Lawn

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work.  We have a newscast segment, a video, several podcasts and an article!

WCCO’s Good Question: What Does This Extended Winter Mean for Our Lawns? featuring Sam Bauer

Beyond Beekeeping podcast interview by Mindy Holahan Peters featuring James Wolfin

Sam Bauer and Parker Anderson of the University of Minnesota have created an infographic that profiles different turfgrass species for use in Minnesota home lawns. This is a great resource to educate homeowners on the characteristics, maintenance, and recommendations of these grasses for specific uses such as under low maintenance or shade conditions. 

Turf Species for Minnesota Home Lawns infographic

By Jon Trappe

Many plant enthusiasts have observed difficulty planting some plant species around black walnut trees.  Black walnut trees naturally excrete chemicals into their environment to make themselves more competitive.  This negative plant-on-plant interaction is known as allelopathy, and is more common in multiple plant species than was once previously thought. 

Here is an updated version of a blog post that was originally published on November 15, 2013.  Turf Extension Educator Sam Bauer has been interviewed about this topic in several great articles since then so be sure to check out the links at the end of the blog post!

Turf Extension Educator Sam Bauer was featured in a Star Tribune article summarizing some “eye-opening” results of a recent survey of Twin Cities residents on lawn irrigation.  The survey, conducted by University of Minnesota researchers and the Metropolitan Council, found many homeowners are not managing their irrigation systems effectively, leading to overwatering of lawns. 

Q: What mowing height should I keep my lawn at before winter?

Join us on Friday, September 1, 2017 at the

By Sam Bauer

The 2015 Cultivar Evaluation Results are now available and published online.  To view these results, click the “Cultivar Evaluation Results” tab under the Research section on the left of this webpage.  Clicking this link will initially bring you to the 2015 data page, but you can view archived data from 2007-2013 as well.  Study labels are preceded by the date in which that study was planted.  For example, “2011 NTEP Kentucky bluegrass” was established in 2011, but you will be viewing the most recent data if you are in the 2015 tab.

How to use the results:

By Sam Bauer

Previously I wrote about the different renovation options for fall seeding of lawns and about the various attributes of cool-season lawn grasses.  This week I wanted to discuss the mixtures and blends of grass seed that are on the consumer marketplace.  If you’ve ever walked into your local big box store or garden center looking for grass seed, the different products available can be fairly intimidating.  To be honest, I often have a difficult time finding the right mixture, because it only takes one bad ingredient to produce a poor quality lawn.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at several categories of grass seed mixtures that are available to you.