Weekend Yard Work

This weekend was fun packed full of yard work. We went to the farmers market on saturday to get some plants, herb, and vegetables. Note to self: Go at 8 am and not at 11 am when it is a holiday weekend. 2nd note to self: Go to an atm NOT at the farmers market prior to going there. I spent 30 minutes waiting in line like a cow going to the slaughter house at high noon.

We ended up getting some italian basil, tyme, dill, oregano, and rosemary for spices and tomatoe plants. As for plants we got some geraniums, verbanas,
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/geranium.htm

We planted some red and purple verbena in between our green ground cover and holly bush in the front to give it some colore:
http://www.gardenguides.com/plants/info/flowers/annuals/verbena.asp

I started my herb garden this weekend also. I planted 2 better boy tomatoe plants outside in the back area where there is direct sun. I ended up having to go to lowes to get some cow manure and some scott's garden soil. I then decided to put the basil, oregano, dill in seperate 12 inch containers on the deck for easier access.

The grass is definately getting beaten down by heat. I am contemplating giving up and throwing in the towel for now. I have prayed to the rain gods...but i am a sinner....and they are not listening.

Heat Stress near the street

This morning I noticed that the grass that is along the edge of the street is starting to stress from the heat more than the rest of the yard. I am going to have to take special care to water this area more often than the rest of the yard. Just another pain in the ass that I thought I would share.

Online Tree Identifier

After our walk today I wondered if there was a good tree identification site that would ask you a series of questions to identify a tree. This one from the Arbor Society does a pretty good job- though I think the interface could be a lot better- like a billion little pictures of trees in a species hierarchy that gradually narrows as you answer the questions or something would be cooler. But it still gets the the info.
There's also this one for Iowa that does have pictures, but seems kinda weak:


As a side note I saw this little links page for lots of different sites i didn't have time to explore.

Nature Walk

I think that we need to make a repeating meeting to take some time out from our busy schedules and take in the abundant and wonderful natural resources that surround Gateway Center.

Plant Database

Thought you might find this interesting.

http://plants.usda.gov/gallery.html

Brown Patch Part 2

I think the source of my Brown Patch might be my neighbor's yard. When I was spray the fungicide, I saw that his yard has some brown patch too. I also seem to remember that he had a real problem with Brown Patch last year. Although I must admit his yard looks pretty good considering that the fungus can destroy an entire yard.

I think that in a couple of weeks, if I do see an vast improvement in the brown patch I might pay scotts to come out and treat it. We will have to see.

Brown Patch

As we all know, I have Scotts Lawn service providing some fertilization and weed supression products to my yard. In the past I have found that instead of preventing weeds, disease, and attacks of various bugs and larva, I was reacting to it after it has decimated my yard. Now, I am told what is eating away at my yard and I can either pay them to treat it or I can head out to lowes and buy myself of product.

So, now that we have some background, my Scott's people told me that my yard had brown patch and that it was aggressively spreading. I opted to look in my garage to see if I had any Fungicide. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had 2 bottles of Green Light Systemic Fungicide. This is the type that hooks up to the hose and you spray it out on the yard. We will have to see how it goes.

Skip Laurel

I thought I would post a note. I have several different types of plants as foundation plants in planting beds along the front of my house. However this post will be to discuss the incredible growth of the Skip Laurel (aka: Schipkaensis or Schipka Laurel). I hope to have some pictures to post later this week.

Apparently, Skip Laurel is a very common foundation plant as it is an evergreen and very hardy. It tolerates full sun as well as moderate shade. It can also be heavily pruned in order to maintain a certain size/shape. Right now, my shit is growing out of control and no pruning has taken place. El Natural.

The other plants in the bed are Dwarf Magnolia trees and also some other type of plant that I forget the name of. I will need to either do some research or perhaps leverage the vast knowledge base of the Grassmaster. More to come.

Random Pictures - StatoLewis Household

So any ideas what this is??


A gift from my mom (planted succulents in the "shoes")



Daisies in the middle, red annuals (anyone have a guess?)
on either side.



Crazy pot with perineals on the top, purple annuals (guesses?)
in the middle holes, and some thai basil to the right.

mom visits - yard work continues...

My mom and I replaced the pansies we had in 2 pots and a copper container yesterday. Limbed up two trees above the hosta/hydrangea bed in the front yard...looks much better. Also put flowers in an urn and filled out another planter. I will take pics and post this weekend.

Jerusalem Sage

I planted this in the early spring and wasn't sure exactly what I would get. Leaves are soft and it has some kooky yellow flowers. When i bought it I think they said it is supposed to be evergreen, but i'm not sure.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/519/index.html

Canna Lily - New Development!

As of yesterday, we have another seed that has germinated! That makes 3 so far. The original seed is also growing a second leaf. Here's a link to read more:

http://www.nature-and-flower-pictures.com/canna-lily.html

-- Grassmaster Jr.

Romanesco!!!

fractal cauliflower we are growing

stardate 86957830585 - grassmaster reports

shalot has yet to flower, grass continues to flourish, cauliflower is young but growing.