Lawns

[F, Calla & Luca]

Spring has sprung and so has the lawn. Last fall I seeded bare patches with a tall fescue blend. Actually I seeded nearly all of the growing season since we had so much rain. The fall before I had someone slit seed for me but the machine didn't work well and it was patchy at best, Between doodles and things the yard takes a beating.

I do not have sprinklers and never irrigate my side field so we are dependent on nature. I also use no herbicides or pesticides for my, the doodles' and the earth's well being. I did buy milky spore disease, which is toxic only to the Japanese beetle grubs, and I will sprinkle that around soon since I haven't done it in many years and something appears to be digging for grubs.

I had seeded patches again about two weeks ago and wanted to give the seed some time to settle in. The older fescue patches looked gorgeous but like small hillocks, lush and dark green. The weeds were taking over. The doodles had decorated with chewed sticks. It rained yesterday, but this afternoon was dry, so I decided to mow. I posted some good guidelines for mowing on the main page. Here they are:

"Mowing grass too short causes stress, discourages deep  root growth, and results in rapid loss of soil moisture. Letting grass grow too tall causes excess grass clippings that can smother the turf. Raise the mowing height during the hot and dry season. A higher setting reduces moisture loss and encourages deep root growth.

Keep your mower blades sharp and clean, and mow when the grass is dry. Mow over leaves so they will decompose along with grass clippings. Collect leaves and grass clippings for mulching or composting if they are too heavy or wet for grass-cycling.

We recommend mowing your lawn at a height of 3-4" high during the Spring / Summer.

Last cut in the Fall should be 2 1/2" high.

Optimal watering times is between 3am to 10am. Secondary would be at 4pm to 6:30pm."

The lawn is now mowed into submission  : ) It took longer than usual because some areas needed to be mowed in more than one direction. The hillocks are lower and I predict they'll mostly blend in soon. This is a lawn that never has clippings picked up, grass and leaves, and I have lots of leaves, are all mulched by the mower into the lawn. This method is not for those who want perfect Kentucky Blue grass lawns. But it works well for me in the northeast and it is earth friendly. Other observations are that you never find all the balls and yes, there is always one pile of missed poop : ( But you do get a lot of thinking done when mowing.

Before:

After:

And then I have time for the flowers.

[L.M.]

Your lawn already looks great!! We have fescue also (sod from last year) and we are going to seed within the next week or two.  Right now, ours looks just like your before pictures, with the dark green new patches and the few bare spots.  One question for you.....does fescue go dormant during the winter?? Ours was pretty brown (I FREAKED out thinking it died...we just had the sod and sprinklers done last year) but it is greening up a lot now.  Is that the norm for you as well?  

[F, Calla & Luca]

There is some browning but this winter the lawn pretty much stayed greenish since we had almost no snow. All lawns are dormant during the winter but they are not dead. The only grass I know of around here that is really unsightly during the winter is Zoysia. I really dislike it since it goes brown early in the fall and takes forever to green up.

Here is March 12th before it started growing.

[L.M.]

This picture makes me feel better because this is what our fescue looks like...we just started turning on our sprinklers every other day and it is still greening up a bit more each day.  BTW we just got Seamus and Stella one of those big balls to play with.....Seamus popped it within 2 days  ;)  

[F, Calla & Luca]

I haven't tried to fix our big ball yet but I'm planning to.

It is really better to water deeply once a week than every other day. About an inch a week, you can measure in a coffee can or something till you get the timing right, encourages deep roots and is better for the grass. Most of my lawn, all of it pictured here has to rely on mother nature.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

It's only April and your lawn already looks great.

I am in awe of your flowers....can't wait to watch them grow.

I am sowing a special someones seed, I am praying they work.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Everything is at least 2 weeks early here, maybe more. I haven't started any of the annual seeds from this group and some morning glories I bought. I always have some morning glories that come on their own from seed. I also bought an elephant's ear, never tried one and some freesia, which I love. Oh, and caladiums.  I better stay out of the stores . I have a batch of perennials coming in a couple of weeks too : (

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Oh what I would give for all this green space! I would imagine with the little yard I can afford when I buy a house, it's going to be nothing but dirt in no time. Any tips on keeping a little yard nice with doodles around?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Tough grass. Here tall fescue is my answer but you have to check out what's best in your area. Keep seeding and pray : ) Happy doodles are more important than grass. If you could train the to pee and poop in one area that would be great too. We have not managed this : )

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

great tips. Thanks!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Sherri, Daisy poops in one spot and pees in another. It's easy, we just walked her to one spot (on leash) and said go pee pee...and another to go poop! She now goes to those places off leash. I think you could do the same with your two as long as you start them on a leash first. If you ever let them just go in their new fenced back yard without doing that all bets are off - ha ha

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

F, What if instead of a lawn, the yard had this? Is this doodle friendly?

 

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

It's not people friendly IMHO. I'd also wonder about doodles running on that ?gravel.