Lawn Prep

The only place I use weed killer in in my driveway since we have a gravel driveway..I go as organic as possible and I also use the dandelions, I don't see them as weeds, but a nutritional source of vitamins and minerals.. As for fertilizer, my dog does fertilize the back yard, but that is about it..(No, I don't use the dandelions there, in fact with the dog running around, there is no dandelions in the back.. )

Every year I have to throw out some more grass seed to fill in bare spots.. our maple trees like to kill off everything under them.. one year we did put down some lime to take away some of the acid.. but I don't think it made much difference! Maybe it did.. after we finally caught on to why so much grass was disappearing we thinned out some of the branches to let more sunlight through and have been seeding every year, and danged if it ain't almost all lawn again! We had gophers, for a little while til we got [1] our dog and [2] our cat, which was good because said dog.. old black lab is just too lay back to do anything about gophers anymore..

wow it is just so much trouble to keep a garden and lawn, I pay the man next door to weedwack mine and that is it. I think there is fleas in our yard because for the last three years my cats have all been infested with them. I am not letting my one remaining cat out anymore, and I think I finally got the fleas under control.

Well im just lucky my grass is still green lol. I did use some weed killer last year but it didnt do much good. My yard is hard in the back as it has mostly clovers and that creeping charlie stuff.

i have just moved to a new place. IT is a rental and the grass is sparse, but the weeds are doing great. My yard prep this year will consist of cleaning up the brush beside the house and around all the trees. I have already done quite a bit. Here is a photo of some I did today if it lets me post it. It was totally blocked by weeds, but as you can see, the road is now visable. I still have a long way to go.

Nope on both counts. Actually, Grandpa Bob, moles go after the earthworms in your lawn more than the grubs. I have no grub problem thanks to the nemotodes (sp) that do away with them naturally. But I must have a ton of earthworms in my lawn cause the moles are back again in full force. lol Caught one already in my trap. They have bait out for the moles/voles that look like earthworms. Just have to drop them down in the holes they make and that's it. They eat and die. Only fertilizer comes from the grass itself....the clippings I leave on my lawn. The mulching blade does a great job of cutting em up in fine pieces so you can't see the clippings.

I don’t have a lawn so no pesticides and insecticides for me. just responded coz I wanted to say how green the lawn is looking! Scrolling thru various discussions it just caught my eye and I just had to see it. It looks so soothing and I am sure it will shape up beautifully this summer. Be sure to post a pix of that.

I have a problem with fleas in the yard. Also fire ants at my old house that I rent out now. I was told to use Borax on the yard to control the fleas. I bought some yesterday and I'm going to spread it out over the yard. I have 4 dogs and I don't need them bringing fleas into the house.

My sig other sprays something on all the weeds-- and along the crick bed... I'm guessing it's some kind of weed killer ... We also fertilize the yard every Spring :) This year he rolled it already a couple of times - and then filled in some holes in the ground- I was running with the dog- and twisted my ankle and fell-- the ground was uneven- the next day he was out there filling in spots-- so he just put new grass seed down and will fertilize it- It's supposed to get Winter like again this week.

I don't think I even have real grass, only crabgrass. I've never used fertilizer or pesticides. I've got 2 1/2 acres, so even if I wanted to, it would be quite a job. I'm happy with the lawn I've got, dandelions and all. I'm pretty busy just cutting the grass. It seems like as soon as I'm finished cutting it, it rains, and then it's ready to cut again.

Hi GRANDPA BOB! Yes, we do use fertilizer and pesticides. I just don't know what is that kind of pesticide hubby is using for the vegetables. All I know is that it is very safe on the vegetables since it is organically formulated by a chemist/agriculturist friend of his. I guess, I have to trust hubby on that. haha..Just my thoughts. Take care and have a nice day!

hi grandpa bob my grandpa used to fertilize our lawns several times a year too. and the moles that was a big problem back in S.D. He used something called black forty and I have no idea what it was but it seemed to control bugs and stuff. we had two beautiful big lawns.of course we lived on a farm. I was so spoiled as kid as we always had tons of freshveggies as we grew all our own. we even had some sweet corn and watermelons and strawberries we sold to towns folk. NOw we pay so much for all these things wow. I love sweet corn and my enterologist says Iam not supposed to eat corn, darn. I have diverticulitis which usually doesnt bother a person but I had a session a year ago when something caused a small blood vessel in my colon to burst and it took them all these tests before they knew what was causing all my bleeding and kept me in the hospital for five days and all it was was eating the wrong foods like blackberries which I also love, peanuts and sweetcorn. thats no fair. oh I know they always say lifes not fair.lol

We don't use any chemicals on our lawn, because of our pets. Actually, we don't have much lawn - we live in the woods. Our rat terriers control the moles very well. If I need to add fertilizer then I'll spray on some fish emulsion. It stinks for a few hours, but it'll really green up the grass quickly. I also need to seed some bare spots that always seem to develop around the edges of the drivway. It seems the snowplow guy had his plow set too low and scraped up all the grass around the edges. In the garden I use compost tea for fertilizer. I'll soak a shovel full of compost in a 5 gallon bucket of water, then pour off the liquid onto my veggies. Then I'll toss the compost back into the pile. I read last night however that the soil temp at 4 inches is still only 34 degrees. It's probably much too soon to plant the veggies yet.