Spring yard work tips

[Goose]

Thank goodness I have a small yard because after doing yards all day the last thing I wanna do is mine. I thought it would helpful if we could share some spring time yard tips, for some us(not me) this could mean more fishin time.

This year I noticed here in south eastern mass that acid rain has done alot of damage to shurbs, small bushes and rose's especially. You'll notice the new growth in boxwoods to yellow or in hollies to dry leaves, heathers to dry easier,not good.

If you decide to seed area's of your lawn DO NOT put down fertizer with crabgrass control. The crabgrass control kills crabgrass seed and will also kill your new grass seed...go with a starter fertizer for the first year.

Spring is the time to thatch your lawn. This removes alot of dry grass, leaves and and loosens up the soil so that fertizer and lime can work better this is not nessary every year.thatchers are rented at hardware store.

Lime helps the soil in your lawn to maintain a good ph. It also heats up the soil slightly. Lime is also know to help with mossy area's where theres alot of shade. Most likely those type area's it is best to start from scatch....literaly I use the pellitized lime with an open spreader.....open it up you can't hurt anything.

I use 11-11-11 to fertize tree's bulbs and shrubs around the house spring and fall I pour fertizer into 1 gal jugs then sprinkle it all around (the circumference of the branches)

Mulch not only dresses up the yard but turns into compost and feeds everything. I like and recommend the darker pine. It holds its color much better then the light mulch. Red..not for me. Use atleast enough to keep the weeds down. 2-4" I apply every year.

I wanna learn something here

[Scotch Bonnet]

I prefer the "native landscape" approach...........don't do anything but mow, and see what happens. Doesn't hurt the enviornment and I get to fish more. I got this nice broad leaf grass/weed that has taken over my yard and it doesn't brown in late summer without water. Someday I'll have the golf course lawn(when I'm able to pay someone else to do it )





ps - GO BRUINS

[BigFish]

Fishing???

[redcrbbr]

The Magic of Mulch, you have to see it to believe it.

I agree with tony the dark pine mulch is the best.

cutting back shrubs and bushes will promote thicker growth


THERES SOMETHING ABOUT THE SMELL OF MULCH IN THE MORNING......

[mikecc]

Thanks for the tips guys.

[BigFish]

[PNG]

Ahhh "Colonel KillGore"

Anyone know who his character is modeled after?

[BigFish]

Frank Woolner?

[justplugit]

Like Goose said about lime. Also if you want a green thick lawn keep these Holidays in mind. ST patricks fertilize full rate Memorial Day fert 3/4 rate July 4 fert1/2 rate Labor Day fert full rate. use a lawn fert with as close as u can to a 3-1-1- ratio ex,20-8-8 or 10-5-5 for good root and stem dvelopement.
If you follow this be prepared to lose 1 day a week for cutting!

[Goose]

I hear ya scotch...I like them type yards to. Not useing a catcher unless it realy builds up....the natural way is good and green..low maintanance

[TheSpecialist]

Thanks Tony. My yard is worse off than I thought. I think I will be reseading the whole thing.

[spence]

Acid rain? I though it was the cold winter that did a number on all the evergreens...

-spence

[jeffsod]

My front lawn is a nice 50/50 carpet of grass interspread with moss.

[blackeye]

Robert Duvall

[Fishpart]

No work on my front ACRE of lawn this year. I'll starve those #&^$*&* grubs out..................

[Raven]

is a member of the legume family and helps to fill in the patchy areas ...but its roots form these little nodules that store nitrogen in your soil . wood ashes work like lime but isnt as caustic or won't burn plants like lime will, so recycle them. Night crawlers (lumbricus teresties) were origionally from egypt or the banks of the nile river and were brought over here by traders in potted plants and then they took over.

[Jimbo]

Oh I've been waiting for this post. This whole yard thing confuses me. By what date is it too late in the Spring to thatch and then put down lime and fertlizer? Can I lime and fertlize at the same time? I agree, Raven, clover is a great ground cover and stays green, by my wife is convinced all the little flowers attract bees and with little kids running around in it, it's like a sting waiting to happen. How can I get rid of it without putting down something the kids shouldn't be rolling around in. Just a related aside, I bought 6 praying mantis egg cases which will hatch lots of natures best bug killers (unfortunately both good and bad). Whew! Thanks for letting me get all that out.

[slapshot]

Short of ripping it out, is there a way to get rid of moss? I have lots of shade and the moss seems to be taking over...

[Raven]

moss tends to be a coveted thing in the gardening world. to get it to grow is a tough sell unless precise conditions are a constant
(ie. shade and moisture ect...) so you may consider "working with nature" and planting verns or adding a mini pond with a waterfall.
perhaps the addition of a weeping willow (never over a leech field or septic area)................ beside it japanese style
(its the sound effect your trying to get...) buddah shrine maybe
or _
otherwise its slash, trash ,and burn your way out with chain saws, sand and gravel and a front end loader so choose your weapons carefully. you can cover moss with black plastic and then mulch the plastic afterwards too.. its all about air flow and letting there be light. the rule of thumb is its easier to thin something out than to cut the whole thing down and then later regret that you did.

[Raven]

i agree with you there on the little girls in the clover comment but bee's wouldnt be on the clover if it had be recently mowed and the nice thing about clover is it grows very close to the ground so you can set your mower height down a notch or two and mow out the flowers and have a real smooth carpet. If your lawn is like solid clover then you should rent, borrow, or steal a rototiller and tilling it in making use of the soil building properties of clover.then bring in a bit of loam (fluffy type 1/3 compost) and then re-seed it.

most people dont have a clue about grass seed. first of all after you get " GOOD " you can pre_sprout it and then plant it and have it growing in several days... but the main thing is having the seed
in firm contact
with the topsoil
its been planted in
.... i remember how many old time lawn rollers used to be in every yard. the best time to plant it is when the moon is waxing (gaining light) from half to full especially if there's rainy weather.

[Mr. Sandman]

ugh. yard work. NEVER repeat NEVER let yard work interfere with fishing. The yard always needs work and that will never go away. Wait for the wind to be blowin 40 to do your yard work.
The older I get the less I am interested in it.

A few years ago I paid someone to do it for the first time in my life...I can not describe the joy I had when I came home from a GREAT day on the water with my boys to see the yard neat and tidy and looking great. It just make the grilling that evening that much sweeter while I sip on my cocktail.
Now I write checks. It hurts but at least I spend my free time alergy free OTW.

[BigFish]

The only yard work I do is tryin' to get a striper that is a yard long!

Hey....I work hard all year long trying to get my lawn that burnt orange/brown color.......you think that is easy?

Only yard work I do is raking leaves in the fall.....(late November after the fish go!)

[Raven]

watching people: rake leaves, grass ect into a pile and then bending over to pick it up.... thats crazy.... you rake it up against the side of your right foot then with the rake flexed (much preferably having a bamboo!!! rake) and then flip it over onto the underside of the rake so the rake fingers are now pointing up ^
then lift it into your barrel... or you can lay your rubbermaid barrel
down on its side and straddling it horse-riding style kneel on it and rake towards the flattened mouth of the barrel to finish up.

[PNG]

No and no.

Let me rephrase....

What real life still living former military man is Col. Killgore modeled after

Oh yah - I hate raking

[chris L]

Im going to be putting 6 to 8 " of beach sand in my front yard . a few lobster pots and bouy's , a couple of shells and some trash and I will think Im on the beach each morning . maybe paint the street blue .
anyone want to purchase a permit to drive my beach . there is a large hole that is loaded with acres of bass just waiting to be caught . just passed the tree on the hill where the lobster pots are loaded . I heard a fifty came from that spot last year !

[Goose]

Chris Larry ....thats some funny chit. LMAO

Dam Raven I could use a dude like you

Spence, I got that information from Lesco, a commerial dealer that we do bizzness with. Often many of the landscapers and maintance guys discover diseases to do with grass trees ect. Yeah, with this harsh winter you'll see more damage caused by low temps and winds but damage left by acid rain is very spoty and you'll notice that in a wide spread area of that neigborhood the same bushes, some have many dead spots on certain shrubs or plain dead plants.

Fish Part, say hello to crabgrass and weeds. Your all set, you'll do more fishin.

Jimbo...IMO, the sooner you lay your fertlizer the better, sure you can lay them at the same time(lime and fertizer). You wanna thatch before it gets to hot. As your working it, just pay attention that your not pulling out to much green grass...adjust the hight.

[Raven]

20 years of landscaping experience including greenhouse and farming (market gardening) gives you a trick or two.... a friend recently told me he's been lifting huge log sections out in his
backyard and carrying them (his back is still sore ect)and i just laughed at him. I said: gee wiz .... todd ... just lay your wheel barrow on its side....roll the log in and then with one foot inside the barrow leg and one hand on the barrow edge lean back and pull the wheel barrow back up....
and its in...so then...... your log section is now on wheels.
.....he just stared at me in cold silence thinking about it ...heh heh

one time i single handedly put a 400+ pound rock into the back of a guys pickup truck just to freak him out ....and i wouldnt tell him how i did it for years and it was so simple....he left his pickup truck there and took off for about 2 hours to go get a backhoe.
when he got back the rock was already in the truck and i was gone and so was the evidence <-

all i did was grab a barrel of PT 2 by 4 chunks, a 16 foot sun dried oak lever and a perfect fulcrum rock and used his bumper as a position keeper.... so i levered the rock up 1 1/2 inches at a time until it was higher than his tailgate then backed the truck up to it and pursueded it in.... i had alot of fun teasing him about big muscles that day....and i how eat my spinach ..... im really from krypton...levitation...

[Mr. Sandman]

Found this in my yard...Are these good to eat?

[chris L]

sandman
only after they are run over a couple times . Thats how you soften the meat . no more tenderizing needed !

[fishsmith]

"if we kill all the golfers ......."