Gardening and lawn works! What'd you do today?

[Howard]

In the spirit of skyking's "who is wrenching today" thread in the Garage subforum, who's doing what in their yard?

I pulled a bunch of prickly weeds today and edged the lawn in my backyard at the back fence bordering city property (pics to come). I was using this:

but then realized that it was faster just to pull them out by the base of the stalk. Nasty little buggers.

 

[Zivic]

trimmed, mowed, and fert'd. not the best my lawn has ever looked, but still looks great

 

[Howard]

I also want to fertilize my lawn but have nothing on hand. I'm trying to pick up some fertilizer that has phosphorus in it, but none of the big box stores around here carry any.

 

[MustISO]

I cut some very tall prickly/thorny plants that were growing inside of our flowering bushes. Then I ran back inside where it's safe. This week I'll be calling a lawn service to see if they can fix our lawn or if it'd be cheaper to just tear it out.

 

[krose]

I also want to fertilize my lawn but have nothing on hand. I'm trying to pick up some fertilizer that has phosphorus in it, but none of the big box stores around here carry any.

When I bought fertilizer this Spring I noticed no brands had phosphorus anymore. I always used a fertilizer with PO4 because it promotes root growth and general plant health and vigor. I bought one that was 30-0-3 and I have had to mow twice a week since late April. Might as well had bought a bag of urea. All top growth from the nitrogen and no root growth equals dead lawn when it gets dry. Next time I am going to get a balanced soluble fertilizer and use a hose end sprayer which will reach most of my lawn.

 

[mrblotto]

Thought about spraying roundup, then ended up getting new blinds.......go figure

 

[3chordcharlie]

When I bought fertilizer this Spring I noticed no brands had phosphorus anymore. I always used a fertilizer with PO4 because it promotes root growth and general plant health and vigor. I bought one that was 30-0-3 and I have had to mow twice a week since late April. Might as well had bought a bag of urea. All top growth from the nitrogen and no root growth equals dead lawn when it gets dry. Next time I am going to get a balanced soluble fertilizer and use a hose end sprayer which will reach most of my lawn.

If you really want to add phosphorus, buy a seed and sod starter (8-32-16 and 10-25-10 are common around here). If the hardware store doesn't have it, the seed store or sod farm will. I would expect 2-3 lb/1000sqft would be a good rate for this, followed by your 30-0-3 at 2lb/1000 to give an appropriate Nitrogen dose, with the root growth you want.

Once a season with the high-phosphorous should be plenty. Three applications per season with a polymer stabilized nitrogen ("Nutryon", "Polyon" probably others) will cover a 25-30 week growing season. YMMV depending on rainfall, length of season, rainfall, whether you remove clippings or mulch them, and also rainfall.

 

[krose]

I have used starter fertilizers before and I didn't notice any for sale either. Everything here drains to the Chesapeake so I know why there are no fertilizers with PO4. But perhaps I didn't look hard enough, I was at Lowe's. I'll try some local nurseries, which are few and far between anymore.

 

[MongGrel]

I finally called a friend of mine that said he new a dude that had 30 machinists for 200 spots.

Have to see how that works out.

He had even moved back to Tennessee, I need to call Rick more often to see how he's doing.

He had even called me about a month ago, and hadn't talked, we did awhile.

The yard is Xeroscaped, the wife just pulls weeds now and then.

*edit* That actually didn't work out, but I never pushed it to begin with.

I may have to call a few people up again.

At any rate, some of the weeds in the yard might strangle a few people in the back yard these days

 

[Howard]

If you really want to add phosphorus, buy a seed and sod starter (8-32-16 and 10-25-10 are common around here). If the hardware store doesn't have it, the seed store or sod farm will. I would expect 2-3 lb/1000sqft would be a good rate for this, followed by your 30-0-3 at 2lb/1000 to give an appropriate Nitrogen dose, with the root growth you want.

Once a season with the high-phosphorous should be plenty. Three applications per season with a polymer stabilized nitrogen ("Nutryon", "Polyon" probably others) will cover a 25-30 week growing season. YMMV depending on rainfall, length of season, rainfall, whether you remove clippings or mulch them, and also rainfall.

I picked up a bag of 14-0-4 on sale today, 6 kg for $8.99 which, I suppose, is decent. Not as good as the 25 kg bag of 28-4-8 at Home Depot at $54.98, but whatever... it'd take me 8 years to use that all up.

Once I get all my nitrogen into the soil I'll probably supplement with a bit of P-heavy fertilizer. I'm too lazy to get a soil test done, but I really should.

EDIT: Trying to get photos off my phone. This is way more difficult than it needs to be.

 

[Howard]

I think small animals have been getting underneath the fence. I seeded along this side last year and everything grew wonderfully except for what seem to be "tunnels" underneath. Oh well, hopefully they're gone and leave my new soil in peace.

Edged the back strip here. Not planning on extending/making a garden with it (at least for now). All that crap growing on the mound... is stuff that somehow got in through the fence from the other side. City property over there, but it isn't maintained at all which is a pain for me.

Can someone identify this? It grows all over the place here and I hate it with a passion.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Looks like your average thistle to me. Pokey buggers.

 

[Howard]

Quick spreadsheet I developed to figure out how much fertilizer to use. Use at your own risk/convenience.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LxXc0Wc_a1eScmD2UP6jdr3erZCd8XHb_fa2ikFMFlo/edit?usp=sharing

 

[highland145]

If you really want to add phosphorus, buy a seed and sod starter (8-32-16 and 10-25-10 are common around here). If the hardware store doesn't have it, the seed store or sod farm will. I would expect 2-3 lb/1000sqft would be a good rate for this, followed by your 30-0-3 at 2lb/1000 to give an appropriate Nitrogen dose, with the root growth you want.

Once a season with the high-phosphorous should be plenty. Three applications per season with a polymer stabilized nitrogen ("Nutryon", "Polyon" probably others) will cover a 25-30 week growing season. YMMV depending on rainfall, length of season, rainfall, whether you remove clippings or mulch them, and also rainfall.

Good for mid summer and/or winterizer? We're on our 12th (?) day of 95+ with little or no rain. Watering every 3rd or 4th day to try and get the centipede roots to grow deeper so it'll be more drought tolerant.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Good for mid summer and/or winterizer? We're on our 12th (?) day of 95+ with little or no rain. Watering every 3rd or 4th day to try and get the centipede roots to grow deeper so it'll be more drought tolerant.

EDIT2 - Just noticed you are in S.C. Most of my experience is with Bluegrass/Ryegrass/Creeping Red Fescue lawns common in Ontario, and I would assume most of the northern USA. /EDIT2

You can apply now, since you are watering. Otherwise I would tend to wait until the rain comes back or the heat breaks, which depending on your location could be a while.

An inch of water every 5-7 days is ideal to get good penetration, keep the lawn growing, AND encourage deep root growth. It's also a LOT of water, especially if you are on metered water with a good sized yard.

Edit - there is some pretty good turf science out there, it's definitely not 7-7-7 every 4 weeks anymore! There are a number of regimens you could mix and match to get good results. A good basic program that we follow for many places would be based on stabilized-nitrogen fertilizers. We usually adjust our rates to about 0.75-1lb Nitrogen/1000sqft per application:

April/May - 28-4-8
June/July - 28-4-8
Sept - Aerate, spot seed damaged areas
Oct - 28-4-8

This plays well with chemical weed controls, but you can also substitute liquid 12-0-0 plus iron (3 applications, every 2-3 weeks, as a weed control) or corn gluten (as a germination inhibitor) for the spring application. YMMV on these substitutions.

I will use high-P for one of the treatments if a lawn that is being well treated refuses to grow, but this is rare, partly because:

Every 2-3 seasons it is a good idea to add slit-seeding and starter fertilizer to the September treatment.

 

[Howard]

EDIT2 - Just noticed you are in S.C. Most of my experience is with Bluegrass/Ryegrass/Creeping Red Fescue lawns common in Ontario, and I would assume most of the northern USA. /EDIT2

You can apply now, since you are watering. Otherwise I would tend to wait until the rain comes back or the heat breaks, which depending on your location could be a while.

An inch of water every 5-7 days is ideal to get good penetration, keep the lawn growing, AND encourage deep root growth. It's also a LOT of water, especially if you are on metered water with a good sized yard.

Edit - there is some pretty good turf science out there, it's definitely not 7-7-7 every 4 weeks anymore! There are a number of regimens you could mix and match to get good results. A good basic program that we follow for many places would be based on stabilized-nitrogen fertilizers. We usually adjust our rates to about 0.75-1lb Nitrogen/1000sqft per application:

April/May - 28-4-8
June/July - 28-4-8
Sept - Aerate, spot seed damaged areas
Oct - 28-4-8

This plays well with chemical weed controls, but you can also substitute liquid 12-0-0 plus iron (3 applications, every 2-3 weeks, as a weed control) or corn gluten (as a germination inhibitor) for the spring application. YMMV on these substitutions.

I will use high-P for one of the treatments if a lawn that is being well treated refuses to grow, but this is rare, partly because:

Every 2-3 seasons it is a good idea to add slit-seeding and starter fertilizer to the September treatment.

Where do you live and is this what you use?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/professional-turf-fertilizer-28-4-8nbsp-25kg/917277

 

[3chordcharlie]

Where do you live and is this what you use?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/professional-turf-fertilizer-28-4-8nbsp-25kg/917277

I live in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, and no, I use a mix that is 65% polymer coated Nitrogen. It's not magic or anything and is commercially available.

The product you showed is 60% sulfur coated urea. That is still a stabilized-nitrogen source, but I do think the polymer stuff is more predictable and longer lasting. The N-P-K analysis being the same is a coincidence.

I'm not sure where you would get more variety of fertilizers at retail, maybe garden centers. I'll start paying attention.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Well...this past weekend attempted to fix my sprinkler. Few months ago saw water coming out of the ground near a big tree randomly. Turned off the water in the sprinkler box and it stopped. With all the rain/flooding the past few months, hadn't had time to look at it until now.

The first valve/solenoid from the sprinkler box (water supply) was leaking or so I thought. Cut it out, found a broken PVC elbow, thought it was easy peasy. Nope. Got it all installed and something was still leaking.

Turns out, 3 tree roots had the main pipe from the sprinkler box / water supply had put the pipe in a headlock of sorts and crushed the pipe. It's a huge 40' tall tree, so these three roots are well over 6" thick each. I got a little frustrated and didn't want to cut through them (thinking I may kill the tree) so gave up. Thought about calling a sprinkler company but then realized I could probably just retrench a new pipe from the box to that valve. A lot more work than what I wanted, but probably the best route to go. TBD but damnit, not what I wanted to be doing.

 

[iRONic]

In the spirit of skyking's "who is wrenching today" thread in the Garage subforum, who's doing what in their yard?

-Cut the grass
-Spray foamed wasp nests
-Deadheaded the iris & peony

 

[DrPizza]

Not quite lawn, but I spent the day Sunday working on rebuilding a boat. Son got a free boat - motor was completely disassembled. Good trailer though. I figured, if he could get that motor together, he was in good shape. Saturday, he rebuilt the motor; and a little after dark Sat night, it fired right up. So, we turned our attention to the boat. Ended up having to rip out EVERYTHING inside the boat. There wasn't a square inch of plywood that wasn't rotted. That meant using an angle grinder to cut away at some of the fiberglass that was wrapped against the plywood giving it lateral support. Got a lot of fiberglass mesh & resin, a few hundred in plywood, and ready to start rebuilding a boat interior.

Last night, egads, mowed the front lawns and the back lawn. I've been rained out, flat tired out, and stopped by a bad belt on the mowing deck. I managed to keep up with the front yard, but the back was like a jungle when I got to it last night. Deck as high as it would go, and it was constantly clogging due to dampness of the grass.

Tonight, I mow again with the deck down one setting, and rake. And tomorrow night. And Friday night.

 

[edro]

Built a work bench last night.
Not lawn and garden... but a prep area for lawn and garden work.

 

[DrPizza]

Spent an hour with the rider mowing the back yard, moved 750 pounds of grain out of the way so I could get the boat out, moved the boat, purchased 2150 more pounds of feed, and restacked the 2900 pounds of grain in the shed. Tomorrow evening, I quickly mow again, 210 bales of hay (roughly 5 tons) arrives and has to be stacked in the barn, and I wax the boat & clean the vinyl.

 

[MongGrel]

a few years ago people paid big money for those palm trees in the front yard.

maybe shouda sold at the time and planted more.

 

[Howard]

In the interest of speeding up the construction of my smokehouse, I decided to add lighting to my garage so I could work on it on weeknights instead of just on the weekend.

Huge difference. This is with only 10 out of 16 possible tubes installed. I think Home Depot ripped me off on the tubes though (10-pack for $40).

The fixtures are Lithonia 1284GRD RE. Great units for the cost. Unfortunately, documentation is sparse so I'm not sure what quality of ballast is in these. The included hardware works well enough, but you'd need some sort of hook to hang the chains from if you aren't screwing into a ceiling joist.

 

[Mixolydian]

Unfortunately, documentation is sparse so I'm not sure what quality of ballast is in these.

Usually the ones in Lithonia fixtures are cheap, chinese, no-name ballasts. Though I did get some a few years back that had Advance ballasts. YMMV.

But damn that's a tiny garage!