Why I Oughta...

I threw down 15K area of coverage of this Grub Control granular from Menards.  A June application was in my 2023 lawn plan , so this is a 'check the box' activity.  I ran my spreader over the lawn in the front and back as well as some of the beds to apply the grub killer to those areas, too. I have to spot-treat some of the weeds this month, too.  Then, coming out of the July 4th holiday, I'll be applying the first treatment of an organic material (biosolids from Menards) after doing two synthetic lawn applications this Spring.  I'm calling my March, April, May and (now) June - in terms of lawn care - a success.    I've done:  Lawn lime, a pre-emergent + fert, a weed-and-feed and now insect and grub control. 

I waited as long as I could: but, I finally cut the lawn last week.  Posting this on Wednesday, May 3rd, but I ended up cutting the lawn on Thursday,  April 27th.  It was long and ready for a cut.  Here, below, is a peek at the deep-green color of the lawn right now.  It never looks better than mid-Spring. I cut it on the 4-setting on the mower - that's two slots from the tallest.  One of my 2023 items on my lawn care list is to try to cut front a bit lower, so this 4 setting is exactly where I was last year.  My 2022 list says that I cut the front on 6 in 2020.  5 in 2021.  So, it was 4 in 2022 .   This first mow, I used the bagger to keep the cuttings out of the lawn.  As I get more regular, I'll switch to mulching it in as I've done every other year. 

The Wild Onion continues to be a problem.  The clumps of these bulbs are in our lawn and in our beds.  I've worked at them for years - including cultural and herbicide treatments over the years.  I've removed them, sprayed them and attempted to treat the soil to make them less happy.  This Spring, I've lime'd the backyard , sprayed the tips with Tenacity and pulled them out by hand.  This past week, I went into the understory garden bed and used my Hori Hori to pull up a bunch of these jerks.  Below is the orange trug filled up with the bulbs.  What's different in the beds vs the lawn is that it is a bit easier to get the bulbs out without taking more dirt/soil/earth.  I pry up the bulbs, cut the clump and pull from the bottom.   If you have Wild Onions like we do, be SURE TO NOT COMPOST THEM.  These go right in the trash - not the compost pile.   Here's a couple of other Spring 2023 posts on these awful things. 

This is the way.  My 2023 yard and garden to-do list is the way that I set-up some guardrails on my activies in the garden this year.  This is something that I've done over the years - starting in 2019 .  Here is 2022's version - which included 25 items .  That (25 items) is where I've seemed to settle the past few years.   Earlier this year, I started to collect my thoughts and published a 'potential projects' post in late January that unpacked some priorities that I could work through this year.   Without further preamble, let's turn to the 2023 to-do list. 1. Evergreens. Like last year, where I listed 'shrubs' as my #1 item, this ye ar, I want to think about having a focus on evergreens. That means...trees and shrubs. For now, that means adding boxwoods under the Lindens , thinking about more upright evergreens in other places in the back and using them to create some Winter structure in the beds.  And, adding dwarf varieties (staggered) to the

Last week, I posted a couple of photos showing the 'clumps' of Wild Onions (and their surrounding turf) that I've been digging out of the yard .  Over the years, I've found that the ONLY way to remove these things are to dig them up.   I've taken different approaches over the years in terms of how much soil I 'take' vs what I 'put back'.  This year, I'm trialing a new way to remove the Wild Onions by digging out and NOT pulling the bulbs.   In previous years, I'd use a shovel to dig out a clump that included grass.  Then, I'd sort of 'tear' the clump apart to try to release the bulbs.  And, then...I'd put the clump with the grass on top back in place.   This year, I'm taking the turf, too.  In an attempt to not leave any bulbs behind.  My thought is that the lawn will spread out and fill these spots in this Summer.   I'm also NOT composting these - instead...just tossing them directly in our garbage can.   But, what di

Back at the end of February, I posted my 2023 lawn care plan that included applications of both organic and synthetic fertilizers across the growing season . 5 feeding applications in total.  The first...was slated to be an early feeding that was combined with a pre-emergent.  I've gone back and forth with early Spring fertilizers over the years - doing it sometimes and skipping it others.  Why skip it?  Because, I don't want to have to mow.  But, buying pre-emergent WITHOUT fertilizer is hard-to-do around here, so this year, I went with the combo.   As for the timing, the GDD calendar tells you when to apply .  Here's the screenshot from today, showing that our Zone/Zip Code is in the the "Optimum" category this week.  Yesterday, I went out and applied two bags of this synthetic combo from Menards that comes from Forever Green.  I posted about the new Menards organic biosolids product from Forever Green earlier this year .   Below are a few photos showing this la

Here's a quick, early-April check-in on what has happened since the application of a light layer of municipal biosolids as topdressing to our parkway - specifically the section that is IB2DWs.  I top-dressed with these Downers Grove biosolids in early March - so right about one month ago.  Peek at this post to see the state of the lawn in this section pre-biosolids .   Then...have a look below.  On the right, is *our* section of the parkway.  On the left is the untreated section.  That's an emerging domination line , isn't it?  Sure feels like a pretty clear outcome from the biosolids, doesn't it? 

My lawn enemy - Wild Onions - are just about at their peek in Zone 5 right now.  If you wander around your neighborhood and see patches of dark green, vibrant 'grass', you're seeing one of a couple of things:   It is either: 1.  Dog poop.   2.  An artifact of sub-surface Fall feeding . 3.  Wild onions.    I have a mix of all three. But, the one I'm concerned with right now is #3:  Wild Onions.  And, I've been attacking them every Spring on multiple fronts.  I posted last month about how they had emerged .   This Spring, I laid down Lawn Lime - to help reduce their likelihood.  I've also begun to 'burn' the tips with my torch.  I intend to get a little spray on them this coming week, too. And, finally...I've begun to remove large clumps.  Here, below is a look at one of them: The key to removal is to dig up MORE than you need to - and make sure you get all the bulbs.  See below for a look at the bulb clump: I'm going to go get a couple of gallon

Another day, another post showing some of the use of biosolids in the yard and garden.  This time....it was a couple of half-full trugs of the organic material in the front of the front porch bed and a little bit scattered in the lawn.    I last showed using it in the backyard .  But, I've put the bulk of biosolids down this late Winter/early Spring in the front.  Parkway and main lawn.  Bu, also in the front porch beds. Below are a couple of photos showing a bit of biosolids scattered in the front of the bed (first photo) and the two trugs that I used.   The reason for applying it to the bed was because I had a bunch of clay that I had dug up that was on the top of the soil.  When those clay clumps dried, I kicked them to break them up and then mixed in this organic material.  You can also see a little bit in the lawn, too. What is my plan for the next batch of biosolids?  I was thinking of running them straight-down my property line in front - to sort of....boost up that 'dom

Having used biosolids to topdress the front parkway and a little bit of my lawn out front, I have now moved on to adding a bit of this organic material to our backyard.  This comes after I used the Downers Grove municipal biosolids in vertical mulching and by adding a little bit to our compost bin.   I've gone back-and-forth on whether (or not) to order a 3 yard delivery of biosolids, but in the meantime I've been going over to the pick-up station and filling 12 gallons-or-so of the material to use a little bit at a time.   As for the backyard, here's a few photos showing how I started with 10 gallons of biosolids as a soil amendment.   Below, you can see the 2 buckets and the trug - as well as the rake I use to spread it around.  I take each bucket and walk around and sort-of 'drizzle' the biosolids out.  You can see how that gets applied in the second photo below.  This is when I use that metal rake to pull it out of the piles and spread it a bit more to help it b

I've put down (right around) 36 gallons of biosolids on the two sections of our parkway to date - using 5 gallon buckets and spreading it with a rake to top-dress the turf.  This past weekend, I grabbed twelve more gallons (making it 48 total gallons of the stuff) across both sections.  First (below) is the little parkway island that sits IB2DWs.  Then, I went on the other side of the Norway Maple tree in the parkway and dumped some biosolids in between the tree ring and the property line (below): And, I also went back and filled in some of the spots that looked like they could se some help (below): And...finally, below you can see that I also introduced a little bit to the main lawn - right along the sidewalk.  There is a slight void - a few inches in from the sidewalk - that has settled.   I'm going to keep trying to go - and get 12 gallons at a time - to continue to top dress the lawn this Spring - even bringing some of it to the backyard to help in that part of the lawn tha

This is day three and post number three of spreading municipal biosolids on our parkway turf in early March - as both a slow-release fertilizer and a soil amendment.    Over the weekend, I started by picking up and dumping about 12 gallons of granular (or close to granular) biosolids from the Downers Grove Sanitary District on our parkway .  They have a station across town where you can scoop-up and take-home your own batches of biosolids.  I say (close to granular) because it has more of a topsoil consistency than a true granular fertilizer or commercial biosolids product like Milorganite.   Yesterday, I posted a photo showing the application of even more biosolids to the parkway section across our driveway .   Today is showing the addition of 12-or-so more gallons to the main parkway.  My first application went down by the street.  This one was dumped closer to the sidewalk.  See below for photos showing the material dumped out followed by photos showing it after being raked in.  Pos

A few days ago, I shared some photos of the initial application of municipal biosolids to our parkway - the part of the parkway that is closest to the driveway.  I mentioned that I would need a few more trips of 10-12 gallons of material to finish the parkway.  This past weekend, I made a stop at the biosolids station and filled up my 2+ buckets.  I brought the material home and spread it on the smaller section of parkway that is on the other side of the driveway.  This is the IB2DWs parkway area.  See below for a look at the material after I raked it in: This section of grass is particularly rough to deal with and be successful with grass.  It is not-so-great soil that also sees A LOT of road debris and gets filled up with those tiny Locust leaves each Fall.  My neighbor's section is irrigated (I think), so his does better than mine.   Looking at these photos - including another one below - I'm thinking that I could put a second application on top of this one to try to help i

Yesterday, I posted an update showing that I had spread 120 pounds of pelletized lawn lime on the back yard and gardens and mentioned that I was going to next turn to the application of pre-emergent.  But, I failed to even reference MY OWN PLAN .  In that plan - which I also published last week - I talked about how I wanted to add some biosolids to the parkway.  Just like with the Lime, I wanted to try to beat a storm that was coming.  So, I went out and picked up two five gallon buckets full of the stuff from the Village.  See below - the buckets are NOT QUITE FULL, as I didn't want to risk them tipping over/spilling and getting the smelly stuff all over my car.   I intend to try to spread a layer of these biosolids all across the parkway.  Why?  A couple of reasons.  First....I've never had a lot of luck with the grass down here.  I'm not sure if it is road salt-related.  Or, the soil conditions?  Or both?  So, I figure I'll begin to amend the soil and see if I can

Documenting with this photo of the pelletized lawn lime below that I threw down 120 pounds of lime in the backyard.  Both the lawn and the beds.   Yesterday, I shared a photo showing the Wild Onions were back and this is my attempt at systematically treating the soil to make it less hospitable for Wild Onions.   We are/were supposed to get a good-sized storm this weekend, so I wanted to get this down ahead of it so it could begin to be watered in and start to break down.   This is the first step in the lawn program, but I'm watching the soil temp and GDD tools to figure out when I need to move with the pre-emergent crabgrass granules.  

Just two days ago, I published my 2023 lawn care (feeding, amending, treating) schedule (or plan) that included a mix of synthetic and organic fertilizers as well as some amendments, insecticides and herbicides.  In that post - and the photo/post a day earlier , I talked about how part of my approach is focused on (once again) wild onions.  My first application of the year is going to be lawn lime and I'm going to try to get it down this Weekend.   Why?  Well...because my enemy is back.  Already.  Wild Onions are popping up on the first of March.  Here, below is a photo of a little spot in one of my beds showing the tips of these bulbs have arrived. I've posted about my approach to Wild Onion removal, treatment and remediation over the years.  Here's a few posts - one that outlines my process , another post that looks at the correlation to soil temperatures and their appearance , and a look at the pros/cons of yanking them vs treating them .  Speaking of soil temperatures

One of the ways that I've used this garden diary is by laying out a plan or schedule that I can reference later in the season as a way to keep me on task.  I veer off-course way, way, way too easily, so these kind of posts are helpful in putting up some guardrails.   The lawn has been one of the focus areas over the years and my approach has evolved.  I mentioned this in the post about the new Menards biosolids lawn fertilizer that is natural (a Milorganite alternative) when I talked about how I've swung from all synthetics to all organics.  And now I've settled in the middle - and intend to use both.  We have cool-season turfs.  In the front, it is all Kentucky Blue Grass.  In the back, we now have a mix of Kentucky Blue Grass and Tall Fescue.  And...(I think) some thin, whisp-y perennial rye grass.  Here's last year's post about the plan - and I'll say that it was (overall) a positive year.  Mostly because of the renovation and Nimblewill removal/treatment i

Yesterday, I posted some photos of a new organic (biosolid) lawn fertilizer from Menards that is a Milorganite replacement that comes in $10 cheaper per bag.  I mentioned that I was getting started on my 2023 lawn care program and bought a few products to get started.  Before I talk about the first application of lawn food I'm going to put down, I intend to start with a soil amendment.  Over the years, I've applied pelletized lime to our backyard in an attempt to change the makeup of the soil.  Why?  To help make the lawn a less-hospitable place for Wild Onions to grow .  I've fought those jerks every Spring - with both removal and lime application. Does lime do anything?  I'm not sure.  But, it isn't expensive, so my not throw the stuff down - if it can help, right? It seems that I haven't put Lime down since 2021 - skipping last year.  Or...I didn't post about it, at least. Here's what I'm putting down this year in the backyard:  three 40 pound b