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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 172 responses total. |
remmers
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response 87 of 172:
| 
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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
rcurl
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response 95 of 172:
|
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:
|
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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n8nxf
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response 100 of 172:
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Mar 21 22:16 UTC 1997 |
I once rented one several years ago. Had to tune up the engine and
sharpen the chipper blade before it would do any useful work though.
That done, I worked that machine (and me) *hard* for an entire day.
|
srw
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response 101 of 172:
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May 3 05:07 UTC 1997 |
Back in March, I used my chainsaw to clear a lot of the debris in Eberwhite
Woods, which abuts my property.
In the recent big blow we had, another huge tree went over. This one is too
big for my small chainsaw, but fortunately it fell mostly in the creek. I
still need to get the chainsaw out to clear the branches off the path. At
least they are small enough.
But this is the lawn care item. Our lawnmower kicked the bucket, so we bought
a new one. With the new safety compliance requirements, we decided to spend
the extra money to get a blade-brake-clutch system, which is more money, but
much more convenient. Steffi used it for the first time just this week. I
always let her do the lawn. No fertilizer for us yet. How is Doctor Straight
doing?
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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?
|
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.
|
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.
|
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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