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Grex > Nature > #22: The Lawn Care Diary of "Doctor Straight" |  |
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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 172 responses total. |
remmers
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response 75 of 172:
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Apr 28 08:32 UTC 1995 |
Well, Larry's got my mower ready; I picked it up yesterday. Grass,
here I come!
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mwarner
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response 76 of 172:
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Apr 28 22:26 UTC 1995 |
(Pardon this digression on a long ellipse from another conference, but it
brings me unwittingly to lawn care)
Once there was a writer for the New Yorker named Sullivan who lived in
Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Every year he would write a Christmas article
dropping names of the famous and noteworthy. His lawn was on Lincoln
street (as was his home). A reputable local attorney, when asked by me
recently about Mr. Sullivan's persona, recalled his sister's appearance
one year in the annual Christmas column and his own work as a youngster
tending the lawn of his successful neighbor.
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remmers
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response 77 of 172:
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Apr 30 10:33 UTC 1995 |
(Heh. So you've boned up on Sullivan after the mysterious quote
debacle... Cute story. :)
Well, I fired up the lawn mower on Friday and let 'er rip, giving the
lawn its annual spring butch cut -- 1.5", an inch shorter than normal.
Looks pretty good. Today I'll put on some Ringer Lawn Restore
fertilizer, and in a couple of weeks it'll be Grandma Putt time!
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remmers
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response 78 of 172:
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May 12 22:27 UTC 1995 |
Mark your calendars. Monday May 15 is Grandma Putt Day!
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remmers
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response 79 of 172:
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May 17 23:18 UTC 1995 |
Okay, Grandma Putt's Spring Lawn Tonic has been applied to the lawn.
So that you won't have to search back through the responses to find
out what the heck that is, I'll repeat the recipe here:
1 cup epsom salts
1 cup beer
1 cup Listerine
1 cup ammonia
1 cup dish soap
Mix all ingredients together in a hose end sprayer, and spray over the
entire lawn.
I'll do it again in June.
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n8nxf
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response 80 of 172:
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May 18 12:05 UTC 1995 |
What's the coverage of the above formula?
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remmers
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response 81 of 172:
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May 18 15:36 UTC 1995 |
About 3000 sq. ft., I think.
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srw
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response 82 of 172:
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May 27 19:40 UTC 1995 |
The ammonia is the fertilizer. It's very fast acting in its liquid form.
As a result the lawn should grow very rapidly after this application.
Longer term, slower fertilizers are much more expensive, though.
The beer and listerine supply yeast and alcohol to break down the thatch.
The dish soap makes the ammonia penetrate more thoroughly, and cleans the
grass. The Epsom salts are for phosphorus.
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remmers
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response 83 of 172:
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May 27 20:47 UTC 1995 |
Thanks. Jerry Baker's book doesn't explain what any of the stuff is for.
And yep, the grass has been growing quite rapidly since Putt Day. I
need to mow it about every 3 days.
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srw
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response 84 of 172:
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May 30 01:37 UTC 1995 |
My wife is the expert who provided me with the details.
She says 3 days is about right for that stuff, especially with the rain.
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remmers
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response 85 of 172:
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May 30 17:20 UTC 1995 |
Only trouble is, the rain has prevented me from mowing on schedule, so
the grass is looking exceptionally shaggy. Maybe today.
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rcurl
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response 86 of 172:
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May 30 19:26 UTC 1995 |
I offered my daughter $0.05 per plant, with root, to dig dandelions from
our lawn. She earned $10 pretty quickly, but is making more now cat
sitting. I noticed in the paper that a group of kids in Detroit - calling
themselves the "Wacky Weeders" is charging $0.10/dandelion. I did not
bring this to my daughter's attention....maybe the lawn will get done when
the cat people move...
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remmers
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response 87 of 172:
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Jun 5 13:03 UTC 1996 |
It is now the spring of 1996 and time for my annual update to
this item. As much of the lawn had become weedy and/or thatchy,
with a number of bare spots, I did a bunch of heavy-duty raking
(with the help of my stepson) and overseeding in May. The results
are now beginning to show, especially in the front yard which
is shaping up pretty well.
So as not do overwhelm the new grass, I went easy on the
fertilizer; just a bit of activated sewage sludge (aka Milorganite)
so far.
Gave the front lawn the Grandma Putt treatment yesterday: beer,
ammonia, epsom salts, dish soap, and Listerine mixed together
and applied with a hose-end sprayer. A heady brew indeed.
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n8nxf
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response 88 of 172:
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Jun 5 14:15 UTC 1996 |
Gee, I figured that with so many years of Grandma Putt's treatment that
your lawn wouldn't have bare spots, weeds and thatch. I do just about
nothing to our lawn, except mow it, and I have pretty much the same
results. ;-)
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remmers
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response 89 of 172:
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Jun 6 11:26 UTC 1996 |
Hey, Grandma Putt is good for weeds too, unfortunately.
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denise
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response 90 of 172:
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Aug 18 21:07 UTC 1996 |
How's the lawn doing this summer, John?
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remmers
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response 91 of 172:
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Aug 20 10:30 UTC 1996 |
The front lawn is doing pretty well -- it's still nice and green
in August, and not weedy. (I've used no weed killer this year,
by the way.) It's taken some watering to keep it that way, but
not a huge amount.
The back would be okay if it weren't so heavily invested with
a noxious weed called "creeping charlie." Any advice on how to
get rid of it?
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n8nxf
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response 92 of 172:
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Aug 20 11:44 UTC 1996 |
Chemlawn or a bottle of Roundup.
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srw
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response 93 of 172:
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Aug 20 16:43 UTC 1996 |
Roundup kills everything.
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remmers
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response 94 of 172:
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Aug 21 12:42 UTC 1996 |
(Make that "infested", not "invested", in #91. Although the way
it moves in and takes over, investing in creeping charlie
futures might not be a bad idea.)
Yeah, I don't want to kill everything, just the bad stuff. It's
my experience that creeping charlie is pretty resistant to
standard weed killers. My next door neighbor, who's quite
knowledgable about botanical matters, says that it can be zapped
early in the spring by crabgrass killer. So next season I think
I'll try that.
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rcurl
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response 95 of 172:
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Aug 21 17:26 UTC 1996 |
Creeping charlie seems to make a pretty good groundcover, which is the purpose
of lawn flora. We like it.
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remmers
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response 96 of 172:
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Mar 21 01:00 UTC 1997 |
Now that it's officially spring, I should probably finish the
leaf raking that I never got to last fall. The problem is that
the back yard is covered with all these tree limbs downed by
last week's ice storm. What's a lawn care enthusiast to do?
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rcurl
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response 97 of 172:
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Mar 21 05:57 UTC 1997 |
Read a good book?
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n8nxf
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response 98 of 172:
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Mar 21 15:24 UTC 1997 |
Fire up the Stihl?
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rcurl
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response 99 of 172:
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Mar 21 21:18 UTC 1997 |
My Sven saw blad snapped cleaning up the tree debris on my ... lawn? ...,
so I had to order one. Sawed it and piled it up on Wednesday - now, need to
borrow a chipper to make mulch.
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