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Post by Seven on Mar 1, 2021 17:58:31 GMT -6
I live on 2 acres in the country. I trim, mow, edge the driveway. Basta. The “grass” is green. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I hear ya. I'm on a 2.3 acre lot but am still mainly wooded. However, a 400 foot driveway is a lot of strong trimming, which is why I probably do it 3x per year  Was lucky enough to have a feed mill within 30ish minutes from my house so I get VERY good prices on fertilizer vs. big box stores. I believe urea (46-0-0 to lawn nerds) was around $13 for a 50# bag last time I was there. A balanced fertilizer like 19-19-19 was closer to $16 for 50#. Comparable Scotts/Vigoro product is probably 3x the price. |
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Post by Ken on May 18, 2021 9:38:47 GMT -6
Despite having very little rain, things look pretty good here this year. My landscape guy did a "spring cleanup" in March which included a power rake and a core aeration. Then I dropped some Turf Builder down. I filled in a bunch of thin spots with Scott's EZ-Seed and then in early May I dropped more Turf Builder down but this time "with Halts" to stop anything else from germinating. At one point, I saw a bunch of dandelion seeds blowing around and landing on my lawn but none of them have germinated so that seems to be working well. I have also adopted something that I was against for awhile: Letting the clippings fly instead of bagging. With the pool and also a number of mulched berms, I did not wants clippings all over. So I use the bag just to do the perimeter of the yard and around the pool, trees, etc. and then I take the bag off and let the clippings fertilize the lawn. I read a number of things about how beneficial this is so I started doing it. The other thing I read was "do not attempt to fertilize during the hot, dry months. I also raised the blade one notch on my lawnmower so I don't scalp it. So far, so good.
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Post by Seven on May 18, 2021 13:36:05 GMT -6
Despite having very little rain, things look pretty good here this year. My landscape guy did a "spring cleanup" in March which included a power rake and a core aeration. Then I dropped some Turf Builder down. I filled in a bunch of thin spots with Scott's EZ-Seed and then in early May I dropped more Turf Builder down but this time "with Halts" to stop anything else from germinating. At one point, I saw a bunch of dandelion seeds blowing around and landing on my lawn but none of them have germinated so that seems to be working well. I have also adopted something that I was against for awhile: Letting the clippings fly instead of bagging. With the pool and also a number of mulched berms, I did not wants clippings all over. So I use the bag just to do the perimeter of the yard and around the pool, trees, etc. and then I take the bag off and let the clippings fertilize the lawn. I read a number of things about how beneficial this is so I started doing it. The other thing I read was "do not attempt to fertilize during the hot, dry months. I also raised the blade one notch on my lawnmower so I don't scalp it. So far, so good. I believe that dandelion seeds will germinate as long as soil temps are above like 55F, so essentially from now until early fall. I'm not sure how long Halts lasts but you probably need a good barrier until fall. Dandelions are also perennials so try to zap them or they will come back in the same place next year. We are in the same dry conditions here...lawn looks decent so far but soil moisture is rapidly depleting. |
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Post by Ken on May 18, 2021 14:06:49 GMT -6
I think Halts is good for 4 months. When I saw these dandelion seeds, there were thousands of them in the crack between the sidewalk and grass and driveway and grass. I used the leafblower to get rid of some of them but Dandelion McGee lives just down the street and his lawn is 98.3% dandelions. And yet... I have none at the moment. Also, taking them out with Ortho Weed-B-Gon is easy. I might find one here, one there but nothing problematic. What I would like to see is no invasion by a wicked weed or some type of wide-blade grass like I saw last year. It was bad enough for my wife to say, "What's going on with the grass!?"... she never says that. If the Halts can keep that stuff out it will be worth it.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Sept 10, 2021 12:53:32 GMT -6
Ended up firing my lawn service yesterday; back to the DIY approach. Paid in advance for 6 lawn treatments + aerate/overseeding; only had 3 treatments completed, so the remaining 3 treatments + aerate/overseed are being refunded. Biggest gripes: lack of timeliness on their part (way too much time b/w treatments, so that treatments were being done at the wrong times for the wrong issues), bad planning (they wanted to do the aerate/overseed next week, when the weather is supposed to be 90°+ for several days), and overall lack of effectiveness (lawn looks no better now than from before I hired them, and their weed-killing treatments made the weeds worse, not better).
Did some looking around online, and (not surprisingly), more than a few local folks filed complaints with the BBB about this place, for mostly the same reasons I cancelled service.
Plan from here: treat existing weeds w/ Roundup for lawns. Once dead, rake up dead weeds, and overseed + starter fertilizer. Got a new pedestal sprinkler, so I can water my entire front yard at once, and my backyard half at a time.
And starting next spring early, I have a schedule plotted out of what to deploy and when, so i can get this lawn back on track. Thankfully I'm only out a little bit of $$$, but I'm wiser for it. And next year's $$$ outlay for pre-emergent/fertilizer/grub killer will be less than half of what I'd budgeted for this year.
Kind of a bummer that this place fell through, but at least next year and after, I'll know the work will be done right.
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Post by Ken on Sept 10, 2021 13:43:16 GMT -6
Sorry. The truth is that no one cares like you do and no one sees your lawn as much as you do. Once they leave, they're thinking about the next stop. I think I posted all of this already but this year I used the Turf Builder early to get things moving and then I used the stuff with Halts in the timeframe mentioned for my area (drop it by the first week of May I think). I also read something about NOT fertilizing in the heat of the summer so I have not dropped any since that last one in May. But I did switch over to mulching and letting the clippings fertilize the lawn. There's a little extra cleanup but not much. All that said, it's been a weird year here. We had a dry spring which is not normal. Eventually we got more rain but it tends to be "a lot at once" and then none for awhile. The pre-emergent seemed to do well keeping large blotches of weeds at bay. I have had a few things here and there and for that I use something new called Ortho WeedClear. Seems like Weed-B-Gon... kills weeds but not lawns. Despite the weird weather I guess I would give the lawn a 7 out of 10 for how it's looked this year. I did have to use the sprinkler a few times and there are some "thin" spots but generally things look okay. Good to see you back here B.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Sept 14, 2021 15:36:32 GMT -6
So far, the Roundup for Lawns appears to be working well; lots of dead/dying weeds, but the surrounding lawn appears untouched.
According to the Roundup website, I need to wait 4 weeks before overseeding/fertilizing. That lands right in mid-October, which should work out well for cooler temps and some rain in the meantime.
The plan: rake out all the dead weeds and rough up the bare spots with a rake the day before seeding, then a day later, overseed and deploy starter fertilizer, and begin daily watering until the new grass sprouts.
Also got 5 Leyland (Irish Eyes) cypress trees arriving tomorrow; those get planted on Friday along our back fence. We need some enhanced screening/privacy from our neighbors behind us; these trees grow ~3ft/yr, so it'll take a few years, but will ultimately be worth the work.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 3, 2021 11:23:42 GMT -6
The lawn/landscape rehab continues.
Cypress trees arrived, got planted, and with some welcome rain, are now settling in to their new homes along our back fence, despite FedEx initially losing one somewhere in Georgia during transit (after Home Depot reimbursed me for the lost tree, the damned thing showed up a week after the last scheduled delivery date, still alive and green, so into the ground it went).
Over the last week, I filled 8 lawn/leaf bags with dead weeds, mostly crabgrass. Filled as in, to the verge of the plastic tearing from the weight. Walked the entire 1/2 acre lawn and hand-pulled every weed I saw. Took several post-work afternoons, and a few doses of Tylenol, (sore back and hands) but our yard is as weed-free as its been in the 9 years we've lived here.
Some stands of crabgrass I extracted were the diameter of a car hubcap. Most of the weeds I pulled were killed off by the Roundup for lawns; a few that I missed spraying needed more work to extract, but I now have a clear slate to throw down new grass seed.
Bought a manual aerator, (think of the old push-style reel mowers, but with metal spikes sticking out instead of blades), and will give the entire lawn a 2-pass walkover with it from different directions. Bare/thin spots will get extra passes to make sure the new seed stays put. A little bit of work/time, but for my needs, this should fit the bill.
Next up is getting some topsoil from a nursery up the road, leveling out some bare/low spots, overseeding, and starter fertilizer. By then, rain should be back in the forecast, which ought to help our water bill.
It's a good bit of work, no question, but I doubt I could find someone to do what I want done, how I'd expect it to be done, and at a price I could afford. So DIY it is.
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Post by Ken on Oct 3, 2021 12:00:42 GMT -6
Nice. I agree you're probably the best person for the job because you care. My landscape guy came over this past week and suggested a core aeration so he did that and then we got some rain which was good. I discussed the mulching of the lawn and he agreed that it's excellent for the lawn and that fallen leaves are even better so I went out this morning and cut the grass and chopped up what leaves were on the ground. The Turf Builder + Halts worked well for me this year. Applied in early May and I have only had a couple things here or there and nothing that "took over" like crabgrass or that signal grass I had last year. Everything I saw I was able to hit with Ortho Weed-B-Gon (I think they call it WEED CLEAR now)... dandelions, some clover and other easily-eradicated weeds were totally manageable. This time of year I look forward to 1) the pool being closed because leaves fall in there and the skimmers can't keep up and 2) less grass cutting as the attention turns to leaves. A large River Birch, a YUUUUUGE Blue Ash and a Maple keep me busy along with some smaller Lilacs and Crabs. The Ash alone drops an unbelievable amount of leaves.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 3, 2021 12:29:35 GMT -6
Nice. I agree you're probably the best person for the job because you care. My landscape guy came over this past week and suggested a core aeration so he did that and then we got some rain which was good. I discussed the mulching of the lawn and he agreed that it's excellent for the lawn and that fallen leaves are even better so I went out this morning and cut the grass and chopped up what leaves were on the ground. The Turf Builder + Halts worked well for me this year. Applied in early May and I have only had a couple things here or there and nothing that "took over" like crabgrass or that signal grass I had last year. Everything I saw I was able to hit with Ortho Weed-B-Gon (I think they call it WEED CLEAR now)... dandelions, some clover and other easily-eradicated weeds were totally manageable. This time of year I look forward to 1) the pool being closed because leaves fall in there and the skimmers can't keep up and 2) less grass cutting as the attention turns to leaves. A large River Birch, a YUUUUUGE Blue Ash and a Maple keep me busy along with some smaller Lilacs and Crabs. The Ash alone drops an unbelievable amount of leaves. If you have any thin spots in the lawn, now is the time to get some new grass seed down, since you just had a core aeration done. Hit the thin spots first, then a lighter overseed for the whole lawn.
And agreed 100% on mulching leaves; it's free fertilizer for the lawn.
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Post by Ken on Oct 3, 2021 13:04:38 GMT -6
I do have some thin spots and I also have a bag of Scott's EZ-Seed so I suppose it would be a good time to do that. I'll get on it. You can assume (at least I THINK you can assume) that there should be some fall rain which will help it along. I have one spot in the backyard that has been questionable for years (it gets thin and then browns out). I always assumed it was because it's a spot that is in the sun ALL DAY... almost no shade. This year it's particularly bad and I wonder if it's bugs. But this spot has never been really good so "bugs and always in this spot" seems incorrect to me. It might require my entire bag of EZ-Seed but that's okay because there aren't too many thin spots.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 3, 2021 13:19:02 GMT -6
I do have some thin spots and I also have a bag of Scott's EZ-Seed so I suppose it would be a good time to do that. I'll get on it. You can assume (at least I THINK you can assume) that there should be some fall rain which will help it along. I have one spot in the backyard that has been questionable for years (it gets thin and then browns out). I always assumed it was because it's a spot that is in the sun ALL DAY... almost no shade. This year it's particularly bad and I wonder if it's bugs. But this spot has never been really good so "bugs and always in this spot" seems incorrect to me. It might require my entire bag of EZ-Seed but that's okay because there aren't too many thin spots.
If that spot was included in your core aeration, i'd hit it with seed and whatever lawn fertilizer (not weed-n-feed) you have on hand, even if it's plain old Miracle Gro.
Water daily for a week, then every other day until you get regular rain, and that should help the area recover.
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Post by Ken on Oct 3, 2021 15:18:20 GMT -6
I do have some thin spots and I also have a bag of Scott's EZ-Seed so I suppose it would be a good time to do that. I'll get on it. You can assume (at least I THINK you can assume) that there should be some fall rain which will help it along. I have one spot in the backyard that has been questionable for years (it gets thin and then browns out). I always assumed it was because it's a spot that is in the sun ALL DAY... almost no shade. This year it's particularly bad and I wonder if it's bugs. But this spot has never been really good so "bugs and always in this spot" seems incorrect to me. It might require my entire bag of EZ-Seed but that's okay because there aren't too many thin spots.
If that spot was included in your core aeration, i'd hit it with seed and whatever lawn fertilizer (not weed-n-feed) you have on hand, even if it's plain old Miracle Gro.
Water daily for a week, then every other day until you get regular rain, and that should help the area recover.
Yeah, I've had good luck with EZ-Seed. As long as you water it daily (either me or Mother Nature) I typically see thin grass coming up in 10-14 days. But if this spot is just always going to be questionable because it gets constant sun with no shade then I wonder why I would try to grow more grass there. I believe that 3-4 times in the past I completely raked it up, spread seed and then covered it with new topsoil and yes, I got grass but eventually the same issue returned. It's almost like I should make a cut out in the yard there, plant some shrubs in the area and cover the whole spot with mulch and wash my hands. |
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 11, 2021 17:10:36 GMT -6
Another milestone reached today. The toughest part of this project is now done.
Manually aerated the entire front and side yards, and spot-aerated the backyard (not as many trouble spots as the front/side yards). Deployed a dozen 40lb bags of topsoil (amended w/ peat moss and sand) to fill in some low spots (mainly over the French drain in the back yard), along with some thin/bare spots all over the lawn, including along the driveway, front walkway, around our patio, and around the front garden retaining wall. After that, deployed 3 bags of good ol' Kentucky 31 tall fescue, then a final once-over with starter fertilizer. We're due for some rain tonight into tomorrow, so the timing is good. All that said, I'm fecking beat. Got a bit warmer today than forecast, and I (re)learned that this type of job is young man's work.
Hopefully this translates into a healthier lawn starting next year, but if not, it wasn't for lack of trying.  |
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