Why I Oughta...

Over the years, I've done a few [Christmas Haul] posts that show off some of the things that people have gifted me for the yard and garage and shop.  This year, my first "haul" post (despite not being labeled that in the title) was this heated bird bath post from my mother-in-law.  Today, is another gift, but from my Sister-in-Law:  this rake called " The Groundskeeper II ". I came across it on someone in the lawn care community YouTube channel (wish I could remember who it was?  But, just search [Groundskeeper II rake] on YT and you'll find plenty of review posts). What is it? It is a rake.  Yep.  A rake.  But, it is a thatch rake.  And it is unique in design.  Here (below) is the rake laying in the ground in our yard.  You can see that I pulled up a little dead grass in the photo, too.   The Groundskeeper II has a couple of stickers on the handle that talk up the value prop of the tool: 1.  Easy on your back.  2.  Self-cleaning

We had a weird Fall this year - with some warm temperatures then cold temperatures then back to warm.  And then there was the early November snow event that came when many of the trees in our neighborhood still had almost all of their leaves on the limbs.  That caused a bunch of snow damage including taking down a good-sized major limb from one of the big Oak trees in our backyard .  When I say 'good-size', I'm talking about 40+ years old.  Check out the photos in the post to see the growth rings . But that tree damage was just one part of the lasting impact on the yard.  The other you can see in this photo above.  When the snow arrived, I did like I do pretty often:  created a little path out back for Lizzie.  If I don't make her a little path, she doesn't get out in the yard to do her business very easily.  Yes...she's a wimp.  Through and through. And...I also normally cut or shovel a path that gets us to our bird feeder so we can fill it in the mornin

This photo is a week or so late, but putting it down here in the [ garden diary ], so I remember that I 'threw it down' late this Fall.  I put one bag of Milorganite out on the front yard (all three parts) on Thanksgiving Day this year.  That makes what I'd call two (2) Fall feedings this year including the Sunday Beta granular program that I participated in earlier this year (October).  And all in, this is the 5th feeding (4 Milorganite, 1 Sunday) in addition to 1 Humic Acid, 2 iron and 1 calcium applications.  Application #1 of Milorganite around Memorial Day this year.   An application of granular Humic Acid in June this year .  Application #2 of Milorganite was around the 4th of July this year  (spoon-fed) Application #1 of Ironite (to the front) at the end of July this year .  Application #2 of Ironite (to the front) in August of this year .  An application of Mag-i-Cal to the entire yard in September this year .  Application #3 of Milorganite was around

Yesterday, I posted about how I aerated my rear lawn using my neighbor's tractor as part of my fall lawn care duties.  I also threw down a final application of Lawn Lime for the year.  This is focused on trying to make the backyard as inhospitable as possible to the Wild Onion that we have in our backyard .  First application of pelletized Lawn Lime was in late April .  4 40# bags.  160#s. Put down the second application in early August .  4 40# bags.  160#s Used Mag-i-Cal in September - one month later - for third treatment.  1 54# bag.  And now this - in early November - my fourth application of lime.  4 40# bags.  160#s. Four treatments this year.  160 + 160 + 54 + 160 = 534 lbs added to the soil.  That seems like a ton, right?  With the aeration taking place, I'm thinking that this final fourth treatment will be the deepest in terms of intake into the soil.  I'm planning on doing another round of soil tests this coming Spring, so we'll see what happens

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the details of how I was participating in the Get Sunday Large Yard Beta Test for fertilizer .  They shipped me a couple of bags of granular product and a large hopper Chapin broadcast spreader.  In that post, I disclosed that I wasn't thrilled with the Chapin spreader - and put down too much of the product in the location I was loading.  From that post : I ended up spreading a little bit too much in one spot. The spreader had a little malfunction (operator error??) so when I was filling it the first time, I ended up dropping A LOT of the product in one place. This Sunday GrowGreen product isn't billed as 'non-burning', so I'm assuming that I'm going to get a big burn spot. I did my best to get as much of the product out of the one spot - first by hand. Then with my blower. Then I watered the heck out of the area to try to saturate the turf with water in a hope that watering it down would do something? We'll see wha

Am I doing this right?  Lol.  That's my lawn on the left and my neighbor to the south on the right.  I LOVE our neighbors, so I'm hesitant to even post this other than trying to get something in the [garden diary] to track in the Spring.  They do a really great job with their lawn and landscape and in fairness, they've had some construction this season and had a big pile of materials laying on top of some of their grass in this section for part of the Summer, so it isn't exactly...ummm...an apples-to-apples comparison.  But...still.... I was struck by the existence of such a ' domination line '.  (Thanks, Allyn!) The turf has some patch-y-ness to it, so my work isn't near done - that's for sure.  But, with this being the first season that I've taken care of the lawn in front myself, I'm happy with the color.  I fed the lawn at Labor Day with a normal dose of Milorganite and then applied some Jonathan Green's Mag-I-Cal after I had do

I have always tried to put down grass seed in the Spring.  And have had mixed results.  But, the experts tell you - if you're willing to listen - that the best time to seed your lawn is in the Fall.  They say 60-75 days before the first hard frost in your zone is the ideal time to sow seed in bare spots and to overseed the rest of your lawn.   Why?  Because the soil temperatures are high (70 degrees or so) and the air temperatures are moderate (not too hot, so it won't dry things out).  This is the first season that I've tried this and I'll tell you:  ummmm...it worked?!?!   According to this post, our first frost in Zone 5b is right around October 16th.  That means that 45-60 days ahead of that is between the middle and end of August.  That's when I put seed down.   I used a bag of PURE Kentucky Blue Grass seed.  No other types of grass - and no weeds in the bag per the certification on the bag.  KBG is very slow germinating and my experience t

Starting this Spring and continuing this Summer, I've chronicled my experiences with our lawn and the process, materials and thinking that have gone into it.  This is the first time that I've spent anything more than a passing thought about the turf, the soil and how to best tend to it as the seasons change. Started in Spring with a Wild Onion removal - digging them out. Used a calculator to time my application of pre-emergent Crabgrass preventer (without food!) Started to use an organic fertilizer - Milorganite on the yard - instead of synthetics.  Got serious about my weed spraying with a blue pattern indicator . Then I tested my soil and got a baseline on the front and back .   I added some Ironite (2x) this Summer to keep the lawn green . Cut the front yard higher than I've ever cut in the past.   Earlier this Summer, I bought and spread a big bag of granular Humic Acid . And most recently, I put down a second application of pelletized lime to make the

I have been keeping the grass in front longer than I normally have in the past.  I should say...the *I* and *normally*  here aren't quite fair, as this is the first year that I've been cutting my own front yard after having a service do it the past few seasons.  I wasn't that satisfied with how they were cutting it and after doing a bit of research into the whole turf-building process, I've learned quite a bit and have changed some things. This post is about the length.  You can see that it is somewhere between 3.5" and 4" tall with some blades reaching even higher than that.  But, those blades aren't the normal - and haven't been cut.  Between the low suction on the Ego Self-Propelled mower and having the wheels 'bend' the blades in some cases, there are - on occasion - some blades that are higher than others.   This is Kentucky Bluegrass and I've been mowing it on the second highest setting on the mower.  A month ago, I posted

This is the first season that I've taken a high degree of interest in our lawn.  This is also the first time that I'm cutting the grass (in the front) by myself.  For the past few seasons, we've used a service to cut the front (while Go-Go - our Automower - cuts the back) and I wasn't ever really pleased with how they worked our lawn.  They came every week, no matter what and that, I think, made for a less-than-ideal lawn for us.  There were some ruts that I fixed this Spring with seed and I think generally, they were cutting it too short and coming EVERY WEEK just to put in the billings.  I get that.  They're running a business.  But, when the price increases came this Spring, I just decided to buy a lawnmower.  My FIRST lawn mower and cut it myself.  The front itself isn't very big (including the parkways and the side strip on the other side of the driveway, we're talking less than 2,500 square feet), so it doesn't take long.  And, once I started t

We had the 'front half' of our backyard sodded when we built our house, but left the back half of the backyard completely native.  All the weeds and grass and what have you growing back there.  The bulk of my focus out back has been on the landscaping and mostly left the lawn/turf on autopilot.  I had our Automower running back there, so it kept the lawn pretty low and I don't think I really noticed the HUGE amounts of Wild Onions that were growing in the grass.    If you read my post from a few days ago , you'll know that I recently put down a pre-emergent grassy weed and crabgrass preventer.  That product does NOTHING for Wild Onions.  Well...I suppose that I should start at the beginning of this year.  As our grass was coming back and starting to green-up, I noticed some pockets of dark green, spikey grass.  Or so I thought.  As I went outside, I started to realize that this wasn't grass.  But something else.   I didn't actually really know what this st