Why I Oughta...

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 fo...

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 ...

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 ...

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:  thr...

We were at the Menards in Bolingbrook and wandered out to where they keep the bags of lawn fertilizer.  I was hoping to pick up a few bags of fertilizer and pre-emergent that I could put down late this Winter/early this Spring.  As I've talked about over the years, I've evolved in my approach to feeding our lawn.  When I started....I was all synthetic.  I used the four-step program - all synthetics and some with weed/feed combined.   Then...my eyes were opened (thanks to YouTube) on organics.  Specifically Milorganite.  I started to use biosolids.  And, I stopped early Spring feedings.  And, did a late season (Thanksgiving) feeding.  And 'spoon fed' during the warm months and all of those things that people talk about online.    Starting last year, I've kind of swung back on the synthetic --> organic spectrum.  But, only half-way.  I'll post about what I'm doing with the first application in another post....

This past season, I finally figured out that our backyard was infested with a warm-season grass/weed called Nimblewill and came up with a plan to treat it in place while not doing a full cool-season grass renovation.  That started with using a post-emergent spray called Tenacity  - which caused the Nimblewill to white-out and die .   Once that ran its course, I then began a project using a pre-germination seed technique followed by a project to overseed the lawn with a mix of Kentucky Blue Grass and Tall Fescue .  Which...after some watering... resulted in a bunch of new germination . And, while I was happy with the result in the Fall with new, green grass filling in plenty of bare spots, I knew the real, important results, would be visible once the lawn went totally dormant.  That's because, the Nimblewill is a warm-season grass and totally dies back once the temperature drops.  Which, historically have left us with a bunch of bare spots in the law...

Like I've done the past few years, I attempted to lay out a lawn care (feeding and treatment) schedule this year by listing what I was planning to do to the front and back lawns.  This year's schedule was posted in March .  So...how did I do?   I'd call it a mixed grade.  I started out with a synthetic weed and feed in March .  Good.   I skipped adding lime to the backyard to help treat the wild onions.  But, I did, remove a few more emerging clumps.  Not so good.   I also skipped insect and grub treatments.  Ran out of time.  Not good. And skipped fungicide.  Also...not good. I also skipped 4th of July and Labor day feedings in the backyard.   But, what did I do?  I detathed, aerated the backyard.   Good. I also identified and treated Nimblewill in the backyard .  Good.  And, most importantly...I overseeded the entire backyard with a blend of Kentucky Blue Grass and Tall Fescu...

Well, woulda look at that.  We have seedlings emerging in the blank spaces of our backyard lawn.  Specifically, we have seedlings taking off that were spread around our backyard a week or so ago after undergoing a pre-germination process of soaking them for five days .  I threw down 30# of seed (mix of KBG and Tall Fescue) and hand-spread some of it in some bare spots in the far back.  Below is a photo of one of those blank spots.  Have a look to see the grass seedlings coming up and filling in the space: A few things to note about this photo:  I spread a combination of Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass seeds back here, so I'm not totally sure what I'm seeing here, but based on germination time estimates, I'd say that this is more likely than not to be Tall Fescue.  You'll also note that there is a bunch of white blades in the photo.  That is a nice sight to see as that is Nimblewill that has been treated with Tenacity and is (hopefully) damaged ...

Last week, I posted the details of how I was overseeding and renovating my backyard with a mix of Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue seeds .  In this post , I went over how I was attempting to pre-germinate the seed by soaking it in water for five days in an attempt to speed-up the process once I scattered the seed.  Well...I went ahead and scattered the seed using e-Corganite as the spreading and drying agent with the wet, pre-germinated seed.  As a reminder, I put down 30 pounds of seed across about 10k square feet in our backyard that was made-up of 10# of KBG and 20# of Tall Fescue seeds.  I applied it at different rates to different parts of the yard.   But, then I panicked.  As I walked around the yard, not only did I NOT see any seedlings, I saw a bunch of what sure seem like blank spots.  Just dirt.  No seeds.  Yikes.  I thought that maybe I didn't put down enough seed.  Or that it had washed away.  Especially on t...

The time has come for the backyard Fall lawn project.  What I thought was going to be a total renovation - killing everything and seeding from scratch - has turned into a combination of patch seeding and total overseeding in a couple of ways.  Once I was able to positively identify that I had an infestation of Nimblewill (a warm-season bent grass), I opted for a selective treatment called Tenacity.  After a couple of applications, the spray began to work and has turned the tips of the Nimblewill white as it begins to kill it off .  The killing and eradication of the Nimblewill isn't going to be done in this one season, but rather will be a multi-year program.  But, with the application of Tenacity (while the Nimblewill is/was growing ), I think I've begun to defeat it.  And allow for the application of a new batch of grass seed that will (I hope) take off and begin to grow in the final six or so weeks of the season.   The backyard is a case study...

Earlier this month, I was able to (finally and properly) identify that I have a creeping bentgrass problem in my backyard that includes a spreading (and concerning) amount of Nimblewill .  I decided to apply Tenacity as a post-emergent in an attempt to begin to control the grassy weed ahead of overseeding this Fall.  I mixed up a couple of gallons and applied it with a pump sprayer.   What does it look like after a week?  I'm seeing what I hoped to see:  some white emerging from the bentgrass.  See below for some photos showing the white tips.  Turns out, I have A TON Of creeping bentgrass back there that needs to go.  Look at all this white showing up: Everything I've read tells me that Nimblewill control isn't a one-shot deal.  It will take a few applications the first season and a multi-year treatment plan with herbicide control (Tenacity as a selective post-emergent).   But, so far...I'm happy.  And seeing signs of p...

Yesterday, I posted about the lawn care breakthrough that I had in properly identifying and diagnosing our lawn with hosting a warm-season bent grass weed called Nimblewill .  In that post, I talked about trying to work my way through a process to both treat the Nimblewill, help some of our other tough spots and overseed the backyard this late Summer/early Fall. Back in March of this year, I posted my 2022 lawn care schedule and included the idea of a renovation in the back.  Turns out...(if you read yesterday's post on Nimblewill ), I don't have Poa and don't need a renovation.  I just need to remove the Nimblewill and overseed.  Here's how I'm approaching the process below. My plan starts with controlling the Nimblewill through a herbicide application.  Followed by aeration to part of my lawn then overseeding and finally amending parts of the backyard with compost to help improve the conditions.  I touched on some of this in my 2022 lawn schedule post fr...

I saw this bag of Lesco 19-0-7 lawn fertilizer with pre-emergent at one of the big box stores recently and thought it was worth tracking here for both price and N-P-K makeup.  For reference, Milorganite has a 6-4-0 N-P-K and based on what I've both read/watched and my initial soil testing, finding something like this that has a # in the Potassium part of the equation is, inherently interesting to me.  At $68 a bag, it is a little bit LESS interesting, though. This post and photo, however...reminds me that I NEED to keep an eye on my 2022 lawn care schedule as I'm planning on making some changes to the treatments this year - especially as I try to balance my historical heavy N-P's in the N-P-K analysis.

I started my lawn feeding program this year (2021) with a granular bio solid product called e-Corganite (from Menards) and I'm finishing off the year with the same 40# bags of e-Corganite for my late Fall/early Winter dormant feeding.  I had three bags of this fertilizer on hand and threw it down heavy this weekend.  I'm PRETTY SURE that I did the same thing (an early December feeding) last year, but I don't have it posted on the blog.  Here's a post from early December 2019 showing how I used a few bags of Milorganite on the lawn as it was dormant and cool .   Many folks will tell you that this late Fall/early Winter dormant feeding of the lawn is the *most* important one you can do - and if you were to do JUST ONE feeding per year, this one might be the one to choose.  Penn State's extension office says the benefits of feeding your lawn this time of year include a good 'green up'.  From PSU : Late fall fertilization should take place when shoot gro...

Marking down a few items in my [lawn care diary] for the season with this post that have taken place over the past few weeks.   The last time I posted a lawn update was when I put down Hydretain at the beginning of June on the front lawn and 'between two driveways' strip.   This post is marking four other applications that I've done and figured it was best to wrap up in one post. The first (that I don't have a photo of) was the application of 2 total bags of Grub Control from Menards on the front and back lawn and even some of the beds at the very beginning of June.   Then, I put down a second spoon-feeding of the Sea Kelp, Biochar, Iron and Humic from The Andersons.  At the end of May.  Here's a look at the bag of this stuff in the garage below.  I think I'll get two more applications of this still this Summer:  #3 at the end of June.  #4 at the end of July. In June, I put down two new products:  First this Slow Mow Lawn Cond...

Trying to put down a marker in the lawn diary that I feed the front yard a couple bags of this new Milorganite competitor from Menards called e-Corganite .  It is a 4-3-O 'eco-friendly' product that carries all of the claims that Milorganite does in terms of being heavy in iron, being non-burning and slow release.   Right before Memorial Day Weekend, I threw down two full bags of this fertilizer on the front lawn, the parkway and the 'between two driveways' turf.  I bought five bags, but when I decided to put down a synthetic weed and feed in the backyard about a week ago , I held off on spreading any of this in the backyard.   Here's what the bag looks like: For my record-keeping purposes, this is the third application to the front yard.   First, I used a bag of Ironite on the front in mid/late April .   Followed up by 1/3rd of the bag of Soil Mastery soil conditioner featuring biochar, humic acid, sea kelp and lime at the end of April ...

For the past few years, I've put nothing but organic/natural products down on the yard to control weeds, feed the turf and improve the soil.  But, this year, I skipped the application of a pre-emergent and I'm dealing with A LOT more weeds in the backyard than I normally have at this time of year.  I don't know if skipping the pre-emergent has to do with the weeds or if it is just a coincidence. But, I needed to take some action.  I bought a concentrate to spray the weeds and applied that a couple of weeks ago.  It worked - in spots - but wasn't enough.   So, I went with what I consider a drastic measure:  I bought a bag of Weed and Feed from Menards and threw it down in the backyard .  I looked around for a weed control ONLY granular product, but didn't see something that would work, so I decided to use this combination product.  Here's a look at the bag: Here's a closer look (below) at the makeup of the herbicide product including Dimethyla...

Putting this in the lawn diary - I put down about 15# of The Andersons Soil Master 5-0-0 in the front yard this week.  And, I put down 3 40# bags of pelletized lawn lime in the backyard.  I bought The Anderson's Soil Mastery bag online - and it includes biochar, humic acid, iron, gypsum and sea kelp.  My plan is to spoon feed the front lawn with this - three applications...one per month - across the end or April, May, June.    Here's what it looks like in the spreader: I've applied Humic Acid in the past - early Summer 2019 - and pelletized gypsum before - but I've never applied these other things like biochar and sea kelp.  This is supposed to be an all-in-one product that I found online at Yard Mastery.  Here's their product listing : If you’ve been looking for a granular bio-stimulant for your poor soil, this is for you. It’s meant to be an add-on to your regular fertilizing regimen. It will condition your soil, add carbon and bio-stimulants, an...

I've adopted the approach to limit feeding my lawn until May.  Why?  Because I want to avoid having to cut the lawn more than I need to in Spring.  That means that all during March and April, when the big box stores are pushing their various Step 1 programs and I see all the fertilizer on pallets, I don't apply it to my lawn.   I feed late in the season (Thanksgiving time) and know that my lawn greens up on it's own in April.  And, like I said....I don't want to have to start cutting it just yet.   Last year I published my lawn care schedule .  In that post, I include a few April items that aren't feeding the lawn like Humic Acid and Lime (soil conditioners) as well as using Ironite in the front to get that dark green look (without ALL THE GROWTH).   I'm posting this on April 24, but that bag of Ironite you see in this post went down on April 18th.  I put it on the full front yard - main yard, parkway and 'in between two drivew...

This post is now two weeks in the coming.  It is being published in the first week of June, but the photo above is from Memorial Day weekend when I put down two bags of Milorganite on the front yard.  I applied to the main yard, the south side yard, the parkway and the strip of grass on north side of the driveway.  My 2020 scheduled called for Milorganite application to the yard on Memorial Day with five bags (2 in front, 3 in rear).  In the photo, you see only 2 bags - and that's because I only applied the fertilizer to the front yard.  Of note, though.... #9 on my 2020 to-do list was to work the turf - and apply the work that I have done on the main yard on the parkway and the north strip.  I've been cutting those other sections high - like my main yard - and now the fert application is continuing that trend of hitting #9 on my list.  Why not the backyard?  Well...I don't have the backyard automower wire set up, so I held off on the b...