No one has to ask Joe Testa where the grass is greener. He knows it’s on his own front lawn.
Earlier this summer, Testa, of Pikeview Terrace, gave up on trying to grow a thick green lawn. Harsh dry weather always left it a little peaked, regardless of everything he tried to do.
Testa’s home was part of a single-family housing development constructed in the 1950s. He moved into the house in 1980 and at once began the war to get his grass to stay green and weed-free, a campaign he admits he sometimes won only through significant labor.
Testa is one of those people who wants the front of his house to look perfect, installing numerous items in the garden area and religious and non-religious statues on the steps.
"I spent a lot of time fighting weeds," he said recently.
The former 30-year employee for Lucent Technologies finally found a company that could install artificial grass that looked like the real thing.
Although the product, Perma-Grass, has mostly been used in commercial settings, Testa said homes have begun to install it, leaving people without the chore of having to cut the grass or apply chemicals.
"I used to have to put chemicals down to kill grubs and weeds, and now I don’t," he said, noting that this change highlights the other improvements he has made around the house, such as the landscaping near the front.
"Now, I don’t have to worry about when a dog poops on my lawn," he said. "I just have to get out the hose and wash it away."
The remarkable green grass has drawn the attention of neighbors as well as delivery people and the postal employees, each pausing to ask about it.
Councilman Fred Constantino said he drove passed the house and then pulled over. "I didn’t know he put the grass in," he said. "I just saw how green it was."
Testa said the grass cost him about $4 per square foot and was purchased from a company in Hasbrouck Heights. It has a layer below the grass that keeps weeds from growing and black sand spread between the blades of grass to simulate the color of soil and to hide the fabric to which the blades are attached.
"It’s guaranteed for 10 years," he said. "And it has a nice natural feel."
This grass differs from the artificial turf used in football stadiums, he said.
"This has blades of grass," he said. "The stuff you find in stadiums is more like a rug."
Of course, he admits, the grass might seem a little odd when winter comes and his lawn is the only one of the block that’s green in the snow. But for now he is happy.
"Let me put it this way," he said. "I don’t have to worry about finding my newspaper because of the weeds."