Why I Oughta...

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

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

The journey this year with our three Disneyland Roses has been all about paying just.a.little.bit of attention to them.  Or at least MORE than I have ever done in years past.  It started with mulching them in to overwinter this past Winter.  Then, I transplanted the first one from the backyard to the southside bed before it broke dormancy .  I also decided to feed these roses - for the first time.  I used a bag of Jobe's Organics Knock-out Rose granular food and started the first feeding in late April ( posted in early May ).  Then, gave them a second feeding one month later - in late May ( posted here in late June, despite the feeding being in late May ).  Today, I'm posting in early July, but sharing a photo I took of the bag of rose fertilizer that I used in late June.   This was the third and final rose feeding of the season.  Late April, Late May, Late June.    When I was out there feeding the three roses - which have bloomed and are getting reset to have a flush of flow

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 .  I'm going to do a seco

Putting this post in the [garden diary] so I remember what I did in terms of feeding some of my existing shrubs and flowers in the beds.  First, I fed my Disneyland Roses for the first time this year - using this product from Jobe's below - called Knockout Rose food.  Mine aren't knock-out roses, but this is the only organic Rose food that the Home Depot was carrying when I was there.  I also fed all of my hydrangeas with Hollytone (no photo), but I used the entire bag.  I spread Hollytone around all seven of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas , the one teardown hydrangea and the two early ones ( Tuff Stuff and Everlasting Revolution ) in the backyard.  In the front yard, I hit the pair of Limelights , the four Vanilla Strawberry across the front porch and the one, lone Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea on the other side of the driveway.  Since this stuff is for acid-loving plants, I also put some in/around the pair of Rhododendrons by our back stoop. I also planted some new items (that I'

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, and improve the