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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 172 responses total. |
remmers
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response 102 of 172:
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May 3 10:44 UTC 1997 |
"Doctor Straight" just got his lawn mower back from its spring
tuneup at Larry's Mower Shop and has given the front lawn its
first (and much-needed) mowing.
Prior to the mowing, my lawn was looking lumpy. Last spring I
filled in some bare spots with new seed, and this year the grass
that I planted there grew faster and thicker than the old grass,
resulting in bizarre-looking grass mounds all over the lawn. The
fact that I wasn't able to mow due to the mower being in the
shop just made things worse. Yesterday's mowing evened it out,
thankfully.
As soon as we have another nice day, I'll give the lawn a
thorough raking and plunk down some fertilizer. And of course
the time is approaching for the annual spring Grandma Putt
treatment. Let's see, where's the Listerine?
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srw
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response 103 of 172:
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May 24 06:11 UTC 1997 |
If you used "patch" to seed, it provides some fertilizer.
Lawns always seem to start out the season unevenly, until the first mowing.
Our mower is on its last legs, so we replaced it for the new lawn mowing
season. The amount of mowing that we've done so far has been minimal, but
that's mostly because it has been such a cold spring this year.
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remmers
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response 104 of 172:
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Jun 2 15:14 UTC 1997 |
Well, my lawn is growing at a nice pace now, urged on a bit by
an application of Grandma Putt's Spring Lawn Tonic, a bit of
Milagornite (activated sludge from the sewers of Milwaukee :),
and a dose of weed&feed.
It is in fact well overdue for a mowing. Three rainy days in a
row have prevented me from getting to it.
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valerie
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response 105 of 172:
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Jun 9 20:04 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 106 of 172:
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Jun 12 14:26 UTC 1997 |
Thanks to a few days of warm, sunny weather, I've been able to
get back to a regular mowing schedule. The front lawn is coming
in quite thick and growing at a great rate -- after just three
days' growth, the lawnmower has a bit of a hard time with it.
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srw
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response 107 of 172:
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Jun 14 05:36 UTC 1997 |
It's been more than a week, but I remember all those rainy days. Our lawn also
didn't get mowed for too long a stretch. We upped the height and mowed it when
it finally stopped raining, then dropeed the height (1/2 inche each time) and
mowed it again a day or two later. THankfully, the endless rain has given way
to a what was a pretty decent week of weather (but I digress, sorry.)
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valerie
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response 108 of 172:
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Jun 15 22:01 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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remmers
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response 109 of 172:
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Jun 16 20:51 UTC 1997 |
It was a stream-of-consciousness-with-an-attitude response.
I'm quite pleased with how the lawn is looking this year,
especially the front. Thick and green. Yesterday the front lawn
got its second Grandma Putt treatment of the season.
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rcurl
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response 110 of 172:
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Jun 16 21:04 UTC 1997 |
I regret to say that I applied a "weed and feed" poisoning of our
front lawn, succumbing to tacit (never expressed) disapproval of
dandelions by my ancestors.
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valerie
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response 111 of 172:
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Jun 17 02:17 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 112 of 172:
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Jun 17 05:53 UTC 1997 |
The dandelions all died.....
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n8nxf
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response 113 of 172:
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Jun 17 11:44 UTC 1997 |
For me the tacit pressure comes more from neighbors than ancestors.
If the neighbors all had weed-infested lawns, I'd feel normal.
However, I'm shunned for other reasons, so what the heck ;-)
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rcurl
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response 114 of 172:
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Jun 17 22:00 UTC 1997 |
The neighbors never said a word.....my feeling of pressure could only have
been ancestral.
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n8nxf
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response 115 of 172:
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Jun 18 11:18 UTC 1997 |
So if your neighbors all had dandelion pastures for lawns, you would still
feel the need to weed & feed?
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rcurl
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response 116 of 172:
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Jun 18 18:15 UTC 1997 |
Good question...why don't they? If the dandelion were a rare and hard
to cultivate plant, my neighbors and the city would probably be planting it
for early spring color. I like the flower. But, like the ancient Greeks,
I follow "everything in moderation". That's also why I don't care for grass
as the majority.
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n8nxf
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response 117 of 172:
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Jun 19 11:57 UTC 1997 |
Perhaps it is ancestral. I must admit that my neighbors weed & feed lawn
*looks* better than mine, however mine is much healthier and much more
diverse so far as plant and animal life. He uses lots of chemicals to
create a favorable environment for his monoculture while mine supports
whatever it wants to. I suppose the urge to have good looking lawns, cars,
homes, etc. is ancestral. Perhaps even deeper than that ;-)
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rcurl
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response 118 of 172:
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Jun 19 15:52 UTC 1997 |
Is it an urge for "control"? Vast lawns go back a long ways. They represent
both control over nature, which is an ancestral urge (since nature was
pretty dangerous to early man), and also a form of conspicuous consumption,
since it represents wealth to maintain a monoculture against natural forces.
Somehow I have less of this gene, as I like a diverse habitat, and would
let it grow up with natural plants, except for that fragment of the control
gene I do have.
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valerie
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response 119 of 172:
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Jun 20 04:32 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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scott
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response 120 of 172:
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Jun 20 12:55 UTC 1997 |
The name "ChemLawn" is disturbing enough. ;)
I have a a lawn nazi on one side of my house, and a "just enough" on the
other side. I'm leaning towards the "just enough", although I will
admit to using Weed & Feed to keep the dandilions under control. The
previous owner was "barely legal", which means plenty of non-grass
plants in my lawn.
I don't mind the dandilions until they lose all their seed and become
Ugly Stalks. That is enough reason to get rid of most of them. I'd do
it by hand, except that my lawn is too big to make that practical. The
weeds do seem to attract rabbits, though.
My back yard is mostly lawn, but with a couple areas gone wild (and
mowed carefully around to make it look intentional).
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n8nxf
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response 121 of 172:
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Jun 21 21:21 UTC 1997 |
I know my lawn would be illegal in some subdivisions. When Chemlawn and
the like come by with their checklist of all the naught plants growing
in my lawn, I get a check mark in almost all of the boxes. My goal is
to get a check in every box. When we move, we and three neighbors, will
do our best to establish several acres of "Michigan prairie", the latest
yuppie trend.
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arabella
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response 122 of 172:
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Jun 24 07:49 UTC 1997 |
I've read that a century ago vast lawns included other plants than
grass, like clover, for instance, and they were not considered as
weeds. Clover will actually benefit the soil, as it is a legume
and fixes nitrogen.
Our lawn in the backyard is green and thick and includes many other
plants than grass. Dandelions, creeping charlie, etc... I don't
mind, as long as Ken mows it regularly. My neighbor on the right
dug all her dandelions out by hand over a period of years. My
neighbor on the left has a front lawn that is mostly crabgrass
(not that I mind.... Our front lawn is almost entirely weeds,
since it's too shady for regular grass, and there's a big mossy
patch in the middle... I'm considering reseeding this fall with
a shade-tolerant eco-lawn mixture).
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remmers
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response 123 of 172:
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Jun 24 12:48 UTC 1997 |
Lawns that are mixtures of grass and clover are quite pretty,
and are less susceptible to summer brown-out, since the clover
stays green. Also, I don't mind a few dandelions in the yard --
the yellow flowers are pretty, but unfortunately the rest of the
plant is pretty ugly and is still there long after the flowers
are gone, so if there are too many of them one's lawn looks like
crap (in my opinion).
I wouldn't mind my lawn having a lot of clover and a tiny bit
of dandelion, but unfortunately I don't know how to achieve
this. If I don't use any herbicide, the dandelions get out of
hand eventually. If I use some, it kills the clover as well as
the dandelions.
Then there's the $^%!$@%$# creeping charlie, which seems to be
impervious to any kind of chemical control and is really taking
over around here. The only way I know of to get rid of it is to
pull it out by the roots, a truly daunting task unless you catch
it early.
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coyote
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response 124 of 172:
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Jun 24 23:23 UTC 1997 |
Re 121:
Wouldn't a lawn-gone-wild be more like a meadow than a prarie?
ChemLawn is a scary company. I came home one day to find a little plastic
bag attached to our front doorknob from ChemLawn that said 'Look what we
found!' on it. We hadn't hired them to do this or anything. Inside was a
leaf from some kind of plant, and a couple of bugs. Is it just me, or is that
the craziest thing to do -- look through somebody's lawn for insects. Insects
are *expected* in an outdoor area. What do they want us to do, exterminate
them?
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valerie
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response 125 of 172:
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Jun 25 02:38 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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n8nxf
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response 126 of 172:
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Jun 25 11:22 UTC 1997 |
Chemlawn's now using specimens in bags? I think they have given up on us
as I've not seen anything from them in the last couple of years. Can't
say I blame them. It also seems that our front lawn has become the local
sanctuary for ants. We have three or four good sized nests. None of
them get into the house and ant lions have set up residence in the dry
soil under the eves. (Pretty ugly creatures with pincers about as long
as their body. I'm sure they would be great gross-em-out critters for
Chemlawn's specimen bags ;-)
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