Grass and Erosion

Resulting erosion of exposed soil (after grass failed to thrive).

Because RYAN is a lawn and tree care company, we often test new grass varieties at our office. These test plots help us determine which turfgrasses will do the best in our area (and they provide a nice "patchwork" quality to the lawn, that, besides making me smile, illustrates how different grass varieties in home lawns detract from uniform color and texture).

Today, I noticed some test plots that didn't turn out as anticipated. (Read--all of the grass died.) Due to the failure of the grass (I'm not even sure what was planted), I got the opportunity to take a picture of the resulting soil erosion.

Many people don't realize that turfgrass is great for erosion control. Had our experimental grass taken root, this erosion likely would not have happened.

*Please excuse the yellow tint of the soil in the pictures above. I changed the white balance of the camera and this is what happened.

**I could have taken another picture, with a better white balance, but the ground was wet and soggy and I didn't want to get muddy.