your property with. Onr possibility is to use landscaping stone of some kind punctuated with shrubs and other perrenials. Very low maintenance, very attractive, very drought resistant and very inexpensive.
IMHO lawns are very over-rated. They take huge amonts of time and gobs of money just to keep an area that you never use looking green. Not to mention the water that you have to pour out of your wallet to keep the nasty stuff growing. And if you do suceed in growing a healthy lawn guess what you get to mow it every week.
Take my advise and don’t drop a couple of hundred just to get your little mini desert to sprout. Go with the flow and find something else to decorate your property with. Onr possibility is to use landscaping stone of some kind punctuated with shrubs and other perrenials. Very low maintenance, very attractive, very drought resistant and very inexpensive.
You should also look at what we call Jungle Grass in Calif. AKA St Augustine’s grass. This stuff is green all year & it grows like a thick thatch & true to it’s name, it grows like a jungle grass.
ZenBeam, good point, I’d forgotten all about dispersion tests. It’s been a very long time since I did Soil 101 and these days I just tend to add gypsum to clay soils as a matter of course.
Thanks, everyone. I’ll check with the Agricultural Extension about what’ll naturally grow in the area. To answer the questions that cropped up:
Yes, this lawn has a lot of sun.
Even having the weeds take over would be an improvement in some places. It’s occasionally bare clay - which seems to be somewhat common around the neighborhood.
Azalias (I can’t spell!) and other perenials might not be a bad idea. Maybe even an apple tree in the middle of the yard. Some of the bare patches are in the shade though… maybe those should get some hostas and mulch.
kudzu. 
