It only clumps when it grows among other types of grasses. When it takes over completely, it forms a uniform lawn. It does go dormant in the winter like Bermuda. But a brown lawn in the middle winter doesn't bother me.

The other thing is it is a good forage food. I have a large quantity of Whitetails in my neighborhood and they graze in my yard at night. I've had as many as 12 at one time. Last night, I has two 6 points and one 8 point grazing on my grass, among a bunch of does and yearlings. The deer seem to love it.

People hate crabgrass because they don't want it growing in grass they planted that is really not suited for their regions. People around me seem addicted to tall fescues. They don't like letting it grow as tall as it needs to be to stay healthy so they cut it short and make it susceptible to crabgrass that can withstand being cut short. They can't keep enough water on tall fescue so it turns brown making it susceptible to the low-water needing crabgrass. They plant tall fescues in open areas where it is exposed for hours to the beating summer sun where it is susceptible to the sun-loving crabgrass. They don't prepare, and keep prepared, the soil so that poor-soil-condition-loving crabgrass grows in it. It doesn't really get cold enough here to kill off crabgrass in the winter and I have a brown lawn until early spring.

To me, crabgrass makes for a perfect no-maintenance lawn.

I think you're on to something with the renaming thing.

It sure worked for Chinese Gooseberries. Nobody wanted them till the name change to Kiwi Fruit.

When I was searching whether or not anyone else cultivated crabgrass lawns, I was surprised to learn that in Europe people did, indeed, cultivate it and use its leaves and seeds for food.

https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/crab-grass/

http://www.eattheweeds.com/cra...nsuming%2C%20however.

So, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, and if you're hungry, stop on by for a handful of crabgrass goodness.

quote:

To me, crabgrass makes for a perfect no-maintenance lawn.

Well... yeah, I guess so.
I prefer the tall fescue blend but it sure is difficult this time of year.
To make matters worse... I back up to common ground which is almost all crabgrass.
I'll never be crabgrass-free in August, but in early March I put down a pre-emergent with crabgrass preventer (kill the seeds). My lawn looked mostly great this year until the recent dry spell which the crabgrass doesn't seem to mind.
Parts of it are being taken over by zoysia which thrives in the recent heat. The zoysia is the only thing that stands up to invasion by crabgrass.

I'm not sure if mine's crab grass or what but it looks pretty good to me, after mowing which I do a few times a year.

The trick with crabgrass is to mow it frequently and keep it short. It grows like a weed and gets out of hand quickly. Once it's tall, it almost impossible to cut it short again and make it look good.