In the early 1900’s people traveled the globe to “put down roots” in southern California for a menagerie of reasons. Amazing weather was one of them. The tie to human settlement and the rooting of plants is so important as it’s marking your territory, it means you’re established, it means you care about your home and neighborhood plus it shows pride in ownership. Anything you’ve ever heard of about installing a beautiful sod lawn a couple times a year is ancient history. You’re in southern California now and it’s time plant a sod lawn!
It’s thought that southern California doesn’t have any seasons. Well, except for one. All year ‘round. And they call it ‘perfect!’ More people move here because of our weather than any other reason boasting an average of 285 sunny days per year who can blame them? However, if you’ve ever lived here for a bit we do have seasons it’s just that some are short, others are long and there’s even times when several seasons pop up within a season (maybe a couple of cold days followed by a day of heat wave to a week of perfect days).
Following weather zones for sod installation is a must, right? In 1927 Dr. Alfred Rehder from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University collected information from 8 weather stations around the US and mapped out weather patterns. As weather stations grew the map became more detailed. In 1960 the Department of Agriculture couldn’t take it any longer and joined in the fun by printing maps that people thought were the Holy Grail of planting zones. Interestingly though it was the Arnold Arboretum map that most people still referenced until 1990 when the Department of Ag and the US National Arboretum decided to partner up 14,500 weather stations to create the golden jewel of maps that’s really pretty with all of its colors, impossible to read tiny print packed with so much confusing information cross matching zones from California to Maine, well – basically the information is worthless! Weather changes quickly and the map can’t keep up with actual conditions. For instance, southern California has every single growing zone within a 2-hour driving radius. I don’t think they ever visited southern California to see what we really have. We can be skiing in the mountains and 2 hours later surfing or off-roading the dunes in the desert . What we need to do is take a pragmatic view of what each season offers then decide when to plant sod based on a micro-environment. Basically what is going on in your yard.
When Carole King wrote the 1971 lyrics:
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes, I will
I wonder if she lived in southern California at the time and was contemplating when to plant her sod lawn? She could have easily memorized 1-800-4Marathon, called and the delivery would have been there within a day. Regardless, good luck getting that tune out of your head for the rest of the day.
Let’s get down and dirty with some soil composition. Because of its dense nature a soils composition is made of worm castings, organic matter, sand, silt, clay, and minute air pockets. And that’s before we get the microscope out finding nutrients, mycorrhizae, and all kinds of beneficial pathogens. Soil is truly alive and its self-insulating averaging temperatures between 65-75 degrees which we will find out is perfect for growing sod.
Weather is a component when planning a lawn. We follow the Astronomical calendar for our seasons. The days shown are approximate and can move a day or two in any direction. The only date that is really important not to miss is my birthday, January 14th – another great sod planting day. When factoring in the season of planting sod it’s more of convenience since it’s not typically going to be inclement weather for any length of time. Let’s expand on those Carole King lyrics…
Winter (on or about December 21 – March 20). Snuggle and hot chocolate season. Los Angeles gets measurable rain about 30 days a year with the lion’s share in January, otherwise, it’s pretty sporadic. This year it rained 5 days in January. That means we had 26 days of beautiful weather days to install a lawn. Winter is also a bit deceiving in So. Cal. because if you look real close there’s nothing wintery about this place in late February through March!
Spring (on or about March 21-June 20). Spring is nature’s way of saying…LET’S PARTY! After shaking off some cabin fever from what we called winter the weather is optimum during this time with only a slight chance of April showers for May flowers (yeah, it’s a thing). Lay that sod out and deep roots will soon be set.
Summer (on or about June 21- September 21). BBQ’s, family time, lawn games and running through sprinklers. That’s what the lazy days of summer is all about. Let the mercury rise as daylight is with us up to 8PM giving plenty of time to plant at sunrise, take an afternoon break, then finish it up as dawn nears. Staying hydrated (you along with the lawn) and out of the heat is key in summer. Other sod companies flop their product on a pallet and it begins rotting. All of our sod goes through a special cooling process that hastens it from composting. Nobody else in the industry does this.
Fall/Autumn (on or about September 22 – December 20). When the leaves begin to fall, autumn is calling for a lawn. September and October can be quite warm but it’ll change with warm days and cool evenings. You’d think fall and winter would be the worst time to install a lawn, but, au contraire, comparatively speaking if you plant a sod lawn in fall or winter your turf won’t grow as aggressively because of cooler air temperatures. Well, the green part won’t grow as quickly but the magic happens in the ground. Remember I mentioned warm soil temps? When you plant a sod lawn this time of year it’s like putting a blanket on the soil. It, in turn, will warm those sod roots and establish them into the soil so that when the weather warms up in spring you have a jump on the growing season!
I can’t help myself. Let’s sing a chorus together…Winter, spring, summer or fall, All you have to do is call, And I’ll be there, yes, I will….We’ve got your sod…..
