I Was Just Wondering...

What are those grass lumps?




Walking around Higley Groves West, the green landscape is dotted with these tufts of grass in evenly spaced lumps. Having spread a little fertilizer by hand myself, my initial reaction was that these are the product of an errant fertilizer sprayer. The Mister tells me that my answer is partially correct. They are caused by fertilizer, but the fact that they are so frequent and even should tip me off that it isn't an occasional spill of the container. The landscaper inserts a probe-like instrument into the ground and injects liquid fertilizer 2 to 3 feet into the ground; when he removes the probe, some of the liquid drips off the end, and voila! Grass clumps.

The other key piece of information (for those of us without green thumbs and whose minds have been numbed by reading too much tax law) is that this is fertilizing the trees, not the grass. If you look closely, each tree is surrounded by 4 grass clumps, not next to the tree, but near the drip line of each tree. The water carries the fertilization to the tree roots, ensuring long healthy growth for those trees.

Now I get it.