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I spent most of the weekend reseeding the places in the sod that didn't make it. As usual, it took a lot longer than I thought it would. Places where the grass didn't make it include: area under the magnolias, area on the slope near the maple, area where Mark staked down the blue tarp to protect the patio area from rain and killed the grass in the process, area where Mark decided to clean his bike, do some epoxy work and killed the grass. GRRRRRR...
I've had bad luck w/ grass over the years. Most of the places I've tried to reseed were in the front yard under the River Birches where there is lots of competition from the tree and not a lot of shade. Despite several attempts, the areas I tried to renovate in the front never took, so I'm not optimistic about my luck in the back. I did all the things you're supposed to do - removed the dead grass, raked up the top 1/4 inch or more of soil, chose the appropriate seed (chose a dense shade mix from Pennington - these areas aren't in dense shade, but the area in front I'm going to attempt to reseed is in dense shade, so I'm hoping it will work in both places - I don't see why not - my understanding is that grass only tolerates shade and prefers sun - so I think it ought to take all other things being equal. I covered the seeded areas w/ topsoil and then w/ straw. In retrospect, I'm realizing now that I didn't apply any fertilizer. I'm hoping I can go over that area w/ the spreader and I'll use some of the Gro-Green stuff that I've had sitting around forever. Once it gets watered in that should get it off to a good start. I'm going to try hard to document how it goes for future reference.
In my gut I have a terrible feeling I've just wasted the entire weekend seeding grass that will never live and I think,"If only I could grow liriope from seed or get someone to let me have some of theirs - I could replace all the grass there w/ liriope or other ground covers and never worry about it again!!" Though now that I visualize it, maybe liriope is too tall. Maybe the smaller mondo grass is what I really need. I wonder how to propogate that? I know it spreads slowly. That's what I'd really prefer to have there. I really prefer to have no grass whatsoever - just groundcovers and stepping stones!
Here's photos of what I've got so far.
I think germination should take 7-10 days. In the meantime I'll sprinkle it twice a day to keep it wet and there after water it every week. Not sure what happens once its cold - do people water new lawns once it's winter weather outside?? My plan will be to keep it well watered as long as possible.
Also, fertilized the front yard w/ WOW Supreme! This time I did just one 20# bag and part of the another 20# bag. This should have gotten me 1# of N per 1000 sq ft. While I was spreading I noticed that the chickweed has already sprouted. Seems
like every year I'm probably too late. To get the weed inhibiting effects timing is crucial since the 
corn gluten only works pre-germination. Really should've applied WOW on labor day weekend. Remember this for next Fall!! Apply the WOW earlier, Kendra!! Labor Day and Valentine's Day really are probably the ideal times to apply!
Did a bunch of weeding on the slope in the back yard. Here's a photo of the spot where the patio is supposed to be - covered in weeds and flooded w/ water.
Have to say that mulching the front bean in the Spring time w/ other people's yard debris (I mowed over it!) really kept the weeds down well in the front yard. I need to keep the mulch fresh on the back slope and side yards until I have time to get stuff planted there. Need to get stuff established in all my weedy spots so I have less weeding. My parents did a really good job of that in their yard. They do mulch every year, but I don't think they weed like I do because they have groundcovers everywhere and plantings.
I hope to someday have an established landscape that looks nice. I do enjoy gardening, but so far it feels like most of the time I spend is mowing and weeding and not actually caring for plants and admiring my beautiful landscape. I hope to someday get to that point! I hope to keep with it and do something every year to improve things a little bit while keeping things up. I do know from associating w/ other Master Gardeners that many of them spend A LOT of money on plants and that's not something I've done up until now. Eventually, I'll have to spend some money if I want to fill in all my empty spaces. My goal is to establish some new beds/plants every year!!
Remember, this is supposed to be fun, Eleanor! Seems like I spent a lot of my gardening time fantasizing about living in a condo or in a house in the middle of the woods w/ no yard work!! Sometimes gardening just feels so futile! Spend all this time planting grass or weeding only to have all that time not amount to anything because the grass didn't take or to spend a lot of time weeding only to have the weeds grow back. There must be lessons to learn from these things! Maybe I need an attitude adjustment.
I finally pruned the Carissa hollies out by the mailbox. I wish I'd taken a before and after photo. By the time I was done I'd sort of forgotten what they'd looked like to start with! I did a lot of thinning cuts just like it describes them in my Master Gardener's manual and some heading cuts as well - being sure to look carefully for the buds. The buds seemed to be pretty far apart on these as far as I could tell. I think I could have waited until they greened up and pruned then, but I might have missed my window of opportunity by then.
Overall, I think I did a good job and am really getting a hang of this pruning thing. I removed a lot of plant material without significantly altering the actual outward appearance of the shrub. I also managed to reduce it in size a bit. Hopefully, this will keep it in a check another year. I've read that Carissa hollies are slow growing, so people plant them close together, but their ultimate size is actually fairly large. So that means that if you plant them close together to get a more full effect from the get go they are eventually going to require pruning to keep them in check. And that's what I was doing today.
I'd have to check my gardening diary, but I don't believe I've ever pruned these significantly before in the past - so this was the first time in 8+ years they've had a good haircut. I'm especially pleased that I didn't end up having to "hat-rack" them - as I've heard people say - and take them all the way down to just bare sticks and branches with no leaves. I think that would've taken them a long time to recover from.
One of the bushes behind the mailbox seems to have significant mite damage. I pruned some of that out, but there was quite a lot of it. The others seemed to be okay. Hopefully, it won't spread.
Maybe now that I've thinned out a lot of the branches and there will be more air circulation and sunlight they will be less prone to mites? I'm sure having a record setting drought last year didn't help!
I will try to remember to examine the plant's response to my pruning in a few weeks or whenever new growth sets in.
Next on the list is to order bamboo barrier, trim the bamboo back, root trim it, and install the barrier. And, cut back the striped liriope - which I always contemplate getting rid of or moving elsewhere.
Also, on the list, demolishing the wooden retaining walls and all the landscaping in the backyard for the new retaining walls. I'll definitely try and take some before and afters of that transformation!
Today I finally got around to trimming the liriope. It took a while, but I mowed over it and was able to get most of the cuttings up with the mulching lawnmower. Tomorrow I'll add them to the compost pile.
Next on the list! Prune back the Carissa Hollies!
I'm stocking up again on WOW! Plus because they have what seems to amount to a 50% off coupon and I wanted to cut and paste this text from their webpage here for future reference:"Apply 10-20 lbs. per 1,000 sq. ft. when forsythia starts to bloom, through July. This timing corresponds with the time when crabgrass begins and ends germinating. Yearly spring and fall applications at 10lbs. per 1,000 sq. ft. provide as much as 85% weed control after two years and 91% after three years. Plus it provides balanced fertilization. Applications at 20lbs. per 1,000 sq. ft. provide even better control, because the percentage of weed control increases with higher application rates."
I applied roughly 20# per 1,000 sq. ft. based on my calculations, so I was on the high end, but perhaps I'll get better weed control as a result.
Today I finished my spring application of WOW! Plus. I applied two 20# bags to the front yard and part of the side yard near my shade garden. My past estimates of square footage for the front yard was 2200 sq ft - not sure how accurate that really is! I think I should revisit that. If that was correct, then I should have applied 27.5# of WOW! Plus to get 1# of nitrogen per square foot. (WOW! Plus is 8-2-4) I applied 40#, so that was way overkill, but don't I get better weed control if I put down more? I vaguely remember that from the text on the old bags. Also, since this isn't a chemical fertilizer and is a slow-release form of nitrogen, presumably I'm okay to put down more and am not adversely affecting water quality in the event some of it runs off? That last part might be wishful thinking, I'm not sure.
For future reference, the best spreader setting for the WOW! Plus seems to be 14 . I did quite a bit on 10 and that really makes it take forever - so, note to self: next time set the spreader to 14. I also sprinkled handfuls of WOW! Plus on the shade bed and on the liriope along the edge of the driveway. It should serve to inhibit weed growth and as fertilizer, too. Looking forward to seeing things green up and start to grow! Daffodils foliage is up and camellia japonica is about ready to burst forth.
Today I finished up my initial (and hopefully last?) application of weed control. I used the updated version of what I used last year "Weed Stop." The label boasted it having a crabgrass killer in it. I always thought crabgrass had to be treated with a pre-emergent, so its news to me that there is some chemical out there that will kill only crabgrass on contact and not the rest of the grass, too. I'll have to do more research when I have the chance to clarify the matter.
For now, I'm glad to be done with chemicals for a long while. Wonder if I'll need a retreatment later in Spring?
Next on the list, fertilize with WOW! Plus.
Today was the first day I've been out in the yard all winter and I made some good progress. I raked up lots of errant leaves, filled up a dozen plastic trash barrels full of sticks (the yard waste truck came by 2x to empty them!), and, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I sprayed the lawn for weeds using "Weed Stop."
I hate applying pesticides, but my forays into total organic lawn care left me unable to control chickweed. I'd say chickweed (and violets!) are the main weeds in my lawn. This year I'm employing a different strategy and trying to spray for the chickweed earlier. I believe it will take a lot longer for the pesticides to work given that the temps are low, but that's okay. My thought was that if I sprayed the chickweed now while they are just tiny little rosettes closely hugging the ground that I will overall have to use less pesticides. In the past, I have waited until the chickweed was full out growing and required more spray to kill them. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to reduce my impact by addressing the chickweed problem earlier.
I essentially had to crawl around the yard on my hands and knees with my little pressurized hand pump to spray. (Oh, my aching back!) My normal backpack sprayer seemed like overkill since I literally had to squint at the grass to find most of the chickweed at this point. I'll report back on the results of this experiment later on in the Spring.
It got dark before I was finished spraying, so I'll be out tomorrow finishing up and then if the weather is nice I'll do my Spring application of corn gluten meal (WOW! Plus). I need to revisit the amount I'm supposed to apply because the grass is not especially green at the moment. I'm thinking I might not have applied enough in the Fall or maybe it's just ready for more at this point - I know nitrogen doesn't last long.
In other notes, my Camellia is getting ready to bloom, but it's not quite there yet. The daffodils have emerged and, oh, my hellebore has been blooming now for a couple weeks. This is the first year it's bloomed - the flowers are green.
Truth be told, winter is really the best time to work in the yard around these parts. Summer is too damn hot. So, I'm trying to get out there and do what needs to be done asap. Lots of pruning and other things on the list of coming attractions!
If the weather is nice tomorrow, I think I'll take some photos.
I think germination should take 7-10 days. In the meantime I'll sprinkle it twice a day to keep it wet and there after water it every week. Not sure what happens once its cold - do people water new lawns once it's winter weather outside?? My plan will be to keep it well watered as long as possible.
corn gluten only works pre-germination. Really should've applied WOW on labor day weekend. Remember this for next Fall!! Apply the WOW earlier, Kendra!! Labor Day and Valentine's Day really are probably the ideal times to apply!
