The grass is always greener...

Coming from the Northeast where excellent soil conditions were somewhat easily achieved, I had no idea what I was in for when I move to the Lowcountry. An avid gardner, I fancied myself a pretty advanced green thumb. A title that would soon be stripped when I moved to the Lowcountry. There was a whole new set of rules to gardening here. I soon built my first home and eagerly purchased about $500 of plants to showcase my new back yard. I amended the soil somewhat and quickly planted my favorite plants.  Everything looked great....for about a week. The leaves scorched by the sun even though the tags of my new plants said 6 or more hours of sun per day and yet when I pulled them out of the ground I was amazed to find them sitting in water. Yet immediatly to the left or right, the soil seemed as if my daughter brought half the beach home. I was at a loss. I then made the mistake of having "screened" top soil trucked in which presented a whole other set of issues. The weeds that had graciously found themselves in my new nutrient laden flower beds had taken on a life of their own. I had become a slave to my weeds and no longer had the time to worry that I had no plants to care for. 

Now, the natural chemistry that goes on in your soil changes subtly with the seasons as grass clipings decompose, nutrients break down and soil ages.  Different kinds of plants need different kinds of soil chemistry to thrive.  Soils are classified as acid, neutral or alkaline, depending on their chemical reaction.  That reaction determines how much of each nutrient will  available to the plant.

Recently we purchased a lot and put a home on it. We are now "in the country" as my husband lovingly refers to it. Left with nothing but dirt after the septic and the well went it, we tried unsuccesfully for over a year to grow grass and nothing I mean NOTHING thrived. We have beautiful Oaks that provide the perfect landscape only these beautiful creatures strip the lime from the soil and without it nothing will grow. After this ephifany we enthusiastically tromped off to Lowes and purchased an inexpensive soil kit so we could test for various nutrients and bought a huge bag of lime determined that we would now have grass.  To our suprise lime was NOT missing from our soil. If fact our biggest problem was that we had ZERO as in nada, zip, zilch, none... Nitrogen.

Grass is notorious for needing a lot of nitrogen fertilizer. Nitrogen is a macronutrient that all plants need. An excess of nitrogen, caused by fertilizer over application, can result in rapid, lush growth and a diminished root system. In extreme cases too much quick release nitrogen can cause burning of the leaf tissue, and plant death. A lawn with a nitrogen deficiency will lose it's green color and begin to turn yellow.  Too much fertilizer, especially with high levels of soluble nitrogen fertilizer, tends to increase thatch problems and leaves lawns more prone to insect and disease. Or, worse yet, you will literally burn your lawn.

Recommendation: The goal of a good fertility program is to produce a reasonable amount of top growth, but not at the expense of root growth or carbohydrate storage. A good root system is the key factor to a healthy lawn. Moral of the story? Save yourself alot of headache and purchase yourself a good soil test kit before embarking on any fertilization program.