grass on a sandy slope

jersey girl – posted 07 July 2005 19:18

Hi – We live in South Jersey and have been trying to grow a healthy lawn in our back yard for years with no luck. Our back yard has an upward slope and the soil is somewhat sandy. Landscapes have suggested we build a wall system in the back and regrade so the yard is level. I really do not want the expense –plus I have seen many beautiful lawns on hills ! We have tried both sod and seed – but end up with a very patchy lawn. We have a sprinkler system – so watering is not a problem. But the sloped area always apears dry. Any suggestions ? Is there a type of grass that would work better ?

cohiba – posted 08 July 2005 14:24

jersey girl,

Is your lawn in full sun? Or is shade an issue as well? I would say that sod would be a must, over seeding, on a sandy slope. The irrigation is great… but on both sand and slope you probably cannot water enough. We have mounds on the golf course that we added misters into our irrigation system to try to get the water down deep. In the old days we used ice in the summer on the tops of mounds and slopes. Have you done anything with fescue? Most sod in our area is Bluegrass or Bluegrass and Fescue mixed. You may do better with a straight Fescue sod. In any event the watering becomes the limiter. You lose more to runoff and evaporation than you can get to the rootzone. The fescue is probably the clumps you have left after the blue died. How much cover is there? (% wise)? You may try to overseed with Turf type tall fescue. Rather than go through the sod expense.

Have you done any soil testing to see if there is any issues with the soil?

fellow south jersian…………