Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 My yard is coming along slowly, I was able to water it this weekend. I also raised the mower height to the second highest level. Time to think about putting down my second application of Milky Spore as well as summer lawn feeding. Still going to try and get lawn aeration and over-seeding done in the fall. All my plants look good. Summer flowers are just about ready to come out. Daisies, Coneflowers. Peas taste delicious from my pots and my tomatoes are fruiting like crazy now. Should be another month or so before I can pick them. I was also able yo assemble my 6'x6' raised planter bed that I dreamed up. All thats left to do is fill it with loam/compost and start planting next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 My yard is coming along slowly, I was able to water it this weekend. I also raised the mower height to the second highest level. Time to think about putting down my second application of Milky Spore as well as summer lawn feeding. Still going to try and get lawn aeration and over-seeding done in the fall. All my plants look good. Summer flowers are just about ready to come out. Daisies, Coneflowers. Peas taste delicious from my pots and my tomatoes are fruiting like crazy now. Should be another month or so before I can pick them. I was also able yo assemble my 6'x6' raised planter bed that I dreamed up. All thats left to do is fill it with loam/compost and start planting next year. Sounds awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 My yard is coming along slowly, I was able to water it this weekend. I also raised the mower height to the second highest level. Time to think about putting down my second application of Milky Spore as well as summer lawn feeding. Still going to try and get lawn aeration and over-seeding done in the fall. All my plants look good. Summer flowers are just about ready to come out. Daisies, Coneflowers. Peas taste delicious from my pots and my tomatoes are fruiting like crazy now. Should be another month or so before I can pick them. I was also able yo assemble my 6'x6' raised planter bed that I dreamed up. All thats left to do is fill it with loam/compost and start planting next year. Can you take a picture of your grass and post in on here? I'd like to see what a lawn that went from fertilizer to organic looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Can you take a picture of your grass and post in on here? I'd like to see what a lawn that went from fertilizer to organic looks like. It's rough right now since I neglected all last year. I did not water it through the dry summer and I lost huge chunks of it. I have not overseeded yet and will wait till the fall to do that(hopefully) so right now I am in a holding pattern. Also we had that dry stretch from mid-May to early-June that stressed my lawn as well. The rains over the past 10 days have helped. I still used fertilizer on it, just the slow release stuff. If I recall, I used Espoma Fertilizer this spring. I'll take a couple photos but you won't be impressed. I just don't have the time or money to water my lawn 3 to 4 days a week. I don't have a sprinkler system and the water I use is from the city and I get charged for the water I use coming in and exiting the system (double whammy there). I'm doing all that I can do given the circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 It's rough right now since I neglected all last year. I did not water it through the dry summer and I lost huge chunks of it. I have not overseeded yet and will wait till the fall to do that(hopefully) so right now I am in a holding pattern. Also we had that dry stretch from mid-May to early-June that stressed my lawn as well. The rains over the past 10 days have helped. I still used fertilizer on it, just the slow release stuff. If I recall, I used Espoma Fertilizer this spring. I'll take a couple photos but you won't be impressed. I just don't have the time or money to water my lawn 3 to 4 days a week. I don't have a sprinkler system and the water I use is from the city and I get charged for the water I use coming in and exiting the system (double whammy there). I'm doing all that I can do given the circumstances. Ok cool. Yeah I just meant a lawn that went from regular fertilizer to organic fertilizer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Ok cool. Yeah I just meant a lawn that went from regular fertilizer to organic fertilizer i have one for you blizzzzzzzzzzz hold on.............coming up right away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Here ya go bliz from synthetic to organic, what a turn around in months........there is a pic of this yard early in the spring somewhere, but now its perfection.............by the way take a pic of your yard have not seen it since early early spring when everyones looks good, your lawn must be amazing now lets see it pics pics pics!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowNH Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Got my first Zuke flower today! Should open up any time now....Looks to be female too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowNH Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Also in my green bucket I have 3 male flowers that will open up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowNH Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Lastly, I have my first female cuke growing!! Might self pollinate once the male and female fully open up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Ok cool. Yeah I just meant a lawn that went from regular fertilizer to organic fertilizer The much anticipated, unimpressive shots of my work in progress. The first 3 shots are from the better side of the yard that sees more shade. The last 2 are from the side of the yard that took a beating last year from the heat and dry conditions plus the few months we had a dog. Just brutal lawn. Not winning any awards. Also you can see the raised planting bed that I assembled. Loooooong way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 My front yard is also a disaster since that sees the sun for like 10 hours of the day in the summer. The stress in the lawn is clearly evident. I'm going to try an get a more drought tolerant/resistant grass seed, like a fescue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 And my 4 planters. Tomatoes and Peas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Bobby, My guess is when they built your house the developers used crappy fill and not nearly enough topsoil. That's typically how they do it these days to cut corners..that has all the looks of a sandy/not enough topsoil base that dries out very quickly. If you would be willing and have the funds..I would recommend starting from scratch and trucking in good screened topsoil and reseeding the entire lawn. Otherwise you'll run into the same problems yr after yr..esp during dry summers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 I got my first baby fruit on the tomato plants and pepper plants. Cukes have big flowers and might even have fruit already, but I didn't check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 I got my first baby fruit on the tomato plants and pepper plants. Cukes have big flowers and might even have fruit already, but I didn't check. Thanks for not taking screen sized close up pics of the cukes lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Bobby, My guess is when they built your house the developers used crappy fill and not nearly enouh topsoil. That's typically how they do it these days to cut corners..that has all the looks of a sandy/not enough topsoil base that dries out very quickly. If you would be willing and have the funds..I would recommend starting from scratch and trucking in good screened topsoil and reseeding the entire lawn. Otherwise you'll run into the same problems yr after yr..esp during dry summers They put down about 6" of screened loam. The stuff they put on our lot was better than the stuff they used in later lots since we were one of the first group of houses done. That's basically my plan. I want aerate the hell out of the lawn. Top dress it with a good compost/top soil (1/4"-1/2") and than seed the living daylights out of it. It's a multi-year proposition. I used to have a pretty good lawn the first few years I was here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Bobby, My guess is when they built your house the developers used crappy fill and not nearly enouh topsoil. That's typically how they do it these days to cut corners..that has all the looks of a sandy/not enough topsoil base that dries out very quickly. If you would be willing and have the funds..I would recommend starting from scratch and trucking in good screened topsoil and reseeding the entire lawn. Otherwise you'll run into the same problems yr after yr..esp during dry summers It does come in eventually. Try to put top soil on the worst bare spots. My folks had that problem in Marshfield. Crappy glacial till for topsoil. The lawn looked rough for the first 3-4 years, but gradually organic matter broke down and formed some topsoil. The topsoil is also not hard as a rock and is now more spongy and is an indicator of better topsoil. It takes time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 They put down about 6" of screened loam. The stuff they put on our lot was better than the stuff they used in later lots since we were one of the first group of houses done. That's basically my plan. I want aerate the hell out of the lawn. Top dress it with a good compost/top soil (1/4"-1/2") and than seed the living daylights out of it. It's a multi-year proposition. I used to have a pretty good lawn the first few years I was here. Yeah I remember the pics you posted on Eastern a few yrs ago of a beautiful lawn. If you aerate it..do it in September..and overseed it then too..so the new seed gets establiblished before winter. Also don't aerate in spring,summer as it promotes weeds. Unfortunately, unless you get some good deep soil/compost in there it will continue to dry out every yr. Do all the houses in the hood have the same issues with the lawns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 My lawn has a high clay content, but still holds the moisture pretty well. I wish I could truck in some loam, though for the side/back Our pool has to come down. Unknown leaks in the bottom liner. Bought a new one today. I hate this part of summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 It does come in eventually. Try to put top soil on the worst bare spots. My folks had that problem in Marshfield. Crappy glacial till for topsoil. The lawn looked rough for the first 3-4 years, but gradually organic matter broke down and formed some topsoil. The topsoil is also not hard as a rock and is now more spongy and is an indicator of better topsoil. It takes time. Yeah, I gotta take this in baby steps. My lawn was great when it first came in and for the first few years but it really took a turn over the past couple years and especially last. It's definitely a sandy soils area give the bogs, wild blueberries. It's also a bit on the acidic side. Yeah I remember the pics you posted on Eastern a few yrs ago of a beautiful lawn. If you aerate it..do it in September..and overseed it then too..so the new seed gets established before winter. Also don't aerate in spring,summer as it promotes weeds. Unfortunately, unless you get some good deep soil/compost in there it will continue to dry out every yr. Do all the houses in the hood have the same issues with the lawns? Yeah, I've always aerated in the late Summer. It's been a couple years since I've done it due to the damn economy and my illness. I just don't have the expendable income so I do what I can when I can. I figure it will probably be about 15 yards of topsoil/compost that I will need. So if I can scrape up the funds I'll do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Yeah, I gotta take this in baby steps. My lawn was great when it first came in and for the first few years but it really took a turn over the past couple years and especially last. It's definitely a sandy soils area give the bogs, wild blueberries. It's also a bit on the acidic side. Yeah, I've always aerated in the late Summer. It's been a couple years since I've done it due to the damn economy and my illness. I just don't have the expendable income so I do what I can when I can. I figure it will probably be about 15 yards of topsoil/compost that I will need. So if I can scrape up the funds I'll do it. The soil at my parent's house is complete arse. It's a combo of sand, clay, organic matter, and all sorts of crap. The real good soil in woodsy areas isn't all that deep, but we have a lot of peatmoss. The spot treatment of putting loam on rough looking areas works pretty well. Just make sure you put heavy heavy seed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 The soil at my parent's house is complete arse. It's a combo of sand, clay, organic matter, and all sorts of crap. The real good soil in woodsy areas isn't all that deep, but we have a lot of peatmoss. The spot treatment of putting loam on rough looking areas works pretty well. Just make sure you put heavy heavy seed. Seed carpet bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzucker Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I got my first baby fruit on the tomato plants and pepper plants. Cukes have big flowers and might even have fruit already, but I didn't check. Nice! My tomatoes have been popping a lot of fruit in the last few days since I fertilized with a high-phosphorous preparation, although there are only like 5 fruits on all my plants that are near full size and candidates for eating within the next 10 days. It's still pretty early though so I'm content. Most of my hybrid tomatoes (beefsteaks, Early Girl, Lemon Boy) have about half a dozen fruits...the cherries/grapes have a bunch more, the heirlooms less. My cucumber got eaten a bit but is recovering and now has tons of flowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Bobby, a very quick fix would to get about 2-3 yards of FINISHED, thats important, finished composte. Have them deliver it in the driveway and fill up your wheelbarrow and dump it in the areas that you outlined as under stress approx 6-10 ft apart. Use an iron rake turned over to spread it out. Finally use a spring rake to rake it all the way in, should be about a quarter inch thick on top of the existing soil. This alone will give the lawn instant moisture and is one of the best ways to fertilize your lawn. Grab some fecscue and do a light seeding as well once the compost is raked in. Remember one thing about fescue, it will turn a bit yellow after it goes to seed, a lot like po annua. If you do these easy quick steps the parts of your lawn that are thin or under stress should look 100% better in only 2 short weeks. After the compost and seed is down, water like hell for 2-4 days if mother nature is not taking care of it. A yard of finished compost should lonly cost around 25 dollars up that way. So for basically 100 bucks you can have that dream lawn again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowNH Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 My first zuke flower and cuke flowers bloomed last night.. the zuke flower is HUGE.. like a Venus fly trap lol.. its female too.. Pictures to come later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Bobby, a very quick fix would to get about 2-3 yards of FINISHED, thats important, finished composte. Have them deliver it in the driveway and fill up your wheelbarrow and dump it in the areas that you outlined as under stress approx 6-10 ft apart. Use an iron rake turned over to spread it out. Finally use a spring rake to rake it all the way in, should be about a quarter inch thick on top of the existing soil. This alone will give the lawn instant moisture and is one of the best ways to fertilize your lawn. Grab some fecscue and do a light seeding as well once the compost is raked in. Remember one thing about fescue, it will turn a bit yellow after it goes to seed, a lot like po annua. If you do these easy quick steps the parts of your lawn that are thin or under stress should look 100% better in only 2 short weeks. After the compost and seed is down, water like hell for 2-4 days if mother nature is not taking care of it. A yard of finished compost should lonly cost around 25 dollars up that way. So for basically 100 bucks you can have that dream lawn again! Thanks for the advice. I found a place that has Compost/Loam for $14.99/cu yd. http://www.bridgewaterfarm.biz/categories/Loam%2C-compost%2C-soil/ Delivery is $45. So for $200 I can get 10 yards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowNH Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Do you guys think it would be a good idea to self pollinate cucumber flowers? I have about 4 male flowers and 1 female flower on a different plant. Do you think I should just rip off a male flower and pollinate the female flower? I tried a cue stick to transfer pollen but I didn't see any yellow pollen on the cue stick when I tried (Maybe a tad yellow) What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Zoysia Blizz would love this stuff, crowds out weeds entirely by mid June, the hotter it is the better it grows, loves heat! One fertilizing at this property slow release organic in April, and mulch leaves into the lawn in the fall. Only drawbacks are it stays dormant longer and goes dormant early. Its lush like a carpet, very invasice too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks for the advice. I found a place that has Compost/Loam for $14.99/cu yd. http://www.bridgewat...ompost%2C-soil/ Delivery is $45. So for $200 I can get 10 yards. Thats a great price, but only put it on 1/4 inch thick, and I recommend early September Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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