Why I Oughta...

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 the sides.   So, I rushed out and bought another bag of seed.

I have a trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I planted in the Fall of 2020 that need to be put on my Fall 2022 transplant list.  In the photo below, you can see the three spotted Lungwort in the upper right of the photo.  And...in the bottom/center of the photo a big, wide-open space in the bed along the border - right where the hose is showing up all wavy-like.  These three Lungwort need to be dug up and moved closer to the border.  Two on the bottom side of the hose, one on the top side - in the middle.  And it is something I need to do this Fall.   I have a few other things (now) on the [ Fall 2022 ] tag in terms of transplanting projects like this Pagoda Dogwood (transplant or prune??) and dividing some hostas .  Now, moving these Lungwort is on there - and something I should do in September to give them enough time before the first frost. 

Every Christmas season, I have usually planted a few Amaryllis bulbs with the kids in different-sized containers as a little winter-time project.  That has meant - historically - that we've bought a series of Amaryllis bulbs each November and planted them in hopes that they'd bloom near Christmas.  This past season, we had five planted in three pots .  Normally, I toss these bulbs and don't get them to re-bloom.  But this year, I'm trying something new:  trying to get them to re-bloom after spending the Summer out on our patio taking in sun and water.   What do they look like today?  They're full of green, strap-y foliage.  Here, below, are a few photos of the bulbs in their containers: After watching a few YouTube videos and rooting around on the Web, I think I've figured out that I need to remove these from their soil, shake free all the debris and put them in a dark, cool spot for 60ish days to try to send them into dormancy.  I have about 75 or so days befor

What a difference one year makes.  At least that's the case with our Cascade Hops vine that is growing in our backyard.  Last August (the first growing season) the vine threw off fruit (hops) by mid-August.  In that post, the vine was happy and thriving .   This August?  Not so much.  First...there are no hops.  And, second...there's quite a bit of yellowing and browning on both the vine and the leaves.   Below, is a photo showing the current - late August - view of the vine: I have NOT fed this, but I'm thinking that's a step that I need to take going forward.  I've also not paid much attention to this water-wise, but I'm also thinking that's something I need to do next season. The other dynamic here is that I did trellis this up (somewhat) , but it needs to be trellis'd higher because I'm pretty sure the tips of the vine were/are leaking OVER to my neighbors yard.  I'm thinking that means I need to create taller (and likely wire) trellis system

One of the things that I've been meaning to do this growing season is to get out and capture a full caliper measure of all of our planted trees.  I didn't get to it last year, so the existing data I have on the trees size-wise is from 2020.  On this year's to-do list, I included a mention of 'capturing the caliper measures' , so it has been on my mind all season.  Have I measured all the trees?  Nope.  But, I did measure one (so far).  And it is the Bald Cypress that has grown massively over the past few growing seasons.  That growth is why I started with this tree. What does the tree look like today?  It is tall and stout and I'd consider it the best/most-productive tree that we've planted.  See below for the current state.  I have not pruned one branch off of this, but the time is coming.  See that driveway on the right side of the photo?  That wasn't there when this tree was planted, so this will now need to get limb'd up so it doesn't rub on

This application of rose fertilizer to our three Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) on the south side of our house marks the fourth seasonal application of the granular fertilizer this year.  May, June, July and now....August.  (Despite this post publishing in September, I put down this rose food in late August).    The full archive of rose fertilizer posts are here .  Below, you can see how I spread this fertlizer around the base of the rose: And, here's a look at the bag of Vigoro food that I've been using all season.  I didn't use ALL of this bag this year, but came pretty close.   The timing of the blooms of these seem to follow the application of the food.  Right now (late August), these have just finished a bloom-cycle and should be putting on the final set of buds for a September flower show soon.  

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 in three parts.  The first thi