Why I Oughta...

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

I have some light-green colored (new) patches of grass in our backyard right now.  When I pull up a section of it, this is what it looks like below:  There is A LOT of root-structure at play, isn't there?  Is this a weed - like the dreaded Poa Annua?  Or...could this be Kentucky Blue Grass that I germinated and planted last year?  The color...of the patch (lime-ish green) has me worried that it is Poa. Any grass experts out there that can confirm what I'm dealing with here?  And, what I should do? One thought I had was to try an application of Tenacity?  It doesn't harm KBG and turf-type Tall Fescue .  So, it if does *anything* on this grass, that tells me it is Poa? 

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.  

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

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.  That's NOT what this post is about. It is abo

Out in the yard recently - with the snow melting away - and I notice some interesting contrasts appearing in the lawn in a few pockets.  See below for a photo showing what appears to be a darker, finer-blade green patch of lawn in the yard that (at first glance) seems out of place: What the heck is this?  At first, my brain raced to think about if this was an invasive turf - like the Nimbleweed that I discovered last year.  This patch is darker green and a different texture from the rest of the lawn.  I stared at it.  And stared at it.  Then it hit me:  this is a patch of Tall Fescue that I overseeded last year during a renovation .  For the most part, I attempted to mix the Tall Fescue seed in with Kentucky Bluegrass seed, but in the section closest to our patio, I didn't mix them.  Why?  Because that section is/was all KBG.  So, by overseeding with Tall Fescue, I was attempting to get a blend of the two.   That patch above is a bit more Tall-Fescue-exclusive than what I was going

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 lawn and other areas with white,

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 Fescue .   And, I kick-started that process with a pre-germination of the seed in 5-gallon buckets . 

Last week, I shared here on my lawn diary a little breakthrough.  For the past 18-or-so months, I've been watching a grassy weed creep along and begin to migrate from my far backyard to closer to our patio.  And, after reading about various grassy weeds, I came to the (initial) conclusion that I was dealing with Poa Annua - or an annual Bluegrass.  It was showing some of the signs like being lime green.  But, after observing the lawn this Spring, I noticed that the parts affected green'd up later and seemed to handle the Summer better than the balance of my Bluegrass.   I was planning on doing a complete renovation in the back by killing EVERYTHING off and starting from scratch with a new layer of seed this Fall.  As I prepared for that, I went in to see if I could learn more about what was back there and how much I *really* needed to kill off vs. just overseed. When I went in and pulled a mature stalk of grass, I discovered it had this sort of horizontal branching structure. 

 I've grown my lawn care practice in various ways over the years based on things I've learned from the Web (mostly YouTubers) including how I (now) cut my lawn pretty high (5 on the mower), have added Tall Fescue to our KBG lawn to try to provide it more heat resistance and even using a blue pattern spray in my herbicide treatments to 'see' where I've sprayed .  My most recent project is focused on controlling a new (to me) warm season weed grass called Nimblewill. In order to do that, I'm going to use a selective herbicide named Tenacity.  Tenacity seems like pretty great stuff and can be applied as either a pre-emergent or a post-emergent.  The difference is that you have to also use a surfactant if you're going the post-emergent route. For this Nimblewill control project, we're talking post-emergent and actively growing grass. That meant that I had to go find a surfactant.  The most readily available one was this Liquid Harvest version available on Am

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 from this S

I had a little lawn care breakthrough this past week.  Turns out....I don't have Poa in our lawn.  We have a bent grass called Nimblewill .  Since last Fall, I've talked about how I needed a plan to deal with what I thought was Poa Annua in our backyard .  I s ketched out the notion of a full back renovation and even included the idea in my 2022 to-do list.    But, as I was thinking about the timing of killing that (presumed Poa), I started to dig a little deeper on the Web.  I pulled a blade of my invasive grass and compared it to what I found on the Web.  It wasn't looking like Poa.  Then...I found this page from Purdue's Turf Science Department that talks about Nimblewill .   Purdue describes Nimblewill thusly : Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi) is a warm-season perennial grass found throughout the northeast, southeast, and Midwestern United States.   ...It grows well in moist, shady areas but it is also found in dry, sunny areas. Nimblewill spreads vegetatively t

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.

One of the many things that I've found a little bit of joy with in the yard and garden over the years is in doing my lawn upkeep myself.  By 'upkeep', I mean both treating, feeding and mowing the front and back with both my push mower and the Automower.  When we first moved in, I had 'a guy', but I wasn't that happy with how they were cutting it (when, how often, height, etc), so I transitioned back to doing it myself and bought myself my own push/self-propelled lawn mower. Just like with planting, laying out the beds and other yard/garden projects, I've found it most helpful to put down a schedule here as a way of guiding my decision-making over the coming months.  I first did this in 2020 and it was a helpful steer .  Last year?  I kinda 'wing'd it' and I'm pretty sure I need to get back to the schedule this year.   Why?  Because, last year I saw the MOST weeds, the most significant damage and the worst-looking lawn (parts) since we moved i

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 growth ce