Big Daddy, I had some new sod put in last fall on the side of my house and with all this rain, it's ten times greener than the rest of my lawn and getting really deep. Is it ok, to let it go until the rest of the lawn is ready to mow? -JS

You're not going to like this answer, but it's no. The sod greened up earlier and is growing faster, not because its' a different type of grass (though it may be), but because its' roots are still very shallow compared to established grass. That means the soil temperature where the roots are is higher than deeper, slower to heat soil where your established grass has put its' roots. This is a good thing only in the spring! The rest of the season, you want to get those roots as low as you can go to create a tough, drought resistant turf. Now that you have an idea of why it is growing while the rest is not, let's talk about the consequences of putting off mowing. As turf gets longer, the leaf needs more support to remain standing up where it can catch sunlight in the crowded conditions we try to create with turfgrass. To accomplish this, the stem begins to elongate to create the structure to carry the leaf ever higher. What this means to you, is that when you finally get around to mowing, you will be cutting off the majority of the leaf blade and leaving a lot of yellowish stems! Nasty looking and hard on the turf. You'll see this a lot on poorly maintained grass throughout the season, but you just paid for that sod, hoping to get the best grass you could, so why let it get ratty on you? When the weather cooperates, get out and mow down the growing section and make a quick pass over the rest to stimulate it as well. You can read more about mowing for maximum benefits of the turf elsewhere in the Tips & Tricks section. -BD