Lawn Care Advice

[Raven]

Originally Posted by Mike P

Or, tear it all up and put Astroturf down.

Mike P :thats exactly what they are doing in California because of a lack of water... or they leave the turf and spray paint it green.

[Raven]

this is the first spring that i'll have the chance to work on it.

the first thing i'll do is to roto till it all in and start over because it's
half brown and half green...mostly dead...

then i'll rake it out ,seed it ,and roll it........

i don't believe in mono cultures and will have some clover seed
added in ..... as i like clover better than grass...

i don't spend much money on things other than compost or seed.

some area's i'll kill the grass and have just English IVY...instead
for extremely low maintenance.

[Goose]

Raven, you always amaze me with all that you know. Question: Have you ever paid for anything?lol
Slinga, tons of good advice. If you think you may have grubs you should treat them first or else all the time and $ will mean nothing. Go to where the brown(dead grass) meets the green grass, take a spade or shovel and lift the green grass, do this in 2-3 different spots....this is where you'll find'um, not in the dead spots.

Pick a day the ground is dry
cut the lawn a little lower
rake out all the dead grass/debree or rent a thatcher
add choice of lime & fertizer
(more fertizer is not good)

If you'd rather not fertize..you can spread compost by throwing it with a shovel in a wide motion.
If you don't have a compost pile you should start one. You can make it out of wood or buy a plastic one or just pile it.
Makes excellent soil for pots, planters, garden beds, spread on grass. Plus, no dump runs and a lot of kitchen scrap's get throw in too.

[EricW]

I use cock a doodle doo. It is pelleted chicken manure. Works wonders. Just put it in the rotary spreader and spread it around. They also make a pre emergent weed treatment made from corn gluten. It greens up the lawn and inhibits seeds from sprouting. My grass is thicker and greener than my neighbors who use those lawn services. I can't beleive the guys I see working for those services, they pull out bags of fertilizer with no gloves, no eye protection, no mask, they tear open bags, make dust fly everywhere, spill it all over. Granted the stuff isn't nuclear waste, but I wouldn't want to be handling that everyday with out any skin protection.

I put the corn gluten down in late march, early april a couple times and then the chicken manure once a month If I can get to it.

Chicken manure works wonders on everything I have ever put it on. I get beautiful tomatoes, cukes, squash, berries etc and flowers. I got some compost made from a chicken farm once and put some on my veg beds. I had 14 ft tomato plants that year. I have a pic which I will try to find I took in mid july that year when they were about 8 feet tall. I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with I gave shopping bags full to everyone I knew.

There is a company called gardens alive you can google. They make some great organic stuff. I have used thier veg foods and some mildew and insect control stuff. They sell lawn products too.

Happy gardening, I would love to look at my lawn ,but it is under a new 2" of snow here nw of boston. 2 years ago I was putting grass seed down the last weekend of march......

I got to thinking recently about that story about the drugs people are excreting out going through the sewer systems and back into the drinking water supply. If that tiny amount is showing up in water, how much chemical is getting in from the groundwater since people liberally spread all matter of chemicals by the bagful on lawns.

[Raider Ronnie]

Hot top it, paint it green and go fishing ALL summer.

[Raven]

and chemical fertilizers are made from petroleum Chicken crap is great but its real high in nitrogen and tends to burn plants sometimes
where as rabbit is the coldest and won't burn anything.

goose i really try .....and have to be extremely careful now as to what i spend our money on.

today we paid for credit cards, excise taxes,car registration, dog license , food and more garden seeds that were 50% off... gasoline ...a new car jack so i can fix my car myself... and very little cash is left over for spending it on luxuries like chemical lawn fertilizer... thats easy to spread ....

i always go for fish emulsion anyway because it's organic... last time i checked it was $270 dollars for a 50 gallon drum.

So i have do everything the "do it your selfer way" with the least outlay of cash out of the "mortgage money" which usually involves heavy labor on my part rather than to pay someone else to do it for me.

As for a JOB i am still looking for my Niche Goose. Basically i am just a market gardener/farmer and jack of all trades but my farm just takes all of my time....So in the mean time i'm changing it back to the efficient way it used to be between 1850 and 1950 before they let it get all clogged up
with non productive ornamentals. i have ten years of work ahead of me at least. At that point i'll be 65....

it's my Job to make this place PAY for itself essentially/Eventually.

The other thing i do is to find every way possible to save money by not having to spend it.... like cutting wood instead of buying heating oil i do on a daily basis rather than turn a thermostat dial.