The Pecks: Maintenance -- and gravel -- make for a lush green lawn

The Pecks, The Oregonian By The Pecks, The Oregonian The Oregonian
on May 12, 2012 at 7:30 AM, updated May 16, 2013 at 11:17 AM
lawn.pecks.JPGView full sizeThe Pecks don't always agree on all areas of lawn care but the process of give-and-take over the years has evolved into good-looking grass.
There is perhaps no place where my upbringing and Marcia's are more different than the lawn.

She grew up on a lawn-less 1 1/2-acre "ranch," where riding horses in the hills and going for long hikes was the norm.

I was raised on a lush Bermuda lawn (actually, in a home with a yard with a lush Bermuda lawn), so meticulously maintained you could play croquet on it, so pristine that the five-second rule for food was extended to a full minute whenever you dropped a barbecued hamburger on it. It was the kind of lawn I dreamed of mowing as a child and dreamed up excuses not to mow as a teenager.

Talk about your mixed marriages.

But, like many things in our more-than-30-year relationship, lawns have been subjected to a process of give-and-take.

Our first back lawn at our present home, when our kids were young, was appropriately sized for croquet, not to mention pee-wee football and soccer, too, in a nod to what I wanted.

That was many years ago, though, and each year, it seems, the back lawn shrinks ever smaller. One year, it was to make room for the gazebo where our son and daughter-in-law were married. Another, it was to allow for a large gravel patio and the garden and path leading to it.

And, even though I'm the son of a Bermuda lawn fanatic (and he still is one, to this very day), the shrinking lawn makes perfect sense to me.

That is, until the International Croquet Association asks us to host its world championships. Then, we'll see who was right all along.

Big lawn or small, though, the way we care for it, while evolving over the years, is basically the same.

It involves annual aerating, lime, mulch, spring and fall fertilizer (organic, of course) and a healthy dose, every couple of years, of crushed rock (quarter-10).

And regular mowing, and zealous edging and hand-weeding bordering on -- OK, going way past just bordering on -- obsessive-compulsive.

As there are in any subject in a marriage, there are with lawns some areas Marcia and I don't see eye to eye on.

For example, there's ...

Marcia: Use a mulching mower and let the clippings sit on the lawn and work as a natural mulch. Most people mistakenly think this will cause thatch buildup, but what really causes thatch is overwatering and overfertilizing.

Dennis: Whatever. Sure, as long as nobody else can see the clippings just lying there out in the open. You know, like a neighbor, or someone visiting, or the Google Maps people or, especially, my dad. If he comes up here and sees dead clippings, he'll think he's failed as a father and immediately buy me a new grass catcher. After all, our housewarming present from him was a power edger, so I'm not just making this up.

And ...

Marcia: A push mower makes perfect sense. It's ecologically sound, for starters. I bought one 15 years ago, but nobody would use it (of course, the lawn was three times bigger then, too).

Dennis: Whatever. Sure, as long as nobody else can see it. You know, like a neighbor, or someone visiting, or the Google Maps people or, especially, my dad. If he comes up here and sees a lawn that looks like it was mowed with pruning shears, he'll think he's failed as a father and immediately buy me a new lawn mower.

One area where we always agreed -- at least, after the first year, which drove me over the edge and back again, then over again, then back again -- was using quarter-10 crushed rock. The problem for me was twofold:

One, I couldn't mow until the grass grew through the rock.

Two, I was convinced it never would.

But it does. Better than ever. And you get a healthier lawn that uses much less water because the rock opens up the soil, and drainage is significantly improved as well. For more, check out Joy Creek Nursery (, which has been at the forefront of the gravel-on-the-grass movement.

And, even though our neighbors, each and every one, thought we had, well, rocks in our heads, most of them now, on occasion, use rock in their lawn, and swear by it too.

Probably the most extensive list of lawn-care tips is provided courtesy of Metro ( and, in part because our yard was on its natural garden tour for quite a few years, we've learned a lot about the best way to care for a lawn that both is ecologically sensitive and, to satisfy Dennis' primal urges, yields a darn nice lawn, too.

But if you don't want to go through all of Metro's tips, here's what we recommend, after 32 years of back-and-forth, so you too can have a healthy, sustainable lawn. And no, it's not exactly easy.



1. Before tackling any of this, wait until it's warm enough for new growth to occur.

lawn.dennis.JPGView full sizeEven though I almost always succumb to non-existent peer pressure, I know it's better for the lawn and the environment to not bag the clippings when I mow.
2. Mow your lawn at the lowest setting (once it grows out, you'll want to keep it longish, but this is to get things started).

3. Aerate your lawn.

4. Add lime.

5. Fertilize (organic, of course), unless you're Marcia, who prefers using a composted mulch instead, letting the rain water the nutrients in because even organic fertilizers eventually end up in the water supply.

6. Add the quarter-10 crushed rock, anywhere from a sprinkling to several inches. Yes, we said crushed rock. We get ours straight from the quarry in about 10- to 12-ton batches (Dennis: And I feel every one of those tons). Buying large quantities is less expensive, and we use it in our flower beds, as a mulch, to line paths, and as a patio surface in addition to on our lawn. We have been using it for about 10 years and have more than 30 tons in our quarter-acre garden. You can also buy it from local rock yards by the yard, or some even offer it in 50-pound bags (Dennis: Wimps!).

Make sure you get quarter-10 (also known as quarter-inch clean) and not quarter-minus crushed rock. The quarter-minus has all of the fine pieces in it and can compact your soil, while the quarter-10 is clean. Also, make sure you don't use pea gravel, because you want rock with sharp edges to open up the soil.

7. Apply  1/2 inch to 1 inch of mulch, which also contributes to soil permeability, over the crushed rock.

8. Seed any bald spots (seed cover is not necessary) by roughing the soil and spreading the seed on top. By seeding these spots, you minimize the opportunities for weeds to take hold. And with Oregon a huge grass seed producer, we always use locally grown grass that's adapted to our region.

9. Speaking of which, even with Dennis' over-the-top-and-then-some hand-weeding, we still get clover at times, to which we say: Hey, at least it's green.

10. Do not mow your lawn too short. For Dennis, growing up with a putting green for a lawn, that's always an urge he has to fight. The recommended height is 1 1/4 inches, and you're better off mowing a little off the top twice a week than a lot off the top once a week because you only want to remove about a third of the leaf blade height at one time. We haven't had any problems power-mowing over the crushed rock, but wear eye protection just in case.

Marcia: More and more people are going lawnless, which is a wonderful trend. Don't tell Dennis, but that's my goal for our garden, though I have to admit I will miss croquet on a hot summer evening.

As a landscape designer, about half my clients don't want a lawn and the other half want one for their kids, grandkids or even their dogs to play on. From a design perspective, a well-tended lawn can even serve as a great place in a busy garden for the eye to rest. Plus, I just like to take my shoes off and dig my toes into it sometimes (OK, maybe we'll keep the lawn for just a little longer).
Marcia Westcott Peck is a landscape designer ( and Dennis Peck is not. He is the editor of The Oregonian's Living section, which is a good thing for him, because if he actually had to use his hands for anything other than typing, it would not be pretty.