A better year --by a yard

A rainy summer sure beats a yard-withering drought. Growing up in southwest Georgia, I never thought I'd long for more humid dog days. But after last year's arid baking that we called summer, I'll take it.

So will my lawn, and probably yours.

Instead of watching big patches go dormant and then die, exposing bare brown dirt in the place of green, this year we're keeping an eye on replacement grass that seems to be hanging on.

But the drought made us question a lot about our lot.

Did we get the right kind of sod when our house was built?

Could bluegrass mixed in with the fescue have given up the ghost last scorching August, causing a ghastly de-grassing cascade?

Did we under-water it?

Over-water it?

Look at it too hard?

Would a rain dance have helped?

And should we now put something else down in its place?

Grady Miller, a turf science professor at N.C. State University, told me he and his colleagues routinely field such questions.

His first unsettling observation: There is no perfect solution.

"You can't manage turf for every situation in every year," Miller says. "There's not one cure-all for what might happen in five or 10 years. And there are a lot of reasons to pick a grass other than for one characteristic."

For example, you might plant a single grass type that tends to hold up well in a drought, only to have disease wipe it out.

In general, warm-season grasses such as Bermuda and Zoysia usually do better in a high heat than fescue and bluegrass. But they're not always the best choice.

Your yard might have too much shade for them to thrive. And they're more invasive, so you might not want them if you have adjoining flower gardens.

Another big factor besides your grass type is your soil quality. If your home's sod or seed was planted on poorly prepared soil, it might not root well -- making it vulnerable during droughts.

Whatever grass you plant, Miller says, maintenance probably is the most critical variable. When lawns turned brown last summer, many people quit working on them, and now they're paying for it.

"Often it's a matter of picking a good turf, getting it well established and maintaining it well, regardless of the weather," he says. "It's like your car: Do preventive maintenance, and it'll last longer -- unless you're in a wreck."

At our house, 2007 was a wreck.

Here's hoping for a better 2008.

To learn how to select, manage and irrigate your lawn, go to State's lawn-management Web site: www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/.