How long does it take for a new plot of grass seed to fill in fully? I'm 6 weeks in to a near complete reseed, with heavily compacted clay soil, and it's very slow going. I core aerated, and leveled with new top soil, but she's still patchy as hell. Used a fine/tall fescue blend
To piggy back on top of this the fact that your soil is sand prevents a lot of nutrient and water retention. Not much organic matter for that stuff to hold on to. On top of that, that mature tree is soaking up so much water from the soil, that grass has no chance establishing. An oak tree can drink anywhere from 50gal of water a day and significantly more if the soil allows. I’d definitely at least try the route of planting more shade tolerant grass varieties. Lots of shade in the yard.
Your fine fescue germinates a lot quicker than the tall variety. Fine will spread underground and establish that way. The tall, on the other hand germinates slower and forms in a clump and doesn’t spread. If it can be mowed, do so to stimulate the rhizome (underground) growth and possibly look to reseed.
As it begins to establish, you should cut back watering. Want to train the roots to look for moisture that isn’t at ground level.
That tracks with what I'm seeing. Lots of very small spread out grass coming up, but not dense, and a few really dense bulbs of grass growth. Mowed for the first time this weekend to take the top off the big growths, but 80% of the yard is still patchy
Yeah, it’ll take some time. Don’t get discouraged. Just be sure if you’re applying any fertilizer or any weed control you give it enough time to pass before a reseed. Should be somewhere on the bag.
I’ve been rehabbing my yard for three seasons now and finally have it looking real solid. Probably time to buy a roller and really fuck w the neighbors
Questions about wood chips or bark nuggets as a replacement for mulch. Running all lengths of my backyard fence we have put mulch down. No plants or bushes in this area and while mulch looks great, it needs to be replaced every year. And I've struggled with our gutter water washing away the mulch on one side of our house. For this spring, I was looking at either wood chips like you see at parks or on nature paths. Upside is they say they last up to 5 years but pretty ugly. The other option is bark nuggets which look better than wood chips and bigger than mulch so I think would be longer lasting. My overall goals is to prevent weeds/grass from growing in this area and hopefully last more than the 6-9 months that the mulch does. The other option would be rubber mulch but I have a dog and wouldn't want her to eat it and heard that is bad for the soil....and its expensive.
cedar will last a while too but it’s expensive. I just buy cheap mulch every year or so, I need to do it myself tbh cuz my front beds look rough
You all probably know this, but don’t underestimate the effect that taking a rake or similar de-thatching tool has on your lawn. Mine is pretty small so I took a metal rake and spent a couple hours getting down to the soil in a lot of spots. After a couple of weeks of weed and feed and then some extended feed pellets, my shit is looking wonderful again.
local fescue/bluegrass variety from the area https://grasspad.com/heat-wave-plus/ I use local fertilizer too. The easiest thing you can do for your yard is buy locally tailored fertilizers instead of Scott’s etc
the single biggest improvement came from scalping the old grass and bagging, then dethatching with a power rake, then seeding and top dressing with peat moss. It was a fuckload of work but came out looking great and helped beat back Bermuda grass (which I still deal with in spots and I’ll never fully beat)
Last fall I put down some nitrogen and about a week later we experienced temps above 100+ so a couple spots that didn’t get watered in good scorched my yard. Anyways I used this seed in those spots and now wish I had the guts to kill off my whole yard and start fresh with it everywhere. Instead I’ll probably just scalp every fall and put down new dirt and overseed and hope it fills in.
Last year I had some extra Milorganite so I threw some down in the late fall/November and I’m not sure if that’s what did it but my yard was insanely green this year way earlier than normal. This was from late March I think, terrible picture since I was trying to snap it undercover but I had to document the difference between my lawn and my neighbors while I had the chance. This was before I mowed/edged anything but oh well. Spoiler
I do know that cypress mulch is marketed as something that will stay put in wetland areas. I know I put some down in an intermittent stream that gets pretty intense during storms, and it has done great. I'm still figuring out exactly what pine bark mulch is for, but I was told to use it in the bottom of container plants for drainage, so that's what I do. I know it's popular with bonsai people too.
last weekend probably did 6 hours of yard work: weeded front flower beds trimmed hedges dug up lime tree raked out pine straw leveled bed where lime tree was disposed of crappy old pine straw and dirt seeded that area with centipede put miracle grow on 10 gardenias and 10 azaleas blew birch pollen off my back deck 50 times weed eated around 50 miles of flower beds and hedges mowed back yard weed eat back yard
Here are the subject gardenias. I removed 8 billion oaks from them and still need to get some grass and weeds from them. Not sure if the miracle grow will bring them back to life.
I just slaved away for hours. I have these flower beds next to my front door with gardenias that are scraggly. There was grass growing throughout the bed and those damn “oaklings” that grow from acorns. Decided to rake all the straw out, hand removed all grass and oaks, put miracle grow on them, then put fresh straw down. Not sure how much you can tell from these pics but it was a ton of work. Before Mix bag of pics where you can see some grass still in there, and some pics are after removing straw, grass, and weeds but before putting fresh straw down Finished product
SIAP but has anyone put artificial turf in their yard? We've got a shady area around a big magnolia at our new house that's just kind of a pinestraw/dirt mix and I want to do something with it after we sod the rest of the backyard
We put down wood chips as a quick fix two years ago and that shit just blows everywhere. It's been a fucking nightmare and this summer we're raking it all up and replacing it with mulch.
do a bed definer with a shade tolerant ground cover? Grass + artificial turf won't look good together, imo.
Was thinking of doing a putting green/chipping area vs making it true artificial grass but point taken
Ohhhhhh if you’re looking to do a chipping/putting green then that’s a different story. Still probably not cheap but it sounds like a fun project to take on.
How do y'all log your lawn applications (areas, products/A.I.s, rates, dates, etc.) I use note cards and reminders on my calendar, but there has got to be a better way. I've seen but not used Scotts app, and the yard mastery app. Anyone have any experience?
I got the Flowzone Typhoon 2.5 and just sprayed my property for ticks/mosquitos. That thing is awesome. Felt like a Ghostbuster. First mow of the year is tomorrow. Pretty excited.
Is logging something you need to do for state reasons? I don’t have to or ever have for my home. I have a half acre lot, so I’m able to just do all my applications in a single go. I use indicator plants to give my self an idea of what’s going on, then use the Michigan State Turf website that tracks growing degree days to nail in an application like pre-emergent crabgrass. I wouldn’t think the average homeowner would need to worry about chemical resistances to the point they need to be rotating active ingredients and modes of delivery. But, the best way for me, was to simply use a log book and Excel. Once you do it for a while, it just becomes second nature. Crabgrass when the forsythia is growing, watch for dollar spot around Father’s Day, slow release feed mixed with grub control in June, etc. Relative to my local area.
Thanks - no, not for any reporting, but for my own management/reminders...basically my own almanac. Also, just for looking back. If some weed is really bad in the winter, I have (currently in written note form) a log of where/when/etc., and can adjust based on those details (e.g. increase app rate) for the following late fall treatments. Interesting re excel. Do you use formulas and such to schedule out the next apps? E.g. If I cant do a second application of something for 60 days, I would want a reminder that 60th day to get it done. I'm looking to do it all: fert, insecticide, herbicides, pre-emergent, in one place. I figured there would be an app that had penetrated its way into someone itt.
I know for Indiana, Colorado, and California, our state chemist would give us a log book for the year that had all the stuff you mentioned and more. Might be worth a shot to give them a call and see if they can mail you one. Also, let me dig around on my PC when I get back home. I have a makeshift log that I used to use in Tahoe. I’d say just print a bunch of those off and bind them at a store like a FedEx or Kinko’s When I used to build fertilizer and chemical plans, I’d always start out in the winter and try and visualize what my major applications are and work around them. A calendar on the computer may help. The Excel was more or less a thing I’d print out after I typed stuff in. You could for sure have it calculate stuff, I’m sure.
Couldn't find the one I made years ago. Looks pretty similar to this. I'd just print a bunch of copies, bind them, and date the cover. https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pur/forms/dpr-pml-025.pdf
Is the best Chipmunk repellent a .22? I really don’t want to kill them but their holes are becoming more than just a nuisance.
Where’s the plant thread? I need a 3-4ft plant that I can put inside, lots of indirect light, dog friendly, looks good beside my tv
You can use a hose and put it down their hole and cover it with your foot. You’ll feel them knocking on the sole and can then slightly uncover the hole and grab them by the scruff behind the head. Throw them in a bucket and drive them out to a field.