Game Plan

I need some help coming up with my fall game plan.

Front Yard
Last year my front lawn looked like the middle photo. In October I tilled the whole thing and planted with something called Shady Nook (fescue blend). It has come in pretty well for year one (see top pic). There are a few things I need to fix in the front. The ground is some spots is a little rocky. Just pebbles. There are also some low spots. I am going to fix this by top dressing the bad and low areas with about an inch of some good soil I have. As for the grass seed. I got more sun than I originally thought and definitely under seeded. I will probably use some fescue blend again. The biggest issue is that I was impatient when I tilled and didn't spend enough time leveling out the yard. Now it dips and waves here and there. I had heard you can totally soak the lawn and then roll it to level it out. I am a little suspicious of this method thinking you would have to have a very heavy roller. The earth

is not that compact so who knows. Maybe it will work. I have no idea if I need to thatch it or aerate it.

Backyard
The backyard is pretty bad off (bottom pic). We removed about 5 trees last year so light is getting in there. I don't think there was ever any grass there or if there was it was about 5 years ago. The foreground has a lot of clay but I planted a ton of clover that has greatly helped the soil. Back behind that row of yellowbells in the center is mostly good earth. However there are a bunch of weeds, vines, moss and oak tree sapling that like to sprout up. On the far right is all pea gravel (it was were the guy parked his boat) and only weeds grow there. My plan is to bring in a bunch of dirt and till it into clay area. In front of the fence all the way around the back is going to be beds so the grass footprint is not that great. I will then level it out real nice and the put down seed. In the winter I'm going to nuke everything (lawn, pea gravel and the beds) with pre-emergent.

Am I missing anything here? I am on the three to four year plan on having decent grass so I don't need everything perfect straight out of the gate. Every day I walk into the backyard I cannot wait for fall when I can go crazy.

Coleus - Summer 2007

Crazy Coleus in planter

Front Bed, Avocado, and Others - Summer 2007

Front Bed



Closeup of Hyndrangea



Avocado!



New Lillies that just bloomed

Canna Lilly and Others - Summer 2007

Canna Lilly



Hollyhock and unknown plant (on right)



Closeup of unknown plant



Evening Primrose

Swing like you mean it!

Yo Ho! That is what Rainey is yelling in this picture. "Yo Ho" is what the lumberjacks say to each other when they meet in the woods. (He learned that that Fred Scheer's Lumberjack Show in Wisconsin as few weeks back). Unfortunately, it wasn't a lumberjack that took this big guy down. If it had been they would have at least cleaned up the mess. According to my neighbor who works for the weather bureau is was a small windsheer. Fortunately it didn't hurt the house of the fence but somewhere under there is the 6 foot tall absolutely, fuckin' perfect crepe myrtle that I spent three months looking for. Obliterated. You can see the truck of the pine tree on the right side of the pic. That is where we hang our hammock so we are not sure where to put that end now. I recommended to Cindy that we cap the truck at about 10 feet and chainsaw a replica of me standing with my hands on my hips. Can you guess where I wanted to attach the hammock? Yeah baby!

Random Pics - Summer 2007

Lillies in the front yard



Pot next to the front door

Mosquitoes

If you look at my backyard, you don't see any yard. That's because it's completely overgrown with random bushes, runaway ivy and weeds. We're looking into doing something about it...More on that another time. One of the issues we have with the backyard jungle is a thriving mosquito population, especially 2-3 days after it rains. It just takes a few minutes out back to get eaten alive. I think bringing back the "yard" in the backyard will help.

Surfing tonight, I came across this really interesting post titled "Five Plants That Repel Mosquitoes". I have a potted rosemary plant already, so I'm thinking that might make it into our backyard plans. The other one that I thought could be an option is catnip.

Thoughts?

I hate grubs

It is almost time to kill the grubs that are living in your yard eating the roots of your grass, the little f*ckers. I hate em. Now you might want to use an environmentally friendly solution, but I prefer the Triazicide.

Bermuda?

so I'm thinking about killing all the grass that's down at the street this fall/winter and seeding bermuda in the spring. It's currently a mix of fescue and crabgrass. It easily gets 6-8 hours of intense sun a day and is surrounded by concrete on all sides. Thoughts?

Long time reader, first time poster

Gentlemen, thank you for the invite to the prestigious Hortikulture blog. It's truly an honor.

Anyways, this past Saturday morning on 680 WPTF AM I heard the weekly radio show, "The Weekend Gardener". It's hosted by Mike Raley and he has this gardening calendar that I thought all of you would appreciate.

My next project

I think I found what the next plant I grow in the office is going to be.

Grass is burning.

I am fighting the good fight, but I am losing the battle.
My grass is burning up with the high temperatures and little rain.