The Lawn, Garden, Fishing, Things You Do In Warm Weather Thread!

[BIG FROSTY]

I wish all the snow would melt so I can mow my yard...................  I hate late/no Spring!!!  Mack when is it gonna warm up?

[frazdaddy]

10 minutes ago, mackerel_sky said:

I got a white weeping ornamental cherry, white flowered, it's about half full of blooms! Looks good for after that mega freeze! My favorite tree of the day is Ruby Falls Redbud tree!! About to burst into flower! Great tree

Weeping cherries are beautiful. We have several wild redbuds in the heavy woods bordering our property. I am going to tag them so I can try to clear the area around them this weekend. Dogwoods are looking good to. We must have 25/30 on the place.

[jburns]

58 minutes ago, FallsLake said:

I've got one Bing cherry tree but don't get much because I have no pollinator. Lots of blooms but very little develop.  

Yeah, we are all getting older.  Sad.

[mackerel_sky]

13 minutes ago, BIG FROSTY said:

I wish all the snow would melt so I can mow my yard...................  I hate late/no Spring!!!  Mack when is it gonna warm up?

Starting Sunday! 70s for 3 weeks!! You better stock up on ice melt, next winter will be talked about for centuries! The '17/'18 winter will be a snow weenies dream!!!!

[No snow for you]

1 hour ago, jburns said:

Yeah, we are all getting older.  Sad.

They have drugs that may help. 

[Solak]

Saw the first fireflies of the year just now! Also, after sitting empty for nearly 1i years, the bats have finally found the bat house I built and mounted to the garage wall! In the past, we've had 2 or 3 sleeping in the louvered vent at the top of the garage roof, but tonight, I saw 5 of them emerging from their house! Don't know if there were more before I went outside. Kind of exciting.

[frazdaddy]

3 hours ago, jburns said:

Yeah, we are all getting older.  Sad.

I respectfully refuse. 

[Avdave]

5 hours ago, BIG FROSTY said:

I wish all the snow would melt so I can mow my yard...................  I hate late/no Spring!!!  Mack when is it gonna warm up?

Pfft. I cut my new sod in the back yard going on 3 times next week. It took so well when we put it down in late fall/early winter and it is a lush deep green. Love it

[LithiaWx]

77 and partly sunny.  I'm getting in a motorcycle ride before the rains hit!

[FallsLake]

The pollen is horrible. Yesterday afternoon there was a green haze everywhere. Hopefully the rain that's moving through the Triangle (as I write) will wash this stuff away; at least temporarily.  

[jburns]

3 hours ago, frazdaddy said:

Looks like "happy hour" and fishing on the dock will be postponed for 28-35 days as there is a mama goose nesting under the table now. I will try to get close enough for picts this weekend. Got to the end of the pier yesteryear and she would have none of that. Dad's close by as well. We named them "Charles and Amelia"

 

The names are where you messed up.  Instead of Charles and Amelia Goose it should have been Cooked and Stuffed.  

*Please do not show Judy this post.  lol

[frazdaddy]

Looks like " Happy Hour" and fishing from the dock will have to wait another 28/35 days "Charles and Amelia" have commandeered the dock for family purposes. She was not happy I was this close. 

[frazdaddy]

Dang it, Mr. Burns you got me while I was editing. I think Judy is all about some stuffed Goose. I'll have to keep one eye on her and another on the Boxers

[Solak]

First hummingbird of the year showed up here this afternoon.

[SharonA]

I'd forgotten all about this thread This week has been landscaping & garden-y type stuff in between the rounds of wx.

No hummingbirds yet.  The native jessamine has been blooming for a while, and the invasive Japanese honeysuckle that I'm working on yanking out this year is just starting to bloom.  I've got a variety of natives that hummers and pollinators like, all ready to plant when I get to that point in the process.

Getting to that point is slow going.  It's taken me way too many hours just to dig ONE hole appropriate for replanting a 10-gallon-potted tree.  Turns out there was a gravel driveway or pad or something in the area I had picked for the crapapples.  I got through the top 2" of years of leaves and some grass - mostly semi-shade grass-natives debris stuff, and hit 4-6" of tightly packed gravel.  Getting through THAT was an adventure in stabbity-stab-stab-pry-pry-stab.  Then I hit a couple of inches of nice soil, then deep red thick clay.  On the bright side, I won't have the big mound of leftover dirt that I often have after removing a lot for a hole and not needing it all to fill in around the transplant afterwards ... I'll have a couple big buckets of gravel instead.

It's been nice getting outside in the sun and doing some work.  But ouch every part of me aches now.

[SharonA]

Ugh.  Finally dig a somewhat-bigger-than-recommended hole for the crabapple, because I wanted to give it plenty of gravel-free room to spread, filled the hole with water to test the drainage, and 30 minutes later the hole still has standing water in it.  It drained in reasonable time right up until the surface got down below the level where I'd dug into the solid red Georgia clay.  So the poor tree is going to find itself sitting on top of a clay saucer of sorts - but at least it's got a foot+ in each direction rock-free and ready to expand into.  This will be a bit of a happy surprise to the poor thing, because right now it is horribly root-bound, over 8' tall and still in a 5 gallon pot with huge cut-off roots poking out of each drainage hole.  I'll of course be cutting off the pot rather than pulling it, and teasing out as much of the outer layer of roots as I can so that it starts off right.

 

[mackerel_sky]

6 minutes ago, SharonA said:

Ugh.  Finally dig a somewhat-bigger-than-recommended hole for the crabapple, because I wanted to give it plenty of gravel-free room to spread, filled the hole with water to test the drainage, and 30 minutes later the hole still has standing water in it.  It drained in reasonable time right up until the surface got down below the level where I'd dug into the solid red Georgia clay.  So the poor tree is going to find itself sitting on top of a clay saucer of sorts - but at least it's got a foot+ in each direction rock-free and ready to expand into.  This will be a bit of a happy surprise to the poor thing, because right now it is horribly root-bound, over 8' tall and still in a 5 gallon pot with huge cut-off roots poking out of each drainage hole.  I'll of course be cutting off the pot rather than pulling it, and teasing out as much of the outer layer of roots as I can so that it starts off right.

 

Sounds like a daunting task!! I really never like to transplant any thing bigger than a one gallon tree or shrub ! It's easier on the plant ( much less stressful) and easier on the gardner! I don't like digging big holes!

[frazdaddy]

3 hours ago, mackerel_sky said:

Sounds like a daunting task!! I really never like to transplant any thing bigger than a one gallon tree or shrub ! It's easier on the plant ( much less stressful) and easier on the gardner! I don't like digging big holes!

John Deere + 3 point hole digger x  3 sizes of bits = big deep hole. To old for that manual s#%t

[SharonA]

Yea, if they had been available in a smaller size I'd have jumped at it.  Unfortunately I didn't think to collect the fruit/seeds from my own few wild trees before they succumbed to wind/deer/aggressive-right-of-way-clearing.  I'd love to get about a dozen, then clear out a few spots along the treeline and line them up.

 

Today might involve getting a post hole digger. My arthritic knees won't let me use a shovel so I've had to dig the holes by hand with a trowel while sitting down, and that's tough going even without having to sift out a big pile of rocks.

[mackerel_sky]

Everything is looking good after the torch winter and late freeze! All the rain is keeping everything lush and lots of flowers everywhere. Lantanas are looking great already and bearded irises are flowering and already have a few flowers on my southern magnolia!! Everything looks great in the cool wet weather !!

[mackerel_sky]

Think I heard the SC peach crop was 85-95% loss, as the crop is starting to come in! They were just guesstimating after the freeze! Very sad

[greendave]

Lawn Help:

Back story:

1) Re-seeded front lawn (roughly 5000 sq ft) last fall after aerating and lime, when we inherited the place, for years the lawn was neglected so huge mix of weeds, moss, and "some" grass. Reseeded with mix of southern gold fescue mix and kentucky blue. Came in great, yard was in fantastic shape all through the end of June. Put out Scott's crabgrass halt early spring, i thought early enough.

2) 2nd week of July rolls around and two major problems: A) Crabgrass, nutsedge, and bermudagrass everywhere. B ) Two huge patches and several smaller of dry brown dead crispy grass. The worst spot came right up without ease, did the shovel test, and grubs. 

3) To remedy I put down one bag of Bayer 24 hr grub killer, and 2 bags (double dose) of Scotts Grubex for long term. My plan is to use nematodes this fall and next spring for an organic remedy.

It's been roughly a week since application and initial watering (unfortunately the big soakers completely missed us here in Burlington this past Sunday). Anyways, there seems to have been a stop in forward progression (almost football season pun).

So on to my question, knowing I'll have a substantial loss in areas and have to reseed anyway this fall.....what do i do about the weeds.

Should I A) let weeds go until early fall and kill then when grass can better cope.

or B ) trusting the long term pattern (i think) of a mild moist few weeks upcoming and go ahead and tackle the weed problem and hope there's enough rain and no brutal temps the next few weeks?

I fear if i don't tackle now the crabgrass and bermudagrass will take over in place of the dead fescue. It really is amazing the difference in lawn conditions just over the last 3 weeks, i wasn't prepared to stomach it.

So looking for advice when to kill weeds, and also curios what product i should use. Right now i'm looking at the SouthernAg 2:4-D Amine, but doesn't look like it will tackle the bermuda.

I'm also a little confused on the bermuda, seems like many use it as a "grass" but I can't stand it, long runners, invades everything. Perhaps its centipede and not bermuda?

Thanks for any advice.

-Dave

 

[jburns]

39 minutes ago, greendave said:

Lawn Help:

Back story:

1) Re-seeded front lawn (roughly 5000 sq ft) last fall after aerating and lime, when we inherited the place, for years the lawn was neglected so huge mix of weeds, moss, and "some" grass. Reseeded with mix of southern gold fescue mix and kentucky blue. Came in great, yard was in fantastic shape all through the end of June. Put out Scott's crabgrass halt early spring, i thought early enough.

2) 2nd week of July rolls around and two major problems: A) Crabgrass, nutsedge, and bermudagrass everywhere. B ) Two huge patches and several smaller of dry brown dead crispy grass. The worst spot came right up without ease, did the shovel test, and grubs. 

3) To remedy I put down one bag of Bayer 24 hr grub killer, and 2 bags (double dose) of Scotts Grubex for long term. My plan is to use nematodes this fall and next spring for an organic remedy.

It's been roughly a week since application and initial watering (unfortunately the big soakers completely missed us here in Burlington this past Sunday). Anyways, there seems to have been a stop in forward progression (almost football season pun).

So on to my question, knowing I'll have a substantial loss in areas and have to reseed anyway this fall.....what do i do about the weeds.

Should I A) let weeds go until early fall and kill then when grass can better cope.

or B ) trusting the long term pattern (i think) of a mild moist few weeks upcoming and go ahead and tackle the weed problem and hope there's enough rain and no brutal temps the next few weeks?

I fear if i don't tackle now the crabgrass and bermudagrass will take over in place of the dead fescue. It really is amazing the difference in lawn conditions just over the last 3 weeks, i wasn't prepared to stomach it.

So looking for advice when to kill weeds, and also curios what product i should use. Right now i'm looking at the SouthernAg 2:4-D Amine, but doesn't look like it will tackle the bermuda.

I'm also a little confused on the bermuda, seems like many use it as a "grass" but I can't stand it, long runners, invades everything. Perhaps its centipede and not bermuda?

Thanks for any advice.

-Dave

 

Embrace them. It's cheaper, healthier and won't drive you crazy.

[griteater]

I can't go the jburns route, but I understand it.

Dave, you probably have bermudagrass, but we'd need to see a photo.  As the saying goes, the only way to get rid of bermudagrass is to move, as in move to another house because you can't get rid of it.  What I would do is put Roundup on it (knockoff brand of Roundup is fine).  Then when it comes back up, put Roundup on it again.  Maybe you can dig it out to start the process, but doing that alone likely won't solve the problem as the bermudagrass root system is hard to kill.  Bermudagrass is great in the summer heat in the south, but doesn't grow in shade and it goes dormant (tan) at frost from Nov-March/April....and like you said, it spreads into your mulched bed areas.

I'm having some problems with nutsedge myself.  Here is some info on it: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/weeds/hgic2312.html.  Sounds like there are specific chemicals for nutsedge, else Roundup can be used.

Of the grasses/weeds you mentioned, true crabgrass is the easiest of the 3 to address.  It's an annual that begins growing in the spring from the seeds deposited from the previous year's plant.  Put your crabgrass preventer out in Feb/March next year, and you shouldn't have much of any crabgrass pop out next year. 

Right now through August is a great time to remove the weeds prior to reseeding your fescue in September (including removing the existing crabgrass).  Personally, I like seeding with turf type fescue, with no bluegrass.  Fescue handles the heat a little better than bluegrass. 

[jburns]

33 minutes ago, griteater said:

I can't go the jburns route, but I understand it.

Dave, you probably have bermudagrass, but we'd need to see a photo.  As the saying goes, the only way to get rid of bermudagrass is to move, as in move to another house because you can't get rid of it.  What I would do is put Roundup on it (knockoff brand of Roundup is fine).  Then when it comes back up, put Roundup on it again.  Maybe you can dig it out to start the process, but doing that alone likely won't solve the problem as the bermudagrass root system is hard to kill.  Bermudagrass is great in the summer heat in the south, but doesn't grow in shade and it goes dormant (tan) at frost from Nov-March/April....and like you said, it spreads into your mulched bed areas.

I'm having some problems with nutsedge myself.  Here is some info on it: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/weeds/hgic2312.html.  Sounds like there are specific chemicals for nutsedge, else Roundup can be used.

Of the grasses/weeds you mentioned, true crabgrass is the easiest of the 3 to address.  It's an annual that begins growing in the spring from the seeds deposited from the previous year's plant.  Put your crabgrass preventer out in Feb/March next year, and you shouldn't have much of any crabgrass pop out next year. 

Right now through August is a great time to remove the weeds prior to reseeding your fescue in September (including removing the existing crabgrass).  Personally, I like seeding with turf type fescue, with no bluegrass.  Fescue handles the heat a little better than bluegrass. 

3

I'll be at the pool?   

[downeastnc]

Wait people don't want Bermuda?

[greendave]

Here ya go griteater, thanks for the response.

Any suggestions on a proven weedkiller? I'm thinking staing away from the big box store names might be best, but maybe not.

-Dave

[mackerel_sky]

My weeds are dying it's so dry!

[griteater]

3 hours ago, greendave said:

Here ya go griteater, thanks for the response.

Any suggestions on a proven weedkiller? I'm thinking staing away from the big box store names might be best, but maybe not.

-Dave

That's definitely bermudagrass in the middle part of your top image.  And that surely looks like straight up crabgrass in the bottom image.  I would go with the cheapest weedkiller you can find...they basically have the same ingredients.  But for those 2, I would use Roundup (or any cheaper, knockoff brand - ingredient is glyphosate).  Roundup is going to kill everything you spray it on...of course, as mentioned before, the Bermuda is likely to come back.  There are sprays specifically for crabgrass, but I've found they don't work that well, or work slowly and require multiple applications.  If it were me, I'd just kill off the crabgrass with roundup, then reseed those areas in Sept...put out your crabgrass preventer in Feb/early Mar, a little heavier in the troublesome areas.  The thing about lawns is that the better your grass gets, the less maintenance / spraying it will require.  It takes a few years to get there though.

[mackerel_sky]

On July 26, 2017 at 10:35 PM, jburns said:

I'll be at the pool?   

There's actually a weed killer out there called " sedgehammer" ! Grit, may wanna give that a shot! I take the JBuns/ CR approach , cut it low and everything looks good and green, weeds and all