Lawn Care Advice

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

New seed is OK now as it will have more than enough time to germinate before crabgrass season in about 5 weeks.

thanks Phil....I know what you mean about the crabgrass, late summer and it starts.....now I'm really pissed.. it looks like the 2 rhodys I planted are dying...ugggghhhh...those weren't cheap

[BigFish]

Fools....all fools!!! They are weeds.....let the sun burn it brown and enjoy more fishing time!!

[Saltheart]

Use Turf Builder 4 times a year of the 4 use the weed and feed varieties twice. Use grub control in the spring. cut it every week. water it every 2 days unless it rains. dethatch and aerate it every 4 to 5 years , overseed when you aerate it. Lime it as needed , determine that by soil tests.

If you do all this you will have a lawn so beautiful and healthy you will love the look of it but hate it when it grows so well you need to cut it every 4 days instead of once a week!

[BigFish]

Fertilize, lime, water, primp, fuss and then (provided you do not own a well) your grass looks great for about 4 weeks then.......WATER RESTRICTIONS!!! So whats the point???? As brown as mine will be.....and I spent no time fussing over mine! All that money and time out the window!

[striperman36]

I live in a designated lawn war zone.

[Raven]

If'n ya can't eat it
ferget about it

[Fishpart]

Don't know if it grows in New England but when I lived in VA I had a Zoysia lawn, turned brown in the winter and started to green when the dogwoods bloomed. Choked out absolutly everything else and the hotter and drier it got the better it looked. A little fertiliizer once a year and presto. Grows best in sandy soil...

[Raven]

zoysia comes in plugs and is popular out west

Fire Belly Organic Lawn Care | Natural Lawn Fertilizers | Organic Fertilizer

but here is an organic way to fertilize your lawn

notice the jugs of corn gluten

they rid your lawn of dandelion which is an indicator
that your soil ph is too high like 7.5 instead of 6.5

[HugeDinghy]

I live too close to the water to put stuff down on my lawn...which sucks because my lawn looks like crap until about mid june....

[Raven]

rosa ragosa (rose hips) will grow there

[PRBuzz]

Won't be long before needs mowing!

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

Won't be long before needs mowing!

Rocky would be proud!!!

[Raven]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

Won't be long before needs mowing!

set your mower height at 4 inches

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by Raven

set your mower height at 4 inches

Set high, no bagging, mulching to feed the earthworms are return nutrients to soil, cut about every 4 days once the ritual starts..

If the height gets away (miss a day or 2), better to cut 2X with an hour rest to let the 1st cut clippings partially dry in the sun before run 2. I find this is actually quicker/less energy than trying to bag the clippings.

[Raven]

whens the last time you sharpened that blade? eh watson?

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by Raven

whens the last time you sharpened that blade? eh watson?

2X per season!

[zimmy]

longer grass out competes crabgrass. No need for those friggin chemicals. All yer doing is helping dupont and making the marshes less habitable for flounders and stuff.

[JohnR]

Whatever I do - do the opposite.

[Saltheart]

Before I got my ride around mower i considered blacktop. large upfront expense but the week to week maintenance goes way down!

[american spirit]

i'd put some thought into the lasco (spelling?) products. they are cheaper than scott's and that's what all the golf courses are starting to use now. a relative used it last year with good results. i think scott's has a really big name and it's tough to get a lot of people to try new things.

as far as re-seeding or fixing bare spots, early spring or fall should be the go time for that. good soil is important. other than that i don't know how to test it or fix it. besides calling a company to dump 10-20 yard of fresh loom on your property.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Karl F

pour a 50/50 mix of bleach and gasoline on it, and then you will not have to touch it again all season, way more time to fish....

at least thats what bassmaster told me once... wish I could take his advise....

.

Or, tear it all up and put Astroturf down.

[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.

[BigFish]

I am with Karl! I like my grass short, brown and burned by mid June......no mowing....its fishing I am going!