Pre-emergent

I applied pre-emergent today. This is the last our efforts for this year. I'll probably apply pre-emergent again in the spring when we return. The lawn looks so much better with lots of new grass. I have great expectations for next year.

Thanksgiving has come and gone

Boy, this was a tough fall. Leaves were abundant and the work was MASSIVE. The lawn looks better than it has in a long time. Our hopes are great but we also know the time is nearing for us to leave for the winter, probably in late December as soon as we can after Christmas. We're still running the irrigation system but the weather is getting cold so we'll turn it off in the next day or two.

The lawn got it's December feeding today with Scott's Winter Guard fertilized. I'll plan to put some pre-emergent before we leave for the winter. I've found that using a pre-emergent at least a couple of times each year really makes a difference, particularly with crab grass and lespadeza both of which are very aggressive and impossible to rid the yard of once it starts.

November Fun!

This is tough work but somebodies got to do it. With a property filled with lots of trees, fall brings an abundance of fun only if your idea of fun is removing all the leaves that fall from the trees this time of the year. We have the good fortune of having every kind of equipment imaginable to make the job easier but any way you slice it, it's still lots of work. I'll try to get some pictures to include in another post showing the mowers, blowers, vacuums etc. that I use.

Most years the leaves have fallen by Thanksgiving but things seem a bit late this year. We'll see.

October 2007 Maintence

Virginia's extension service recommends a fall program for lawn maintenance they call SOD. SOD stands for September, October, December. Basically the idea is to fertilize three times during the fall to promote root growth during the dormant winter months. They recommend a 5-10-10 fertilizer. Having tried all kinds of fertilizers through the years, I've concluded that there really is a difference. While Scott's is more expensive, it works. Maybe Scotts has brainwashed me with their advertising, emails etc. I think I'm almost a believer. I may also use Lesco products believing that they too are "professional" grade.

I used a Scotts for new lawn product when I planted Scotts grass seed in September. Boy, things are looking up. Lots of new grass. Now, If I can just keep things moving in the current direction, the lawn will recover from the killing drought we've had this year.

Today, I've taken the second step in SOD. After mowing, I applied Scotts turf builder. The irrigation system is still running but only once a day in the early morning.

The Beginning

At the risk of being philosophical, everything has to begin somewhere. The beginning of this blog is the fall of 2007.


Summer was hot and dry. The lawn is in terrible shape. Water restrictions have been in place for months and it shows. Things are so bad, I hardly know where to start. So........ what I decided was to see what kind of results I can get by applying conventional wisdom. Mow the lawn (weeds) short, do a heavy over seeding, fertilize and then add plenty of water. We have an irrigation system so I set it up to run twice a day, once about 4:30 am and again at 4:00 pm. The idea is to keep the seed moist and hopefully improve germination.

We'll see later what the results are.