The calm before the storm

A barred owl hoots outside the window as I sit here trying to plan my day for tomorrow... Yes, I'm taking the day off tomorrow to plant some grass seed! I am pretty excited about it actually. I love plants and especially watching them grow - it's a pretty amazing thing when you think about it.

Here's what our lawn looks like today:

The RoundUp sure did it's job well. Bye, bye tall fescue! Now, I need to fix the collateral damage...

This weekend I found out that Home Depot rents both aerators and power overseeders. I went to check them out, mostly to see if I was going to be able to get them in my car. It looked like I would be able to pull it off and the gentleman helping me seemed pretty confident as well. The cost, however, was a little more than I was expecting, which got me thinking that perhaps it might be more cost effective to hire someone to do it. So I made some calls and got two estimates. They were polar opposites on many levels.

The first estimate I got was from a guy I later found out was doing this kind of work as a side job and as I talked with him he actually shared with me that he learned what he knew by hiring 5 companies to work on his lawn and watching what they do... His suggestions were a little out there. First, he said that I shouldn't have killed the existing grass and that with overseeding, it would take over the undesirable grass over time. While I really highly doubt that, I'm open to the possibility. However, it's too late for that since I already killed it all, so that is no longer an option (and I probably wouldn't have gone for it even if it was). Then as we talked he suggested that I wait until mid-September to seed... Obviously, he's not familiar with the Purdue turf grass program publications, but I appreciated his suggestion anyway. When I told him that I'd like to do it now, he suggested I aerate it very aggressively - finally, we're on the same page. And then, this when I about lost it... he suggested I purchase a 50 lb bag of seed to seed it with! I couldn't believe my ears. He was standing right in our front lawn looking out upon the 1600 sq ft. of lawn - 50 lbs?! That comes out to over 31 lbs/1000 sq ft! The recommended rate for Kentucky bluegrass is 1.5 - 2 lbs/1000 sq ft... In the end he offered to aerate it for a very reasonable price, actually very close to the cost of renting it, but I wasn't too impressed with his expertise.

The second estimate I got was the complete opposite. I didn't get the chance to discuss it with them, but along with their estimate they provided a color print of a Purdue turf program publication. That right there was enough to give them much more credibility. Unfortunately, their estimate was extremely high. I may call to see if there is a particular reason for it being so high, just out of curiosity.

Anyway, ultimately, I ended up deciding to do it myself, and since I want to get moving on it ASAP and I wasn't going to be available this weekend, I decided to take a day off of work. I did the same thing last year... however, this year I'm expecting that I'll actually be done and planted in a day instead of working on it every evening until the sun goes down for a week after.

Oh, and if you hadn't noticed, I'm not planning on doing any tilling after all. I'm just going to aerate and then overseed with a power overseeder. Tilling it would cause a setback due to the time it takes for the soil to settle, and I did a little research on compaction (primarily this article) and found that perhaps our soil isn't as compacted as I thought - at least that's what I'm hoping for, anyway.

In any case, I'm going to give it a whirl and see what happens - "experimentation" at it's best! If there is green grass in the dead areas by the end of fall, I'll be a happy man!

Certainty no longer for use on cool season grasses

The Purdue Turf Tips blog had a post this week on Certainty herbicide. Monsanto, the company that makes it, recently changed the label removing uses on cool season grasses. This went into effect in May.

I purchased my bottle in April so it is the "old" version, but I noticed on my last application that the online label had changed. I had printed it out, but couldn't find the directions for Kentucky bluegrass or any cool season grass - the entire section was gone. So, I had to use the instructions that came with the box instead. I thought it strange.

Now, apparently, it's official. The questions and answers on the Purdue blog didn't answer my biggest question: why? And I wonder if it can still "unofficially" be used on cool season grasses? I did a little searching on their website, but couldn't find any additional information.

Since that is no longer an option, I guess that leaves Chlorsulfuron-based products such as Nufarm Corsair (previously owned by Riverdale?) as alternatives.

Seed is here

The seed for this years grass project has finally arrived. I placed an order from SeedSuperStore.com on August 3rd, so it took about a week to get here (they didn't ship it until the 9th, so they must be busy).

For the front yard I ordered a 5lbs bag their SS1000 Kentucky bluegrass mix which is an equal blend of Bewitched, Midnight, and Award Kentucky bluegrass varieties:

SeedSuperStrore.com SS1000 Kentucky bluegrass mix.

And for the backyard... in line with my crazy, experimental side, I opted for a 2 lb bag of Supina bluegrass:

SeedSuperStore.com Supina bluegrass

I considered buying this earlier this spring, but I'm glad I didn't since that project was a flop (my own fault). This time, I plan to do it more properly. I'll be interested to see what it's like. This type of grass is supposed to be shade tolerant as well as traffic tolerant (and with a dog that can be a useful trait) and is highly aggressive. If what I've read is true, this grass will eventually take over the other grasses in the yard (which is fine by me assuming it's pleasant grass). I've also read that it's more water needy and won't do well in dry conditions without irrigation. Sounds like a fun experiment to me!

Caring for turf in times of heat and drought

This post will be a summary of some recent heat/drought-related posts off the always informative Purdue University Turf Tips site. I don't want to forget this great information.

The first post is titled The Heat is On!. This post gives some great information about keeping your lawn healthy in times of heat and drought like we've had this year (and also last year) in central Indiana. Here's my takeaway points:

• Temps above 87 degrees will cause cool season grasses to stop growing (due to photorespiration which occurs instead of photosynthesis)
• Lack of water can cause some grasses to go dormant such as Kentucky bluegrass (but not tall fescue!)
• When in drought, any traffic on the grass can cause damage to the plants, so don't mow and stay off the grass as much as possible
• You can keep grass green through drought by watering about 1 inch per week
• To keep grass alive during drought, water with 1/2 inch of water every 2-4 weeks
• Irrigating in the morning is best

The second post is titled Turf: Dead or Alive? and provides information on how to determine if grass is still alive after a dry period has ended and there has been some rain that has otherwise greened up the lawn. If brown grass still remains in some places, don't despair because it might still be alive. To tell, pull up some of the dead blades and look underneath for new growth. If new blades are coming up, the grass will likely recover. I have noticed a few areas of our lawn that is still quite brown despite the rest of the lawn greening up after our recent rains and I've wondered if it is dead (even though I watered occasionally throughout the drought). I checked and there are a few blades of green that have and are come up, so I guess we'll see if it recovers!

And finally, another great resource related to irrigation is the Irrigation Practices for Homelawns (AY-7) publication (also by Purdue). Some takeaways from this publication:

• Overwatering can potentially cause just as much if not more damage than underwatering (resulting in increased crabgrass, increased disease, shallow rooting, and a waste of water)
• Water when the first visible signs of stress appear
• First signs of stress include a blueish-green color, and when footprints remain after walking on it (and later the grass will wilt and turn a grayish-green color, before turning brown and dying/going dormant)
• Water only when it's needed instead of a regular set schedule
• Most Indiana lawns need about 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week
• It's best to water all at once so that the water reaches the deepest roots
• To measure the amount of water applied, put a dish out and water for a set amount of time to calculate the rate
• The ideal time to water is 4-8am
• Dormant grass can survive up to 4-6 weeks without water
• Water 1 to 1.5 inches ever 4-6 in drought conditions (this conflicts with info above, so I'm not sure which is correct)

These posts and publications have been extremely useful to me and I'm very grateful for the information that Purdue has and continues to publish!

The Grass Project III: The rest

I have been known to do some [unscientific] gardening experiments in my day. My approach to the experiments are simple: try it and see what happens. And also: if it fails, try something else. Well, here I am for some more fun. You just can't predict what I'm going to do next.

The Front Yard

My first foray into "lawn improvement" was definitely unconventional and experimental, littered with mistakes and shortcuts, but if you take a look at the lawn today, it's much improved and I'm fairly satisfied. I would call that a success in my book. However, the road to get there was rather long and difficult and I wouldn't prefer to do that over again. The problem I have to deal with now is that that project only replaced a portion of our front lawn leaving the rest in stark contrast. I tried to address the primary problem with the remaining grass (tall fescue) this spring and early summer with Certainty herbicide, but this didn't completely remedy the problem (although it was still a big improvement). And as mentioned, I have pulled quite a bit of the remaining tall fescue by hand. I'd say now that perhaps 1/5 of the lawn remains with a high population of tall fescue. Here is how the front lawn is looking as of yesterday (after a fresh mowing followed by bit of rain):

Other side of the driveway

The kentucky bluegrass is starting to green back up after going dormant during the heat wave (including 23 days in a row of 90+ degrees) since we've finally had some rain and the temps have cooled down.

Here's an image showing the three different "zones":

Green = new grass planted last fall
Orange = old grass w/remaining tall fescue pulled by hand
Red = old grass with remaining tall fescue

Other side of the driveway

And now my plan for each area...

The Green Zone...
This is the area I tore up last year and reseeded. This grass is doing fairly well and should hopefully recover from the heat and drought conditions we've had since the end of June. This area I merely plan to aerate and overseed.

The Orange Zone...
This is the original grass now mostly tall fescue free. There is some remaining undesirable grass, but I should be able to manage it by pulling or perhaps another round of Certainty if it comes to that. This grass is much more thinned out than the green zone and even has some completely grass-less patches. I plan on aerating this zone as well and perhaps tilling the soil a bit of more bare areas.

The Red Zone...
This is the bad zone - the areas that still have a fairly high population of undesirable grass, as well as being thin and patchy. There isn't much kentucky bluegrass to be found here. I plan to essentially reseed these areas with the first step being killing the existing grass, which I started this afternoon by spraying with Roundup. The next step is either aerate the living crap out of those areas or... till it all up. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm starting to think that this is the way to go for these areas. The main reasons are:

1. Since this area will be mostly dead, I don't know if aerating will be enough. The Purdue guide says that aerating is only really an option when the soil isn't compacted and although I don't exactly know how to tell that, I would be surprised if it wasn't.
2. Last year I didn't do the first step of killing the grass, so I had to sift through it all and pull it out which is what took FOREVER; this time I'd just leave the dead grass in.
3. Last year I started out manually tilling by hand before finally renting a power tiller; this time I'd start out with the power tiller.

However, one con with this that after tilling the soil is supposed to be allowed to settle for a week or two with rain or irrigation - this adds time and I'm already getting behind...

So, what to do? I don't know. As usual, I'll play it by ear and keep you guessing. Of course, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. For now, I'll see how long it takes for the Roundup to kick in.

The Backyard

First of all, why is "front yard" two words, but "backyard" one?? That bugs me a bit. But what also bugs me is our backyard, literally. Earlier this spring, I tried planting some shade tolerant seed, and well, it flopped. It was "experimental" in that I didn't follow the suggested seeding guide very well. I didn't do much soil preparation other than some raking of the very top surface and I think this was the primary culprit. What happened is that early on before germination some very heavy rain occurred and since the soil under the thin layer of raking was more compacted, this allowed the seeds to be washed away or moved due to puddling. In addition, this compaction may have made it difficult for the seeds to grow deeper into the soil (of course, please keep in mind that I just said above that I don't know how to tell if it's compacted, so take all of this with a grain of salt). Furthermore, there are other struggles back there such as competition with the trees, both for light and water. And, the hot and dry weather that we've had likely only exacerbated the other problems.

Here's how it's looking as of yesterday:

Unfortunately, it really doesn't look much different from before I planted the new seed. So... naturally I'll be trying again. I think this time I'll try aerating with perhaps some additional soil preparation in the more bare areas. Also, I'll be trimming back the tress to let as much light in as possible.

Seed for both the front and backyard is in route. I'll have a post on that soon.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' planted

Today I made a one-stop shop to Lowes and found that they had Sedum 'Autumn Joy' for $3.50 a piece. Fortunately they had quite a few to choose from so I purchased seven of them. Then I planted them (go figure):

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' tags

I look forward to seeing them bloom! They'll also add winter interest if I leave the flower heads on, which I plan on trying.

A Self-Explanatory Guest Post

I think these photos speak for themselves. Can I just say...this was the best tomato I've ever eaten? P and I picked it together (very ceremoniously), and I made a still-sun-warmed tomato sandwich for dinner, while P nibbled on a plain slice. 

As for the lettuce, it's still baking in the heat, preparing itself for a delicious salad later on down the road.