Red fescue is a cool-season grass used in cool, shaded, mountain sites, such as camps, resorts, and cabins where low-input of mowing, fertilization, and irrigation is desired. It does not do well in hot climates, except in shady, dry situations. In areas where Kentucky bluegrass does well, red fescue forms an excellent companion grass to increase shade tolerance. Red fescue germinates and establishes slowly. It is moderately wear resistant.

Identifying tips

A very fine-bladed grass with a deep green color. The leaves are folded in the bud, there are no auricles, and there is a short membranous ligule present. Red fescue has two distinct growing habits: creeping red fescue spreads very slow by very short rhizomes and Chewings fescue is a bunchgrass with an upright growth habit.

Maintenance

Very low maintenance. It does not require much fertilizer and does not need excessive amounts of water. A high mowing cut is recommended. Red fescue has a high tolerance for cold temperatures and shade, moderate tolerance for drought and wear, and low tolerance for heat.

Mowing

Mow at 1.5 – 2.5 inches or keep unmowed as a groundcover.

Fertilizing

Fertilize using 1 – 2 lbs. nitrogen/1000 sq. ft. per year during the period of active growth (March – June; October – December).

Planting

Seed at 3.5 – 4.5 lbs. seed/1000 sq. ft.

Irrigation

A low to moderate amount of water is required.
Water 1 – 2 times/week during the warm season; red fescue can go dormant in the summer if watered too infrequently or if no water is available.

Special problems

Susceptible to most turfgrass diseases
Low heat tolerance
Slow seed germination and seedling growth (establishment)
Low traffic tolerance

On July 9, 2006, Roger Federer won his fourth straight Wimbledon title, extending his winning streak on grass courts to a record 48 matches. Federer is considered to be the best grass player currently playing.

The basics to building a court

To build a tennis court properly means a lot of work and it should only be attempted under the direction of some one who understands it. The things most important are good drainage, good light, and sufficient room. A double court is 36 feet wide by 72 feet long, but in tournament games or on courts where experts play it is customary to have an open space about 60 feet wide by 110 to 120 feet long, to give the players plenty of room to run back and otherwise to play a fast game.

A court should always be laid out north and south or as near these points of the compass as possible. In courts running east and west the sun is sure to be in the eyes of one of the players nearly all day; this is of course a very serious objection. While it is very pleasant to play tennis in the shade of a tree or building, a court should never be located under these conditions if it is possible to avoid it. A properly placed court should be fully exposed to the sun all day.

Cutting and Making Up The Grass With Lawn Mowers

First of all it will be necessary to decide whether a grass or “dirt” court is to be built. If the grass is fine and the place where the court is to be happens to be level, there is little to do but to cut the sod very short with a lawn-mower and to mark out the court. If, on the contrary, there is much grading or leveling to be done, a dirt court will be much cheaper and better in the end, as constant playing on turf soon wears bare spots. The upkeep of a grass court will be expensive unless it is feasible to move its position from time to time.

Choosing A Drainage For Your Court

Whatever the court is to be, the first question to consider is proper drainage. If the subsoil is sandy the chances are that the natural soakage will take care of the surplus water, but on the contrary, if the court is at the bottom of a hill or in a low place where clay predominates, it is necessary to provide some means of getting rid of the surplus water from rainfalls or our court may be a sea of mud just when it would be most useful to us.

To level a court properly we shall need the services of some one expert with a leveling instrument of some kind. It is not safe to depend on what seems to be level to our eye, as our judgment is often influenced by leaning trees, the horizon, and other natural objects. With a few stakes driven into the ground, the tops of which are level, we are enabled to stretch lines which will give us our levels accurately.

Keep your lawn healthy using good maintenance practices. It will better tolerate drought, temperature extremes and general wear and tear.

Healthy, vigorous, deep-rooted lawns are less susceptible to pest damage and do not usually require pesticides to control pests.

Longer, thicker grass also prevents many pests from invading the lawn.

hints

1. Mow often and mow high. Set you lawn mower at 2″ to 3″ to develop deeper roots and crowd out weeds.

2. Leave your grass clippings on the lawn. “Grasscycling” provides free fertilizer. Your hand mower will do the job fine if you keep the blades sharp. Consider buying a ” mulching” lawn mower. This will cut the grass clippings finer and blow them into the lawn.

3. Water deeply but infrequently. Grass does better when watered to the root zone and then allowed to dry out. Water slowly starting and stopping to give the water time to sink in.

4. Use organic slow-release fertilizer in September and May. If you choose to fertilize only once then do so in Fall. Over fertilized lawns are prone to disease, thatch buildup and drought damage.

5. Over seed in the Spring or Fall after aerating or raking.

6. Remove unwanted weeds by hand pulling. The above strategies will serve to decrease your weed population by crowding them out with healthy grass.

What can you do?

Place a ” Pesticide-Free” lawn sign on your lawn and gently nudge your neighbor’s awareness of alternative methods of lawn care. Help them to understand that if your lawn does not look like a lush green carpet it is not because you are lazy or because you cannot afford to have chemical lawn spraying. It is because you support a healthier safer pesticide free environment.

Cool season grasses start growth at 5 °C, and grows at their fastest rate when temperatures are between 10-25 °C (Huxley 1992), in climates that have relatively mild/cool summers, with two periods of rapid growth in the spring and fall. They retain their color well in extreme cold and typically grow very dense, carpetlike lawns with relatively little thatch.

If you use Sulphate of Iron (ferrous oxide) to kill the grass, keep it off any concrete or stone paths as it will turn the concrete a permanent rust colour.

Where there is only the odd weed here and there, you can either dig them out with a sharp knife, or use a spot weed killer. With this you “paint” the centre of the weed with the weed killer which contains a growth hormone. Thereupon, the weed grows like mad and burns itself out after about a week.

More and more people today are using a combined weed and feed mixture, some mixtures also containing a moss killer. The best time to apply this is a damp day in June or July using a lawn feeder.

In September apply an autumn feed, which is high in phosphorus, to toughen up the grass for winter. Always feed the lawn either while it is raining or just before it rains in order to prevent any grass burn. If it doesn’t rain within a few hours of an application, get your hose pipe out.

Occasionally leave the clippings on the lawn to break down and create a bit of humus in the soil. It’s good to do this in really dry weather as it provides a kind of protective mulch for the grass. However, leaving the clippings all the time can create a thatch of dead grass which will need to be removed with a rake.

Start mowing your lawn in March/April when it’s obvious it has started to grow and stop mowing in October as soon as the cold weather arrives.