MN Transplant Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 2 hours ago, aldie 22 said: Where is that...Outer Banks? If the Outer Banks had crappy clay/rock fill instead of sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 My lawn is pretty much doing fine right now, except for a few spots that are browning, I've only watered a couple times - nice soakings to get it through the driest periods - so I just want to get into the potentially stormy period coming up without needing to fire up the sprinklers (because I honestly despise having to water the lawn). Garden is doing fine. Had LOTS of problems with starting my seedlings this year, so ended up grabbing some plants at the local nursery. I got them in the ground quite a bit later than I normally plant, but a few tomatoes have pretty much caught up while some others really struggled for some reason. Also seems I got some crap potting soil for the jalapenos and herbs that I like to plant in pots, so they're really not showing any promise. Just a bit of a tough year overall, but there's plenty of growing left to do. Could certainly be worse! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 21 minutes ago, mattie g said: My lawn is pretty much doing fine right now, except for a few spots that are browning, I've only watered a couple times - nice soakings to get it through the driest periods - so I just want to get into the potentially stormy period coming up without needing to fire up the sprinklers (because I honestly despise having to water the lawn). Garden is doing fine. Had LOTS of problems with starting my seedlings this year, so ended up grabbing some plants at the local nursery. I got them in the ground quite a bit later than I normally plant, but a few tomatoes have pretty much caught up while some others really struggled for some reason. Also seems I got some crap potting soil for the jalapenos and herbs that I like to plant in pots, so they're really not showing any promise. Just a bit of a tough year overall, but there's plenty of growing left to do. Could certainly be worse! How is it possible your lawn is Ok with the limitied rain that has fallen in your area ? Today I can actually see from 7 AM to right now the lawn is going to heck pretty fast. My area has gotten a lot of rain so I am actually surprised it is going brown and dormant unless what I am seeing might be vast areas of brown spot and dollar spot. Three days ago it was looking great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 Rather warm soil temps here presently. Expected soil temperatures for the next 5 days for 19709: 84° 84° 80° 79° 77° 07/16 07/17 07/18 07/19 07/20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 1 hour ago, frd said: How is it possible your lawn is Ok with the limitied rain that has fallen in your area ? Today I can actually see from 7 AM to right now the lawn is going to heck pretty fast. My area has gotten a lot of rain so I am actually surprised it is going brown and dormant unless what I am seeing might be vast areas of brown spot and dollar spot. Three days ago it was looking great. Not sure. It's been pretty damn dry over the last few weeks, but we were quite wet prior to that - we also lucked into a couple brief downpours in the last couple weeks, so maybe it's just enough to keep things going. I haven't watered the front lawn once and it's doing fine, but it gets a decent amount of shade throughout the day and doesn't grow terribly fast in general. The backyard gets a ton of shade now as neighbors' trees have gotten bigger in the last few years, so yeah...I guess that's a lot to do with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Caught a cicada emerging from its shell this morning on a timber step 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardNole Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Cool pic! But after sitting out on the deck to enjoy these nice temps, I think I hate annual cicadas more than mosquitos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN Transplant Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 38 minutes ago, BlizzardNole said: Cool pic! But after sitting out on the deck to enjoy these nice temps, I think I hate annual cicadas more than mosquitos It was noticeably loud last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxdude64 Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 19 hours ago, vastateofmind said: I have no idea (and perhaps I should dump this over in the MA gardening thread) but...are potatoes hard to grow? You had half soaked, and half dried out taters? Dear Lord. Maybe they're too hard to grow in VA...or at least in times of drought. 16 hours ago, stormy said: Potatoes are easy to grow in Va. I have been doing it for decades. Put seed potatoes in ground about May 1 and dig early August after vines have died down. They need lots of rain or watering when blooming. I have dug a big bushel in the past week and probably have another bushel to go. 16 hours ago, IronTy said: I grow potatoes too down in Calvert. I was not expecting them to do that well in the shade and clay soil but randomly I get quite a few every year. 16 hours ago, TSG said: I threw some old red-skinned taters I'd left in the pantry too long in a planter last summer. It went surprisingly well, was gifted with probably 3x what I started with 2 months later. I went ahead and placed this in the gardening topic since it has headed that way. My (our) main problem growing ANY root plant is the slate and clay soil here. You only have to dig 3-10" in most of the yard to hit slate. So 95% of the garden is in raised beds or planting bags/buckets. Another reason why I struggle with grass, just not enough topsoil to make it thru dry spells. I have added 2-4 inches of dirt and compost over the years to most of the yard, (so, yes there were spots that the slate was practically on top the ground years ago) and I did managed to keep grass in 75-80% of the yard thru this dry stretch. Planted 3 lbs of seed and got 16 pounds of taters out of 7 bags, not great, not terrible. On a side note, this will be the best year ever for carrots! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 2 hours ago, wxdude64 said: I went ahead and placed this in the gardening topic since it has headed that way. My (our) main problem growing ANY root plant is the slate and clay soil here. You only have to dig 3-10" in most of the yard to hit slate. So 95% of the garden is in raised beds or planting bags/buckets. Another reason why I struggle with grass, just not enough topsoil to make it thru dry spells. I have added 2-4 inches of dirt and compost over the years to most of the yard, (so, yes there were spots that the slate was practically on top the ground years ago) and I did managed to keep grass in 75-80% of the yard thru this dry stretch. Planted 3 lbs of seed and got 16 pounds of taters out of 7 bags, not great, not terrible. On a side note, this will be the best year ever for carrots! All great observations and info...TY for sharing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 Everything in my yard that isn’t a mature tree is heat/drought stressed 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 I just threw a shoe at a squirrel that had one of my unripe tomatoes in its mouth. Then I chased it. Hope I scared the shit out of it and it doesn't come back, but that's unlikely. F'ing squirrels... Edit: I threw a shoe, not a show 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 3 hours ago, mattie g said: I just threw a shoe at a squirrel that had one of my unripe tomatoes in its mouth. Then I chased it. Hope I scared the shit out of it and it doesn't come back, but that's unlikely. F'ing squirrels... Mattie enjoying a cool beer while writing a brief note expressing his slight dislike for squirrels.: 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 1 hour ago, GramaxRefugee said: Mattie enjoying a cool beer while writing a brief note expressing his slight dislike for squirrels.: I despise squirrels, to be completely honest. Though we did have a very cute ginger squirrel that would clean up the sunflower seeds that fell out of our feeder this spring. Haven't seen it in a couple months, so I'm guessing its reddish fur drew too much attention from the local hawk or fox populations and it made a tasty supper for one of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 2 hours ago, mattie g said: I just threw a shoe at a squirrel that had one of my unripe tomatoes in its mouth. Then I chased it. Hope I scared the shit out of it and it doesn't come back, but that's unlikely. F'ing squirrels... Edit: I threw a shoe, not a show Yes, I hate them, too...little bastards have chewed the crap out of wiring and insulation in our vehicle's engine boxes several times in recent years during colder weather. I have no trouble siccing the dog on them regularly. I will say, though...I've never seen them go after a tomato or other garden veggies. That's interesting. We have a family of BLACK squirrels that roam around my building here at work on Fort Belvoir, for a couple years now...have never before or seen that color/variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 Just a couple weeks ago, we moved the bird feeder from the back to the front of the house, just to get the squirrels away from the garden plants. Nothing else can stop them, despite having an enthusiastic squirrel chaser of a dog. (Dog doesn't go in the un-fenced front.) And, the bird feeder is quite squirrel-proof, but they just gather under it waiting for the birds to drop seeds down. And, a couple months ago, I replaced $100 worth of high pressure fuel line on the F-150 because they chewed a hole in it. (Long story. Difficult repair) eta: The feeder we've used for about 10 years; for those that are interested. https://bromebirdcare.com/squirrelbuster-mini/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 On 7/29/2024 at 11:51 AM, GramaxRefugee said: Just a couple weeks ago, we moved the bird feeder from the back to the front of the house, just to get the squirrels away from the garden plants. Nothing else can stop them, despite having an enthusiastic squirrel chaser of a dog. (Dog doesn't go in the un-fenced front.) And, the bird feeder is quite squirrel-proof, but they just gather under it waiting for the birds to drop seeds down. And, a couple months ago, I replaced $100 worth of high pressure fuel line on the F-150 because they chewed a hole in it. (Long story. Difficult repair) eta: The feeder we've used for about 10 years; for those that are interested. https://bromebirdcare.com/squirrelbuster-mini/ I appreciate the link to a squirrel-proof feeder...I've wanted to mount a bird feeder in recent years, but the damn yard rats are LEGION around our house, and they ruin the whole birding experience (short of me siccing the dog on them OR pulling out my BB gun). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 19 minutes ago, vastateofmind said: I appreciate the link to a squirrel-proof feeder...I've wanted to mount a bird feeder in recent years, but the damn yard rats are LEGION around our house, and they ruin the whole birding experience (short of me siccing the dog on them OR pulling out my BB gun). I've been using the same one for quite a few years now and I can attest that it works flawlessly. So flawlessly, in fact, that the squirrels prefer going to my garden for an easy snack (and apparently to get a drink) instead of eating sunflower seeds from the bird feeder. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North Balti Zen Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 25 minutes ago, vastateofmind said: I appreciate the link to a squirrel-proof feeder...I've wanted to mount a bird feeder in recent years, but the damn yard rats are LEGION around our house, and they ruin the whole birding experience (short of me siccing the dog on them OR pulling out my BB gun). hey. phrasing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 2 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said: hey. phrasing. I know, right? I must've been channeling @ravensrule... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 51 minutes ago, vastateofmind said: I appreciate the link to a squirrel-proof feeder...I've wanted to mount a bird feeder in recent years, but the damn yard rats are LEGION around our house, and they ruin the whole birding experience (short of me siccing the dog on them OR pulling out my BB gun). Since the feeder got moved, the steel shepherd's hook has been sitting empty out back. I watched out the window as one of the little rocket scientists climbed up it and started chewing on the hook where the feeder used to be. At least it figured it out and went away after about a half minute. Wacky rodents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravensrule Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 3 hours ago, vastateofmind said: I know, right? I must've been channeling @ravensrule... Obviously, nothing to be ashamed of. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 56 minutes ago, ravensrule said: Obviously, nothing to be ashamed of. Ohhh...never, my friend. That wasn't meant as a negative. You are one of the folks who's made me LOL on this forum on a regular basis than many others over the past 10-15 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 Broadleaf weeds are thriving in my lawn and everyone else’s. Grass all died or went dormant, then we get some rain and here come the weeds practically overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldie 22 Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 9 minutes ago, WxUSAF said: Broadleaf weeds are thriving in my lawn and everyone else’s. Grass all died or went dormant, then we get some rain and here come the weeds practically overnight. My neighbor waters his grass every evening he now has the most florescent green crabgrass lawn you've ever seen. I think Dulles airport uses it as a marker. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 Lawn people…to start recovering the lawn in the fall, should I focus on spot seeding? Or just do some general broadcast seeding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 9 minutes ago, WxUSAF said: Lawn people…to start recovering the lawn in the fall, should I focus on spot seeding? Or just do some general broadcast seeding? Just my opinion, but I get good results when I aerate and then seed in early to mid September. I also put down milorganite at the same time to help get the seedlings going and feed the recovering fescue. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 @CAPE is it almost time to seed ? Also, what seed do you recommend ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Just now, frd said: @CAPE is it almost time to seed ? Also, what seed do you recommend ? I am starting today. I have the initial area raked and soil loosened. I stick with Jonathan Green Black Beauty Original and use their Green up starter fertilizer. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxdude64 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 15 minutes ago, CAPE said: I am starting today. I have the initial area raked and soil loosened. I stick with Jonathan Green Black Beauty Original and use their Green up starter fertilizer. I am wood cutting today (as I did yesterday playing clean up from downed trees over past month or so), but likely will aerate and then reseed tomorrow or Friday morning. It is time. Glorious days are forecasted next few! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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