Simple Bermuda Grass Lawn Care Tricks
Bermuda grass is a low growing, uncomplicated, durable choice for southern lawns. Being a warm season grass it is both heat and drought tolerant while requiring less water than most other varieties. Which combines to give you a dense, medium green, low maintenance yard. All its positive qualities makes it an ideal choice for yards getting plenty of foot traffic from kids and pets.
This easy care strain fares well with the least bit of attention. You'll want to attend to any thatch buildup you see as well as make use of a core aerator each spring as your grass emerges from its dormancy. This will make deeper water penetration easier.
Even though it's drought resistant, Bermuda grass responds well to watering. An inch of water applied as needed will encourage deeper root development better enabling it to survive periods of drought.
Bermuda is a sun loving strain of grass. To look it's best it requires full sun for most of the day. So do not go and plant some in the shade and act all disappointed in the results. Frankly it performs poorly in the shade. But give it plenty of sun and watch out. You'll get a durable, tight turf that can stand up to wear better than most.
When it comes to the height to mow at shorter is better. When it is vigorously growing in the summer cut off about of third of the blade length keeping it at an inch or so high. If you get out the mower a couple times a week you should be rewarded with a dense even looking lawn.
Being a warm season grass you want to begin fertilizing when it has started actively growing and is 50 percent green in spring. That will help it take off. Then feed it again in the fall. In general it's best to apply nitrogen at the rate of 1-2 pounds per 1,000 square feet. per year. Even so this variety will adapt well to somewhat infertile soil that drains well.
Once your Bermuda grass lawn is established, it will pretty much choke out competing weeds. Regular mowing also helps slow down any weeds by slicing off their flower heads that ultimately lead to seeds and more weeds.
As the seasons change, don't be surprised if your Bermuda grass takes on a brownish cast as it goes dormant. Those that prefer green grass will over seed with perennial rye and not miss a beat. Others enjoy the break from mowing and will just wait for warmer weather to rejuvenate their lawn to its prior luster.
You could say the many attractive qualities of Bermuda grass account for it's popularity with yard masters. Whether that's the innate ability as a heat loving grass to make due with less water or it's ability to repel weeds on it's own I'm not sure. But most find it to be quite a hardy, durable and irrepressible grass that's good enough to stake their reputation on.
