Garden Journal: Understanding the Dust Bowl

Grass from front yard

This picture shows two clumps of grass I removed from the yard in order to make holes for soil for the peas for the pea teepee. I have removed the soil, what little there was, but otherwise not done anything too them.

Observe the incredible density of roots--this grass is growing in about two or at most three inches of cedar mulch on top of the caliche that makes up the subsoil in the front yard.

With this view it's easy to see why we have been completely unable to remove this grass from the yard. One also gets an understanding of why removing it turned the prairies of the Midwest to dust.

I don't know what variety of grass this is but I assume that it is some sort of native grass.