Week 8

The grass is really taking off now. We have had some warm weather, and I am seeing progress almost every day. Some areas are starting to look like an actual lawn, and these photos show the progress that has been made in just the last couple of weeks. This first photo is a similar view to the first photo in week 5, and the difference is obvious.

Week 7

Week 7 was the best week so far. Some patches are starting to fill in, as you can see in the photos.

I am still watering most days, and keeping on top of the weeds.

Week 6

Definite progress in week 6, which is starting to show up in the photos:

Week 5

I have fallen behind in by blog postings, but I have been taking new photos every week.

Week 5 was not much different than week 4. Here a few photos:

The photos don't look to impressive, but I was continuing to see signs of spreading runners.

Week 4

This is the first week of real visible progress. The runners are spreading exponentially now, and a few areas are starting to show signs of filling in, as shown in this photo:

Here is another close-up:

The weather is starting to warm up, so hopefully this will encourage more growth. I am still watering well, but starting to cut back just a llittle.

Week 3

The plugs have definitely rooted now. I can tug on them at full strength and they do not budge. The runners are continuing to spread and grow. With all the watering, small weeds are starting to be an issue, but I am finding that spending an hour a week pulling weeds keeps them at bay. I don't want to try any weed killer because I don't want to damage the plugs or runners, but with my small yard, my approach seems manageable.

The instructions on caring for the grass say you should start mowing once the plugs are established. I don't feel ready to mow yet, but I have started trimming the plugs with clippers.

Definite progress is being made, but is still not showing up in the high level photo:

This close-up shows the progress of the runners which are continuing to spread and become more grass-like:

Week 2

After two weeks the plugs seem to be rooting fairly well, and the runners continue to attach to the ground. The weather is fairly cool, so I am not expecting to much growth right away. As long as the plugs continue to establish themselves I will be happy.

Once again, the overall view has not changed:

This closeup shows the runners beginning to grow:

Week 1

After a week, the plugs were still alive, which was goal number 1. Some of the runners had started to attach themselves to the ground, so I considered the first week to be a success.

Here is a photo after week 1 - not much visible difference:

Here is a close-up of plugs and runners:

I have been watering very well to help get the plugs established.

Planting

The planting went extremely smoothly. It took only a couple of hours to plant 256 plugs. The drill bit was worth every penny. It would have taken a lot longer without it.

The day before planting, I had mixed up some of the Zeba root dip, and I dipped each plug in it as I planted them.

Here is a photo right after planting:

I immediately watered the plugs really well, and kept up the watering every day.

Ordering And Shipping

I ordered my UC Verde buffalo grass from Takao Nursery:  http://ucverdebuffalograss.com/

The people there were extremely helpful. I had a few questions about shipping, and they answered all my questions very quickly. I would highly recommend ordering from them.

I placed my order on a Thursday, and it shipped the following Tuesday via FedEx Ground.

The grass arrived in San Diego on Wednesday, and since my planting day was Friday, I just had to keep the plugs watered for a couple of days before planting.

This is what my two trays of plugs looked like

Some of the plugs already had runners growing - you can see some of them if you look closely at the photo above. I was not expecting this, but was happy because I thought this would speed up the spreading process.

Preparation

I spent October through February killing off and digging up my old lawn. I killed off the grass using Roundup. I then dug up the dead grass and cleared  the area, I then spent some time killing off weeds that sprouted up - again using Roundup. Once it was almost planting time, I graded the yard and laid down some Scott's topsoil containing starter fertilizer.

Next step.... ordering the grass.

Planning

UC Verde buffalo grass is planted as plugs which then spread by sending out runners. The planting season is March through August because the grass grows during the warm weather of the summer.

I decided to plant my grass in late March, giving the weather a chance to warm up a little, but also giving me the whole summer for the grass to grow and spread before going dormant. I also thought that by planting early in the season, the plugs would have a chance to establish roots before the hot summer weather hit.

There are a limited number of places that you can purchase UC Verde buffalo grass from. I chose Takao Nursery, located in Fresno:

http://ucverdebuffalograss.com/

 The plugs are sold in trays of 128, with the recommendation of 1 plug per square foot. Since my lawn area is 230 sq ft, two trays seemed like the right number to order. Takao Nursery also sells a drill bit to drill holes of the right size, and Zeba root dip, which helps retain water for the plugs when they are first planted.

So, after figuring out what I was going to do, the next step would be to dig up my old lawn, prepare the soil for plating, and wait until March.

Introduction

I live in San Diego and I have a small back yard (230 sq ft). My lawn has been in place since 1996, and over the years the quality of the lawn has gotten worse and worse. I had tried rehabilitating it by reseeding portions of the lawn, but eventually I realized I was fighting a losing battle.

Last October I finally gave up on my lawn and spent an afternoon researching alternate ground coverings. I wanted to have a lawn of some type if possible, and I also wanted something living, so I did not want to go to an artificial lawn. Eventually I stumbled on UC Verde Buffalo Grass, and I quickly realized that this was the best option for me.

Buffalo Grass is a drought-tolerant warm season grass that is native to the North American plains.  UC Verde Buffalo Grass is a variation that was developed by UC Davis and UC Riverside specifically for the California climate. The features that were appealing to me are that it requires significantly less water than other grasses, and that it requires less mowing. Also, it spreads through putting out runners, which should minimize bare patches, and therefore help prevent weed growth, which is one of the problems I have been having with my current lawn.

The downside to UC Verde Buffalo Grass is that it goes dormant in winter, so the lawn will turn partially brown. This is not a big deal to me, since I lawn is only in my back yard, and I don't mind f it turns brown for a couple of months a year.

More information on UC Verde Buffalo Grass can be found at the following sites:

http://ucverdebuffalograss.com/

http://www.ucverde.com/UC_Verde_Buffalograss/Why_UC_Verde_Buffalograss.html

http://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/projects/uc-verde-buffalograss/uc-verde-buffalograss

So, the decision had been made, and the next step was to figure out how to make this happen.