Zoysia grass?
 

Most of my yard will eventually be garden and orchard. I do how ever want grass in some of it.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Where I live we have a short winter, and very hot summer, with temps hitting the 80 then dropping in to the 30s during spring.
My front yard is mostly caliche, which translates it seems to natures concrete. The tiller guy says he can't till that part.
I want something besides weeds! The only things that have so far lived in my front yard are 1 rose bush (all the other trees and shrubs died out regardless of care) and Iris.
http://www.prairiehomemaker.com/foru...&pictureid=386

This is the section I hope to grow grass in. To the right we use the caliche as a driveway/turn around area.

I don't know about Tx but I have it here in Md. Itg turns brown in winter but stays thi green all summer even when the other gras has burned up. It forms a really thick mat -feels like walking on a carpet. It does not like shade, iat will eat it travels by runners, so can get invasive. I have yet to find any poultry that will eat it. It does make a good muhlch on the garden.

Zoysia is related to turf grass and bermuda grass. It spreads by stolen (however you spell it LOL) and is very invasive. It grows all around my fruit trees and I just use the weed eater on it...I figure it adds shade to the soil? sis

And good luck with gardens, etc. You will fight that grass forever--soon you will have only the grass.Very invasive dosent begin to describe it

Hmmm, concrete, don't think you will get anything to grow on that unless you haul in enough good dirt to cover it.

I planted a few strips of zoysia bought at a local sod farm a few years back, much better deal than the "plugs" sold in the the back of magazines. Ask around and see if anyone has it planted so you can take a look at it and make sure it grows in you climate/soil before you commit.

It is spreading slowly and I will probably be 80 before I have a solid yard of it.

If you decide to go for it, there are several different types, the main difference being blade width. I went with Myers, it looks similar to turf type fescue.

I tried to grow it in Colorado - and had no success. :(

I'm a turf care guy by trade.

Zoysia will do fine in TX. Once established its pretty maintenance free (depending on the cultivar). It's shade tolerance is only slightly better than Bermuda, but it is slower growing. Zoysia has runners and rhizomes to spread, but at a slower rate than say Bermuda.

If the ground is concrete forget about it. If you are trying to grow it under trees, forget about it.

As another poster said, Myers is very similar to TTTF and can be cut with a rotary mower with great results.

If it were me I'd do Bermuda. It's tougher and faster growing.

Bit too cold there for a warm season turf.

Here is my lawn and mowers. The smaller mower is gone and I'm left with my 30" Peachtree Reel Mower

Attachment 5602

Attachment 5603

Attachment 5604

One more...

Attachment 5605

Wannabe chef I love your lawn and mowers!
This lot used to be pasture land as part of a large farm. That was just 12 years ago. Johnson grass grows well here but needs too much water.
I have a bit of an issue with sticker grass, I wonder if zoysia will help root that out... I dig it up when I find it and put it in the trash to be hauled away (A guy picks it up every week) because I heard fire doesn't kill it.
The caliche is weird it makes mud when we do get rain but then gets really hard when dry. You have to wet it several hours before planting in it.

Thank you! I keep my Bermuda lawn at 1/2" and mow it 3 times per week...it takes me about 12 minutes to do the front and side, the rear lawn gets a rotary mower. In the winter I overseed with perennial rye so it's green year round. I'll see if I can find a winter picture.

Whatever grass you decide to go with, spray existing weeds and grass with roundup prior to planting/sodding.

Around here Johnson grass is a weed!

Keep in mind that most warm season grasses are best cut at heights below 2", if cut at heights higher the grass will be cut into the stem. A reel mower allows the low cut height only cutting the grass leaf.

LOL around here they use it as hay for cattle! I just don't own any!
There is 1 grass in my yard I wish I could cultivate. It is very soft and has a deep purple/maroon look to it. I can't figure out what it is though!

Actually on a one stand lawn, any different grass species is a weed!

Take a picture of it and post...we should be able to identify it. Being purple/maroon could it be a mondo (liriope) grass?

my current house has a half acre of every type of grass that grows in Missouri. I don't do anything to any of it except mow it, no fertilizer, watering, nothing. and the Zoysia just keeps on getting nicer and nicer every year. We have some brutal months in summer, over 100 for weeks at a time and no rain, yet it still grows.

The other nice thing about it I guess moles can't get under it. All over my yard there are mole tunnels until it gets to the zoysia.

it is important to keep it cut to the right length.

when we got this house there was an above ground pool in the middle of the yard, once it was gone there was a 25 circle of dirt and weeds. I didn't do anything to it and now it is covered with zoysia, it took 3 years, but it looks really nice now.

as you can tell I am a low maintenance guy, I do hand pull weeds, but that is all I do and after 4 years of living here I will put my lawn up against anybodies in my neighborhood.

Thanks Ted, good to know. We are pretty consistently 9-0 to 100 from June to August, the last few years we have not had our customary severe storms in July either.
One guy says it is the mesquite that is holding off the rains...

A nice front yard with no watering would be lovely! The water will be needed for the gardens as it is!

mine has been growing probably since the 1950s, so it probably has deeper roots than something you would plant or sod, but if I had to plant a new yard, I would plant zoysia in a heartbeat.

Have you looked into Centipede? It takes about one season to get established from seed. It can be mowed very low witch will help kill out the Johnson grass as the Centipede spreads. Once it is established it doesn't require a lot of water or fertilizer. A lot of people actually do it harm by over fertilizing it. It can be bought as sod or seed. It will also fill in pretty fast by plugging.

Sorry I don't know a lot about Zoysia.

Though I love the way centipede looks I would never purposely plant it. It is difficult to take care of, it's second to St Augustine as far as being sensitive to lawn chemicals.

Wow wannabechef,I have never seen any lawn grass that looks better than yours.Betcha if you showed your pictures to the grass company that sells the seeds,they will pay you to let them use your pictures advertising.

Also make a few calls to lawn and gardening magazine headquarters.They are always looking for the best front cover pictures.You have them.Now Its deal making time.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Eddie, thank you. What you see in the picture is just builder grade hybrid Bermuda, no seeds.

And although you may think my lawn looks amazing, the fact is there are many like it in golf course communities. The funniest thing about my lawn is my house...most lawns like mine are for houses 5-10 times the cost of my house.

Don't know what part of Texas you're in, but here in Houston St. Augustine grass tends to dominate. Back in Atlanta where I used to live we were considered a transitional zone, so it was possible to grow fescue, bluegrass, bermuda or zoyzia, but each would have a time of year when it was stressed. I had bluegrass for a long time, and for a month or so each year it was gorgeous... then it was dead down to dirt all summer, and I'd have to re-seed every fall. That got tiresome.

I personally don't like the "smell" of zoyzia... don't know why, but to me it has a smell different from other grass types. Bermuda is probably my favorite, as it's like sitting on an outdoor carpet in my opinion.

Chef, your' lawn is a-maaaazing!

Thank you war walk! I really enjoy working in my yard...it's my Bermuda garden!