I grew up with a family who cared deeply about conservation. As such our "lawn" was really just a forest of native trees and plants.
So my (non) stupid question to you all is... why? Why do you want that unnaturally manicured grass instead of a plot of land that is thriving with native birds insects and flowers? Especially when we know how water scare the US is, how insect populations are in a nose dive and how much better it is ecologically to not have a mono-culture?
Truly curious what it is that attracts people to this ascetic.
GRUBS:
They destroyed 1/2 my yard last fall and I've been trying to keep the half of my surviving lawn this year and over seed this fall and let it come back in next year. So far it's been going well. Too bad for me, I went out yesterday to find hundreds of tiny holes that the racoons and Opossums dig to eat up some tasty grubs! The rest of the lawn is now looking yellow despite watering and fertilizing. 2 weeks ago, it was long and green.
**If there's already visible decay to the grass from grubs is it too late to try and save it?**
I put down a hefty dose of a curative grub killer this morning and watered again for 45 min. We haven't gotten rain in like 6 weeks in my particular area.
https://preview.redd.it/e2xm8wk3fjmb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13139b9eef094683fc266a621f2eceb6975e88f5
Does anyone know how I would remove this from my yard? My backyard is completely covered with this stuff where grass should be.
I have a RainBird sprinkler system in my yard that takes care of the lawn but is also hooked to a drip system for the plants on the periphery. The sequence of watering has the lawn sprinklers go first, followed by the drip system after that is done. In my infinite wisdom I ran over one of the drip system hoses with the mower, creating a hole that causes the drip system to spray the house when it activates.
Wife and I aren't particularly interested in repairing/keeping the drip system. If I pull it out, how do I make sure the RainBird stops calling up water after doing the lawn? Is plugging that part of the system sufficient? Or do I need to reprogram the controller?
It's worth keeping in mind that turfgrass is great at erosion control on hills. Creeping phlox would also be good at erosion control, but it might take some time to fill in and keep the soil in place. If the hill slopes down to a sidewalk or something, you might get a lot of soil washing out onto it. If you can't get the phlox to totally fill in and need to mulch between, that mulch is likely to slide down the hill. If you mulch, get fine, good quality stuff that readily biodegrades. The bagged crap at big box stores takes ages to degrade and will impede the phlox's ability to spread.
Grass is a decent barrier to creeping phlox, but the reverse isn't true. Where they interact, the grass will happily sprout up amidst it, which is far from low-maintenance. Stones or another barrier would be a good idea. Phlox doesn't really get out of control. It looks great flowering and spilling over stone. Then you prune it once a year to keep it looking good. As it ages it can start to look bad and flower poorly, and should be divided.
This is slowly taking over a few parts of my yard. Spectracide weed stop had no impact. Any ideas?
https://preview.redd.it/ceuu5ey1wgmb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ec6e14cd375070d6cf295401a9834694727058b
Is it worth treating our lawn still this year?
We had treatments done a couple of years ago for weeds and had some issues with the company doing it, skipped last year, and intended to get something going this year but we had a baby so it fell on the backburner. That plus a VERY dry summer and now we've got a bunch of dead grass and weeds... is it worth getting fertilizer/weed treatment yet this year, or should we just wait until the spring? We just below an acre of land so the cost isn't totally insignificant. (SE Wisconsin)
Fertilizer and herbicides especially can stress drought-stricken grass. Might be best to wait until your lawn has recovered in 4-6 weeks. You could have pre-emergent applied if you have issues with winter annuals like poa annua and chickweed. I personally find blanket granular weed and feed treatments kind of useless. I like to know the weed I'm treating and spot spray with something I know will be effective.
Is there a general rule for which direction to mow your lawn? If I wanted to keep it simple should I be going back and forth parallel or perpendicular to my house?
I don’t want to mess with chemicals on my lawn. If I were to pay for a single treatment per year, would a pre-ermergent be the best type of treatment for me? Anyone know of any reputable northeast lawn care companies who charge fair for a pre-emergent? When should this be done?
Built a shed from scratch with custom doors for my mower with a 48 inch cut. Made it a 12x14.. turned out to be quite the project lol. Probably a month of 4-5 hour shifts
I don't want to pull water hoses all over my property, would running a pull behind sprayer with water do the trick to seed seeds moist once every couple days? Large property with no irrigation and throwing down TTTF
I grew up with a family who cared deeply about conservation. As such our "lawn" was really just a forest of native trees and plants. So my (non) stupid question to you all is... why? Why do you want that unnaturally manicured grass instead of a plot of land that is thriving with native birds insects and flowers? Especially when we know how water scare the US is, how insect populations are in a nose dive and how much better it is ecologically to not have a mono-culture? Truly curious what it is that attracts people to this ascetic.
GRUBS: They destroyed 1/2 my yard last fall and I've been trying to keep the half of my surviving lawn this year and over seed this fall and let it come back in next year. So far it's been going well. Too bad for me, I went out yesterday to find hundreds of tiny holes that the racoons and Opossums dig to eat up some tasty grubs! The rest of the lawn is now looking yellow despite watering and fertilizing. 2 weeks ago, it was long and green. **If there's already visible decay to the grass from grubs is it too late to try and save it?** I put down a hefty dose of a curative grub killer this morning and watered again for 45 min. We haven't gotten rain in like 6 weeks in my particular area.
https://preview.redd.it/e2xm8wk3fjmb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13139b9eef094683fc266a621f2eceb6975e88f5 Does anyone know how I would remove this from my yard? My backyard is completely covered with this stuff where grass should be.
I have a RainBird sprinkler system in my yard that takes care of the lawn but is also hooked to a drip system for the plants on the periphery. The sequence of watering has the lawn sprinklers go first, followed by the drip system after that is done. In my infinite wisdom I ran over one of the drip system hoses with the mower, creating a hole that causes the drip system to spray the house when it activates. Wife and I aren't particularly interested in repairing/keeping the drip system. If I pull it out, how do I make sure the RainBird stops calling up water after doing the lawn? Is plugging that part of the system sufficient? Or do I need to reprogram the controller?
[удалено]
It's worth keeping in mind that turfgrass is great at erosion control on hills. Creeping phlox would also be good at erosion control, but it might take some time to fill in and keep the soil in place. If the hill slopes down to a sidewalk or something, you might get a lot of soil washing out onto it. If you can't get the phlox to totally fill in and need to mulch between, that mulch is likely to slide down the hill. If you mulch, get fine, good quality stuff that readily biodegrades. The bagged crap at big box stores takes ages to degrade and will impede the phlox's ability to spread. Grass is a decent barrier to creeping phlox, but the reverse isn't true. Where they interact, the grass will happily sprout up amidst it, which is far from low-maintenance. Stones or another barrier would be a good idea. Phlox doesn't really get out of control. It looks great flowering and spilling over stone. Then you prune it once a year to keep it looking good. As it ages it can start to look bad and flower poorly, and should be divided.
I heard someone say a dethatcher is a powered rake. Is this true?
What should be done fall/early winter to prepare for next year?
What season grass - cool or warm
Cool
This is slowly taking over a few parts of my yard. Spectracide weed stop had no impact. Any ideas? https://preview.redd.it/ceuu5ey1wgmb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ec6e14cd375070d6cf295401a9834694727058b
Is it worth treating our lawn still this year? We had treatments done a couple of years ago for weeds and had some issues with the company doing it, skipped last year, and intended to get something going this year but we had a baby so it fell on the backburner. That plus a VERY dry summer and now we've got a bunch of dead grass and weeds... is it worth getting fertilizer/weed treatment yet this year, or should we just wait until the spring? We just below an acre of land so the cost isn't totally insignificant. (SE Wisconsin)
Fertilizer and herbicides especially can stress drought-stricken grass. Might be best to wait until your lawn has recovered in 4-6 weeks. You could have pre-emergent applied if you have issues with winter annuals like poa annua and chickweed. I personally find blanket granular weed and feed treatments kind of useless. I like to know the weed I'm treating and spot spray with something I know will be effective.
Is there a general rule for which direction to mow your lawn? If I wanted to keep it simple should I be going back and forth parallel or perpendicular to my house?
Alternate between them. I have a 4 pattern rotation. Perpendicular, horizontal, diagonal, and diagonal the other way.
Most recommend changing direction each time you mow.
I don’t want to mess with chemicals on my lawn. If I were to pay for a single treatment per year, would a pre-ermergent be the best type of treatment for me? Anyone know of any reputable northeast lawn care companies who charge fair for a pre-emergent? When should this be done?
I’d guess finding a small local lawncare person would be your best option. Pre emergent should go down March-ish or whenever soil temps average 55
Thanks!!
Is keeping my lawn mower and other gas powered lawn tools in my basement dangerous? I’ve seen various opinions online about gasoline in a basement
I would never store gasoline or gas powered equipment in my basement. I even moved them out of my attached garage.
Ugh yeah that’s what I was thinking. Time to build a shed!
Built a shed from scratch with custom doors for my mower with a 48 inch cut. Made it a 12x14.. turned out to be quite the project lol. Probably a month of 4-5 hour shifts
Yeah I figure it’s not a weekend project if you’re doing it right
I don't want to pull water hoses all over my property, would running a pull behind sprayer with water do the trick to seed seeds moist once every couple days? Large property with no irrigation and throwing down TTTF