2018 Mid Atlantic Lawn/Garden/Pool Thread

[mappy]

well after months of waiting, pool to be fixed next week. after we drain a foot of water out of it this weekend.  

[smokeybandit]

My lawn is growing like crazy now.  Well other than the dead spots that June/early July gave me

[psuhoffman]

5 hours ago, mappy said:

well after months of waiting, pool to be fixed next week. after we drain a foot of water out of it this weekend.  

It was raining so hard yesterday the pool was overflowing even though I had the filter valve open to drain it. 

[psuhoffman]

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

My lawn is growing like crazy now.  Well other than the dead spots that June/early July gave me

Yea I think I lost some pretty significant patches and I doubt they are coming back.  There might be some growth still covered under the dead grass though so I'll wait another week before calling TOD. Might have to do some significant seeding this fall. 

The garden is doing great though. But no way I could water a 2.5 acre lawn. My son picked some zucchini yesterday. 

[mappy]

3 hours ago, psuhoffman said:

It was raining so hard yesterday the pool was overflowing even though I had the filter valve open to drain it. 

yeah, i can only imagine we would have had to do the same had it been filled as normal. love that valve too at the base of the pump, like a fire hose. 

[nw baltimore wx]

I was goofing off in the backyard trying to get some pictures of the yellow finch feeding on the cone flower seeds, but he wasn't having it.  The hummingbird wasn't interested in his feeder today either.  But being the great hunter that I am, I did eventually found some wildlife.

Be happy that I didn't post the fly pictures. They're kind of gross.

[WxUSAF]

Was weeding near my rose bush Sunday and must have disturbed a yellow jacket nest. Didn’t notice until one stung my leg and then saw 3-5 more on me. Took off running and ripped my shirt off. They followed me for 30-40 yards.  Only was stung the once but that was easily the most painful bee sting I’ve ever had. Still a bit red and swollen and itchy around the spot.

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

Was weeding near my rose bush Sunday and must have disturbed a yellow jacket nest. Didn’t notice until one stung my leg and then saw 3-5 more on me. Took off running and ripped my shirt off. They followed me for 30-40 yards.  Only was stung the once but that was easily the most painful bee sting I’ve ever had. Still a bit red and swollen and itchy around the spot.

I'm glad you escaped relatively unscathed but I would have loved to see that.

[Disc]

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

Was weeding near my rose bush Sunday and must have disturbed a yellow jacket nest. Didn’t notice until one stung my leg and then saw 3-5 more on me. Took off running and ripped my shirt off. They followed me for 30-40 yards.  Only was stung the once but that was easily the most painful bee sting I’ve ever had. Still a bit red and swollen and itchy around the spot.

You lucked out on that. I got into a nest of them years ago and they followed me all the way into the house. (Must've still had some on me) I probably had a half a dozen stings or more. 

[frd]

On 7/26/2018 at 12:58 PM, psuhoffman said:

Yea I think I lost some pretty significant patches and I doubt they are coming back.  There might be some growth still covered under the dead grass though so I'll wait another week before calling TOD. Might have to do some significant seeding this fall. 

The garden is doing great though. But no way I could water a 2.5 acre lawn. My son picked some zucchini yesterday. 

First ,love the pic !!!   I was wondering did your grass come back?  I have a front lawn  ( over-seeded ) through the years with fescue grass. The back still has the contractor grade which looks great because I think it is a mix of different grasses. Also it is flat  back there versus a slope in the front of the house.

I have a question for you or anyone really. My fromt lawn has bounced back but there are patches still after all the rain that as of today still have not shown any recovery. All I see is the dead grass. 

This area is mostly at the front of lawn closer to the street . I have a theory is takes a beating there because the top soil there is less deep 

I am also mad as I always take care of my lawn myself but this year I had Trugreen make two visits. They dropped a slow release fertilizer in July. I thought you never fertilize a cool season grass in the summer. 

Do you think my issue is dead grass , and do you thnk it is related just to excessive heat and maybe I lost those areas. You think the fertilizer was the contributing factor , maybe the slope of the lawn ran off the fertilizer to the front of the lawn. Or maybe simply too much for the fescue to handle. 

Thanks 

 

   

 

[nw baltimore wx]

PSU may have an answer but it could be a lot of things. If all the fertilizer ponded in those areas, it could be fertilizer burn, but if it's a slow release, maybe not. If it's "patterned" or ring-shaped, it could be fungus from all the rain. If the soil is shallow, it could have died in the heat before the rainy pattern, but if this is the first year of it doing this, then I doubt it.

On one side of my yard I have a mix of grasses that I'm slowly converting to all tall fescue by overseeding each fall, but every year by this time, there is an early season grass that goes dormant to the point of looking really dead. It could be that you have patches of something similar. You also mentioned that it's by the street so even something as arbitrary as winter road salt could be causing problems by messing with the soil and killing off desirable turf.

At this point of the summer there isn't much to do but let it go and then in a month aerate, add nutrients, and seed with whatever works we'll in your area. 

[frd]

1 hour ago, nw baltimore wx said:

PSU may have an answer but it could be a lot of things. If all the fertilizer ponded in those areas, it could be fertilizer burn, but if it's a slow release, maybe not. If it's "patterned" or ring-shaped, it could be fungus from all the rain. If the soil is shallow, it could have died in the heat before the rainy pattern, but if this is the first year of it doing this, then I doubt it.

On one side of my yard I have a mix of grasses that I'm slowly converting to all tall fescue by overseeding each fall, but every year by this time, there is an early season grass that goes dormant to the point of looking really dead. It could be that you have patches of something similar. You also mentioned that it's by the street so even something as arbitrary as winter road salt could be causing problems by messing with the soil and killing off desirable turf.

At this point of the summer there isn't much to do but let it go and then in a month aerate, add nutrients, and seed with whatever works we'll in your area. 

Ah, thanks very much.  Good advice. It may just be that part of the soil dries out faster as closer to heated roads, more sun, and less top soil depth.

It did go a very long time without water, longer than you guys across the Bay as I was missing storms for a while.

It is not fungus as it just appears dormant or dead. Thanks   First time in three years this happened, last year and the year before not too bad.  

 

 

[Eskimo Joe]

This has been the worst year for tomatoes since we started gardening.  We will have maybe a dozen this year if that due to too much rain and a potash deficiency in our soil.  The cucumbers, garlic, squash and pumpkins are looking very healthy however.  Peaches in the state are doing okay so we'll have a lot to can and pack away for winter.

[poolz1]

This has been the worst year for tomatoes since we started gardening.  We will have maybe a dozen this year if that due to too much rain and a potash deficiency in our soil.  The cucumbers, garlic, squash and pumpkins are looking very healthy however.  Peaches in the state are doing okay so we'll have a lot to can and pack away for winter.

Funny... Just the opposite here. Banner tomatoes but cucumbers died abruptly a few weeks ago. 4 plants. Still trying to figure that one out.

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[Eskimo Joe]

2 minutes ago, poolz1 said:

Funny... Just the opposite here. Banner tomatoes but cucumbers died abruptly a few weeks ago. 4 plants. Still trying to figure that one out.

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We've had about 30 large pickling cucumbers since July. 

[poolz1]

That's awesome... Canning pickles is one of favorites.

We got about a dozen and then, over 3 days, healthy plants completely died

We've had about 30 large pickling cucumbers since July. 

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[MN Transplant]

34 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

This has been the worst year for tomatoes since we started gardening.  We will have maybe a dozen this year if that due to too much rain and a potash deficiency in our soil.  The cucumbers, garlic, squash and pumpkins are looking very healthy however.  Peaches in the state are doing okay so we'll have a lot to can and pack away for winter.

Our tomato crop is going to be robust this year.  Cucumbers were good, squash was good.  The raspberries have been terrible.  I don't know where I went wrong with them after the first couple years of terrific output.

[Eskimo Joe]

1 minute ago, MN Transplant said:

Our tomato crop is going to be robust this year.  Cucumbers were good, squash was good.  The raspberries have been terrible.  I don't know where I went wrong with them after the first couple years of terrific output.

Raspberries need a major fall pruning and top dressing in early winter.  They are similar to strawberries in that after 3 years their output will fall apart without a helping hand.

[mappy]

Pool is operational! Just in time for more rain 

[WxUSAF]

Tomatoes have been awful, but that’s mostly the deers fault. Our one jalapeño plant has been off the hook. Probably 20 peppers and counting. 

We’ve lost several plants this summer though for one reason or another. A young dogwood, young maple, new azalea, and some others.

[mattie g]

On 8/8/2018 at 1:28 PM, poolz1 said:

That's awesome... Canning pickles is one of favorites.

We got about a dozen and then, over 3 days, healthy plants completely died

 

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Can be a few things, but bacterial wilt and squash bugs or cucumber beetles are the first things to come to mind.

[csnavywx]

On 8/9/2018 at 4:53 PM, mattie g said:

Can be a few things, but bacterial wilt and squash bugs or cucumber beetles are the first things to come to mind.

Yep. Fusarium root rot can do that as well. I had a real issue with that a couple of years ago. Had to start using RootGuard to keep it in check, which works well if you keep up with it.

[Jebman]

Lawns are pure emerald green. We got another three quarters of an inch on Sunday, I gotta mow AGAIN! Same with the shrubs, I need to trim them. They have been going bonkers all spring and summer.

[North Balti Zen]

This isn’t really lawn, I suppose,  but , anyone else having issues with little ants sprouting everywhere this year?  Miss one crumb and ants almost out of nowhere . 

[mattie g]

On 8/14/2018 at 8:08 PM, North Balti Zen said:

This isn’t really lawn, I suppose,  but , anyone else having issues with little ants sprouting everywhere this year?  Miss one crumb and ants almost out of nowhere . 

Yup. We’ve got a lot of ants inside - really started noticing them a couple weeks ago. Pest control sprayed outside last week, but it’s had no effect, so we’re going to have them back out to see if they can do some careful baiting. 

[mappy]

weve got what we think is a raccoon eating all our hummingbird nectar. have had to refill the damn feeder three days in a row now, in the morning, as its gone overnight. 

[North Balti Zen]

11 hours ago, mattie g said:

Yup. We’ve got a lot of ants inside - really started noticing them a couple weeks ago. Pest control sprayed outside last week, but it’s had no effect, so we’re going to have them back out to see if they can do some careful baiting. 

Thanks. At least I am not crazy (at least, not because of this), or can maybe rule out the house being possessed by demons.

[North Balti Zen]

49 minutes ago, mappy said:

weve got what we think is a raccoon eating all our hummingbird nectar. have had to refill the damn feeder three days in a row now, in the morning, as its gone overnight. 

Picturing a raccoon with a straw having a sweet snack...

[showmethesnow]

Just  got back yesterday afternoon after spending almost two weeks out of town dealing with family matters and find the Garden is an absolute disaster. Oh well, guess there is always next year.

[Sparky]

13 hours ago, mattie g said:

Yup. We’ve got a lot of ants inside - really started noticing them a couple weeks ago. Pest control sprayed outside last week, but it’s had no effect, so we’re going to have them back out to see if they can do some careful baiting. 

I spray PT Phantom II around the perimeter of my home several times a year, mainly during the warmer months, and it does a good job at keeping ants at bay.  

 

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