Class 6 was all about turfgrass. That means lawns for the uninitiated.
Class 6 was the most popular by far so far. No surprise, everyone has a lawn and everyone wants their lawn to look better than their neighbor's. A random website I found on Google says that Americans spent $29.1 Billion on lawncare in 2015. That's more than 90 bucks for every man, woman, and child in the old U-S-of-A. Which brings me to the lesson of the night.
There's nothing more American on the world gardening scene than the lawn.
The British love their flowers, the Italians love their vegetables, the French love their structure. Americans love grass. Green grass. As much of it as possible. Mom, apple pie, 2.5 children, a white picket fence and a big green lawn so soft you want to roll around on it in various states of undress. That, my friends, is the most vivid picture of the American Dream.
Our teacher for the turfgrass class was Mitchell Mote. He's an extension agent for Rutherford County. For a grass man, he has quite the sense of humor. His material was really informative and really well presented. He was a really patient teacher (let's just say there were a lot of over-eager students). I won't bore you with the difference between warm season grass and cool season grass, bunching and creeping grasses, but I will share a nugget that ties it all back to America.
"Can you grow warm season and cool season grass together? Sure you can! This is America!"
That was a refrain we heard several times with varying levels of sarcasm and irony, but it really speaks to the whole lawn situation. With modern cultivars of a variety of grasses and fertilizers and herbicides ("chemistry" in the vernacular of turfgrass), you can do just about anything anywhere if you have enough money.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. I just don't think it's where I want to spend my time, energy, and money as a gardener right now. As I told a classmate as we were walking out, I'd rather have a great tomato than a great lawn.
And BTW -- If you follow my man Mitchell's lead, it's ber-MOO-dah not BER-mew-duh.
Class 6 was the most popular by far so far. No surprise, everyone has a lawn and everyone wants their lawn to look better than their neighbor's. A random website I found on Google says that Americans spent $29.1 Billion on lawncare in 2015. That's more than 90 bucks for every man, woman, and child in the old U-S-of-A. Which brings me to the lesson of the night.
There's nothing more American on the world gardening scene than the lawn.
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| This is evidently something that someone pinned on Pinterest... |
"Can you grow warm season and cool season grass together? Sure you can! This is America!"
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| Ronaldus Magnus riding a velociraptor |
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