Home Garden.
By Bob Bayes
http://www.qualitygardens.biz/
qualitygardens2004@yahoo.co.uk
Can a Lawn be Environmentally Friendly?
Many of you will have tried, with various degrees of success, to grow a lawn here on Crete. Those of you who have will appreciate, not only the work involved, but also the am
ount of resources required to grow a lush green lawn.
In northern Europe a lawn is a standard feature in many gardens and it is relatively easy to produce a year round green sward. It is only when grass is put under stress (such as on a sports field or during severe droughts) do we encounter problems. Little wonder then that many ‘expats’ yearn for just a little of the green, green grass of home.
Unfortunately, the Cretan climate is not conducive to grass growing all the year round. A Cretan lawn is growing under stressful conditions for much of the year, which is asking for trouble. Indeed, for about six months of the year it requires so much water to just to keep it green it is the cause of great debate whether a lawn should even be considered for a Cretan garden.
Other negatives for growing grass are the amount of pesticides and herbicides that are required to combat all those invasive pests that lawns are susceptible to. And, you’ve guessed it, a stressed lawn is less able to withstand weed and pest attacks than a strong and healthy one.
Early attempts to grow grass used similar seed mixtures as those that thrive in n
orthern Europe, but obviously these did not thrive during the hot, dry summers. On the island of Bermuda a grass was being developed that withstood the heat and dry conditions better than most other grasses. This was, of course, Bermuda grass, which spread to the island during colonial days from the bedding used on slave ships (the Greek name of Uganda is a better indication of it’s true origins of Africa). Bermuda grass is now in widespread use in many of the seed mixes used here on Crete, or is often sown alone for a summer lawn and over seeded as necessary during the autumn with a fescue or rye grass to give winter greenness.
Bermuda grass is the only one of the ‘warm season grasses’ that I have seen here on Crete. In America and Australia it is possible to obtain such exotic sounding grasses as Zoysia, Kikuyu, St. Augustine’s and Centipede. All the above named grasses are available in numerous different cultivars and these are improving all the time.
Those of you that do grow Bermuda grass lawns will, however, still agree that the lawn still requires lots of water to keep it at its best. Another grass that found its way around the world on slave ships just may be the answer.
Seashore Paspalum started to be investigated as a turf grass in the 50s and 60s and, with the aid of University studies at such places as Florida and Georgia in the United States, cultivars have been developed that are now in widespread use on golf courses, sports fields and lawns around the world. It is claimed to have many advantages over Bermuda grass some of which are:
The ability to withstand drought (it is claimed to only have 50% of the water requirements of Bermuda).
Salt tolerance, it is so salt tolerant that, with proper management. It can be watered with seawater. It is, however, more usual for irrigation water to be diluted seawater or part treated (so called grey water) effluent water. Neither of which Bermuda can withstand.
Because of this salt tolerance plain salt or seawater can be used as an herbicide treatment.
It is claimed to require only 75% of the nitrogen applications as Bermuda.
So what are the disadvantages? There must be a catch! Well the biggest one tha
t I can see is cost. Until recently it was only possible to buy Seashore Paspalum as plugs or sprigs (small clumps of grass that have to be planted). Obviously an expensive method of obtaining a lawn. The costs are exaggerated by shipping costs and the licence fees paid to the certified growers. Still golf complexes the world over see it as a cost effective grass when they consider the amount and type of water it requires. What else can they do with their waste water?
I have found a source of the first cultivar of the grass available as seed. Even this, however, is not cheap. Currently about one and a halftimes the cost of basic Bermuda grass, but what price the environment?
As a footnote it may be worth noting that Seashore Paspalum is the grass that is intended to be used on the proposed Cavo Sidero golf complex here on Crete.
By Bob Bayes
http://www.qualitygardens.biz/
qualitygardens2004@yahoo.co.uk
Can a Lawn be Environmentally Friendly?
Many of you will have tried, with various degrees of success, to grow a lawn here on Crete. Those of you who have will appreciate, not only the work involved, but also the am
ount of resources required to grow a lush green lawn.In northern Europe a lawn is a standard feature in many gardens and it is relatively easy to produce a year round green sward. It is only when grass is put under stress (such as on a sports field or during severe droughts) do we encounter problems. Little wonder then that many ‘expats’ yearn for just a little of the green, green grass of home.
Unfortunately, the Cretan climate is not conducive to grass growing all the year round. A Cretan lawn is growing under stressful conditions for much of the year, which is asking for trouble. Indeed, for about six months of the year it requires so much water to just to keep it green it is the cause of great debate whether a lawn should even be considered for a Cretan garden.
Other negatives for growing grass are the amount of pesticides and herbicides that are required to combat all those invasive pests that lawns are susceptible to. And, you’ve guessed it, a stressed lawn is less able to withstand weed and pest attacks than a strong and healthy one.
Early attempts to grow grass used similar seed mixtures as those that thrive in n
orthern Europe, but obviously these did not thrive during the hot, dry summers. On the island of Bermuda a grass was being developed that withstood the heat and dry conditions better than most other grasses. This was, of course, Bermuda grass, which spread to the island during colonial days from the bedding used on slave ships (the Greek name of Uganda is a better indication of it’s true origins of Africa). Bermuda grass is now in widespread use in many of the seed mixes used here on Crete, or is often sown alone for a summer lawn and over seeded as necessary during the autumn with a fescue or rye grass to give winter greenness.Bermuda grass is the only one of the ‘warm season grasses’ that I have seen here on Crete. In America and Australia it is possible to obtain such exotic sounding grasses as Zoysia, Kikuyu, St. Augustine’s and Centipede. All the above named grasses are available in numerous different cultivars and these are improving all the time.
Those of you that do grow Bermuda grass lawns will, however, still agree that the lawn still requires lots of water to keep it at its best. Another grass that found its way around the world on slave ships just may be the answer.
Seashore Paspalum started to be investigated as a turf grass in the 50s and 60s and, with the aid of University studies at such places as Florida and Georgia in the United States, cultivars have been developed that are now in widespread use on golf courses, sports fields and lawns around the world. It is claimed to have many advantages over Bermuda grass some of which are:
The ability to withstand drought (it is claimed to only have 50% of the water requirements of Bermuda).
Salt tolerance, it is so salt tolerant that, with proper management. It can be watered with seawater. It is, however, more usual for irrigation water to be diluted seawater or part treated (so called grey water) effluent water. Neither of which Bermuda can withstand.
Because of this salt tolerance plain salt or seawater can be used as an herbicide treatment.
It is claimed to require only 75% of the nitrogen applications as Bermuda.
So what are the disadvantages? There must be a catch! Well the biggest one tha
t I can see is cost. Until recently it was only possible to buy Seashore Paspalum as plugs or sprigs (small clumps of grass that have to be planted). Obviously an expensive method of obtaining a lawn. The costs are exaggerated by shipping costs and the licence fees paid to the certified growers. Still golf complexes the world over see it as a cost effective grass when they consider the amount and type of water it requires. What else can they do with their waste water?I have found a source of the first cultivar of the grass available as seed. Even this, however, is not cheap. Currently about one and a halftimes the cost of basic Bermuda grass, but what price the environment?
As a footnote it may be worth noting that Seashore Paspalum is the grass that is intended to be used on the proposed Cavo Sidero golf complex here on Crete.
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