It was so sunny and warm this morning. I was putzing around doing a few things here and there, when I decided that I really should pull the trailer out, put it back together and go get some mulch.
You should have seen my face when I walked over to the guy in the machine. I had already parked in front of the big mulch pile a few minutes earlier, ran across the street to pay and I was on my way back. He looked at me, then looked at the trailer and then back at me. It was like he did a double-take. I had a huge grin and shouted, “Hey, look what I got!!!” This was the same guy who makes the mulch deliveries. He yelled out, “Good for you. You’re going to save a heck of a lot of money this way.” He’s on my side when it comes to delivery fees.
I did the math and I know this trailer will hold three yards of mulch if we put a little extra on top. I guess the fella operating the machine was in a good mood, because that’s what he gave me…a full three yards.
I was wondering how the sides were going to hold up. As I stood there watching him fill the trailer with mulch, I was expecting the sides to explode in the parking lot. If that happened, I suppose I would have just hung my head in shame and walked away. Good thing everything held up just fine; even better than fine. The walls were rock solid. Nothing more needs to be done to the trailer. Well, I wouldn’t mind one of those twisty jacks to hold the hitch off the ground when I unhook it from the car.
2008 BMW X5 pulling full utility trailer
John Deere X300 pulling full utility trailer
After he was finished filling the trailer up, I pulled the tarp over the material and strapped it down.
I was in for a little shock when I pulled out of the parking lot. I was so used to driving like nothing was even attached to the back of the vehicle when the trailer was empty. It was so light. When the trailer is full, it’s a different story. I am not sure how much a yard of mulch weighs, but I am guessing three yards is a pretty good weight. Let’s just say that I’ll be getting two yards from now on, because I think I may have been pushing it. Whenever I am towing anything, I have terrible visions of it rolling past me on the road. Everything drove just fine though and we made it back in one piece.
Since the weight on the front of the full trailer is pretty substantial, I wasn’t able to just lift the hitch off the car and rest it on the ground like I am able to do when it’s empty. I had to get a little creative. I walked in the back yard, grabbed two bricks and put them behind the wheels. Then, I grabbed my car jack and jacked the hitch off the car. After that was done, I drove the car away, backed the lawnmower up in its spot and lowered the trailer back down.
After stopping to let the lawnmower and trailer pose for a photo, I drove everything down to the backyard and started shoveling. Oh what fun that it. I am thinking that maybe once per week is good for this kind of entertainment. I need about six more yards before this little backyard project is complete.
Oh, by the way, those two boards standing up in the back corners are old 4″x4″s that I had laying around. I used them to seal off the corners where there was a gap in the sides. That stopped the mulch from falling out onto the road.
I know I am probably beating a dead horse here, but I wanted to post a few photos of today’s lawn dethatching.
Yesterday, I showed you some photos of dethatching the front lawn. Today, I am going to show you some photos of the back yard getting dethatched. I know, very exciting.
Actually, I dethatched the entire front area along the road as well as behind the house. That took a lot to do. This dethatcher works wonders. I pulled up so much dead grass, I couldn’t believe it. I am slowly learning about all the goodies the real guys use to make lawns look good. When I was riding the tractor, towing the dethatcher, the lawn looked like it was being rototilled because there was so much of a mess behind me. Believe it or not, this dethatcher really doesn’t mess with the good grass. That grass is really rooted in there. It just pulls up all the dead weeds and everything else that shouldn’t be there.
Here are some photos of dethatching the back yard.
Back yard after it was dethatched – photo 1
Back yard after it was dethatched – photo 2
Dead crabgrass pulled up by the dethatcher
Back yard after dethatched material was picked up by lawn mower rear bagger
Freshly dethatched and cleaned up lawn area – one of the worst areas – hardly any good grass
Sorry, I forgot to get the before shots.
If you look closely, you can see all the dead material on top of the grass. One time around the back yard basically filled up both rear bags on the mower. It’s crazy how much stuff came up. Take a look at the last photo. That area was totally covered with dead crabgrass, not it’s all cleaned up and ready for this season.
Come September, I am going to dethatch the lawn once more and then I’m going to aerate the heck out of it. After that, I am going to put down seed where it’s needed. Boy, they weren’t kidding when they said it takes a few years to get a nice lawn.
There are two lessons I have learned about shrubs that I would like to share with you.
1. Only plant Boxwood.
2. Only plant in the spring.
There you have it. Now, let me tell you what the heck I am talking about.
I know I have probably said this before and have trouble following my own advice, but I really mean it this time. I am only going to plant Boxwood from now on. No matter how “deer resistant” you think a shrub is, it probably isn’t. Everybody says that Holly is deer resistant. Guess what? It isn’t. Deer like to nibble on the ends of the branches. It drives me up a wall. I had to go out today to pick up some of that deer netting to put over the Holly bushes. As far as I know, Boxwood is the only shrub that’s deer resistant (well, besides Juniper), and I am going on personal experience here. I have never had a deer nibble on any boxwood shrub I have ever planted. Everything else…yeah.
The next lesson has to do with when to plant your shrubs. I have planted in both spring and fall, but spring planting works out much better, in my opinion. See, if you plant in the spring, the plant has time to grow and mature its sensitive little twigs that were over-fertilized by the nursery. All that new growth has time during the growing season to harden up. If you plant in the autumn, all that new growth dies. Period. It just does. Those nights in mid-January that offer us those wonderfully chilly sub-zero temperatures do a wonder on new shrubs. I have about six Boxwood shrubs sitting outside in the dirt right now with dead top halves. It’s pretty funny to look at. Top half brown, bottom half green. The good thing is that I expect these plants to take off this year and will most likely grown right through the dead areas.
Okay, since Home Depot had Boxwood shrubs in stock and it’s spring, I decided to grab a few today. Actually, I grabbed eight of them. I am going to plant three of them in that new mulch area next to the driveway and five of them in a row almost under the porch in the back yard. They are going to look really cool when they grow larger.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Green Velvet Boxwood is “a hybrid of Korean Boxwood (for hardiness and compactness) and Common Boxwood (for excellent leaf color in both summer and winter).” You can read the rest of the description here.
I think the first thing you need to do is to recognize that your lawn has crabgrass growing in it.
Sometimes, crabgrass isn’t all that obvious. Actually, if your lawn looks great during the hot summer months but not in the spring or fall, you might have a crabgrass problem. This type of weed loves the heat. While many types of cooler grasses go dormant and turn brown during July and August, crabgrass is thriving. It makes the guy who takes care of the lawn proud…until October rolls around.
The first tell-tale sign that your lawn has crabgrass is the noticing of big brown areas come autumn. While the rest of the real grass is growing nicely, the crabgrass is dying off. The only problem is that crabgrass is an annual plant. Later on in the season, the weed produces seeds that we unknowingly mow into and spread around our regular grass. That lays the foundation for problems the next year, and the next year…you get the picture.
So, what do you do? Well, you can either get on your hands and knees and pluck out every single crabgrass weed you find all season long. That would probably do it. Or, you can apply what they call a “Pre-emergent grassy and broadleaf weed control.” This the probably the preferred route to travel down. You can buy the stuff yourself or call a service to come to your house and apply it for you.
The weed control is pretty nifty stuff. It rests on the soil of your lawn as small pellets and dissolves as it’s watered in. Somehow (and don’t ask me how), this weed control stops the weed seeds from germinating. Stopping the weeds from growing in the first place sounds a heck of a lot better than pulling them out after the fact.
It’s funny – while walking around, I like looking at the different levels of lawn care in different neighborhoods. You can actually see distinct property lines of those who take care of their lawns vs. those who don’t. One lawn is green, while the lawn right next to it is brown and full of weeds. By weeds, I mean big brown areas caused by crabgrass.
My friends at Scotts Lawn in Hartford stopped by today to give the grass its first application of “Early spring and spring fertilization” which adds nutrients to improve lawn color and strengthens the root system of the grass. They also put down some “Pre-emergent grassy and broadleaf weed control” which controls weed problems, such as crabgrass and other annual grasses later in the year. Okay, obviously I got those descriptions from the card they left with me.
I was really happy to see the guy stop by today, because I was getting nervous that the crabgrass seeds would start germinating. I always worry about things like this. Add that to my worry list.
The fella who stopped by today was very nice. We talked for a bit about none other than grass and its care. Believe it or not, it’s one of my favorite topics. Well, I’ll talk about anything that has to do with lawn care or landscaping. They are both interesting. We both agreed that there were some areas that had a little crabgrass problem, but nothing that couldn’t be taken care of.
I told the tech that I think the lawn is already showing nice signs of improvement from what they put down last autumn. Of what grass has already started growing, it’s really green and soft. I just hope we can keep this trend going and get the whole lawn nice and green by autumn.
I thought I would show you some pictures of the fertilizer/weed control they put down as well as some areas that have been affected by crabgrass. Enjoy, because you won’t see these problem areas for long.
Fertilizer and crabgrass control pellets
Fertilizer and crabgrass control pellets on top of problem lawn
Spring lawn greening up – showing some brown areas affected by crabgrass – photo 1
Spring lawn greening up – showing some brown areas affected by crabgrass – photo 2
Spring lawn greening up – showing some brown areas affected by crabgrass – photo 3
Spring lawn greening up – showing some brown areas affected by crabgrass – photo 4
Okay, today is no doubt the nicest day of the year so far. It’s mid 60s and sunny. I can’t complain about that.
Yesterday, I had 15 yards of mulch delivered from the place down in East Hampton. I got it for $22 per yard, plus $8 for delivery (per yard). That’s $30 per yard for the cheapest stuff they had. Considering I paid $120 to have yesterday’s mulch delivered, I am considering getting a sweet little trailer. After all, I did have a trailer hitch installed on the new vehicle for a reason. What a treat it would be to drive down there and pick up mulch for $22 per yard. Either way, I got the 15 yards and still need about 5 more. I’ll have to think about this a little before I order the rest. I have a severe allergy to throwing money out the window for delivery.
The task was to mulch the small garden in the front, the stone wall garden in the front and the side garden that I just expanded. I didn’t think I was going to have enough for anything else.
It took about a half day to get those three areas done. When I was finished with them, I had about 4 yards of mulch left over. I decided to spread some around at the end of the driveway. When it rains, the runoff from the driveway erodes the ground there. It isn’t the prettiest thing. I figured that mulch was the answer. Also, I decided that I could tackle some of the back garden as well. I would say that I got about a third of that finished.
Hey look, I even took some before and after photos for you.
Pile of Witch Hazel mulch – 15 yards
Small garden in front before mulch covering
Small garden in front after mulch covering
Stone wall garden in front before mulch covering
Stone wall garden in front after mulch covering
Side garden before mulch covering
Side garden after mulch covering
Garden in back of house about a third of the way covered with mulch
Talk about weed control.
What I am trying to accomplish here is a nice base. I think that light yearly applications of mulch will keep the soil nice and black and the weeds down. If that happens, I will be happy.
Now, I need to order 5 more yards of mulch to finish up the back and then it’s off to get flower bulbs, plants and shrubs…and a hammock.
Remember when I told you I was transplanting the Daffodil bulbs from the area along the stone wall in the back yard to the area near the driveway? I told you I was doing this because the area was just too large for a garden and I would rather simply plant grass there instead.
Well, as it turns out, we are going to have a garden in the back after all.
Laura and I have been wrestling over the idea of a new flower/veggie garden for some time. I came up with a few ideas, but the look on Laura’s face told me to keep thinking. The problem with setting up a real fenced-in vegetable garden is spacing. We have a few good areas to do this, but trying to have a combination vegetable and flower garden is getting rather difficult.
Yesterday, we decided to limit the new garden to flowers and shrubs. For the veggies, we’ll think of something else. Laura has been talking about different varieties of bulbs and some sort of a garden trellis that we can grow vines all over. For these types of ideas, the only place available is the area along the rock wall in the back yard. I guess I am going to be ordering 30 yards of mulch, instead of 15. Gee, that’s going to make for some real fun after that delivery.
I spent some time yesterday edging the area for the mulch. I will probably make the order next week. Here are some pics of what I did yesterday…
Edged area in back yard for mulch in flower garden along stone wall
Edged area in back yard for mulch in flower garden along stone wall
Well, I think it’s almost here. Yeah, now that I said it, it’s probably going to snow next week.
What I’m talking about is Spring. If you’ve gone outside over the past few days, you might have gotten a tan. Sure, that may be exaggerating things a bit, but no one can deny sweating a little during a warm March day. I did and I don’t think I miss the sweat. I miss everything else, but definitely not the sweat.
When I woke up this morning, I looked out the window and thought it would be a great day to get a little yard work done. I know, I know, it’s a little early to start hitting the yard work, but you have to remember that I have been waiting about four months for this. If it’s over 50 degrees, I am going to be outside getting stuff done.
Today was the day that I dug up the sprouting Daffodil bulbs from the backyard and transplanted them to the new mulch bed. Well, the mulch hasn’t exactly arrived yet, so I guess I should just call it a dirt bed for now.
Digging up the clusters of Daffodil bulbs
Freshly dug up Daffodil bulbs – showing the roots
Another view of Daffodil bulbs and their roots
This is what a Daffodil bulb looks like when it’s sprouting in mid March in the northeast
Digging a new (or larger) mulch bed
A five gallon bucket of Daffodil bulbs
As you can see from the above photos, I decided to expand the mulch bed that I made last year. I got thinking about it and thought the old one was just too small. Also, I was sick and tired of mowing around that fruit tree. Now that the new mulch bed is dug, I could plant all sorts of stuff in there, starting with the Daffodil bulbs I dug up today. I am not a fan of small mulch beds. If you have a small mulch bed and don’t know what to do with it, give me a call and we’ll chat.
It took about a half hour to get all those Daffodil bulbs up and out of the dirt. When I first started, I dug up a big chunk of dirt and transplanted the whole thing, but as time went on, I thought it would be more efficient to grab a bucket and shake the dirt off the bulbs so they would fit inside. That way, I could just carry the bucket over when all the bulbs were dug up.
I got about five gallons worth of bulbs. I did manage to dig up a few Iris rhizomes while I was at it. Do you remember the last time I did this? If not, here, check it out. I like getting everything all dug up and put in their new spots.
You may be asking, “Jay, why are you doing this?” I would answer, “Friend, I am moving these bulbs over because I think grass would look nice up against the rear stone wall. Also, the whole area near the stone wall was full of weeds last year and I have learned that you can’t have a garden without mulch. The area in the back is way too large to cover with mulch.” How’s that? I guess I just like to consolidate.
I will tell you one thing that happened today. I got my hands all dirty. I have to say that I just love getting my hands filthy while gardening. It’s one of those things I suppose.
(Remember, if you click on a photo to view the larger version, you can click on it again to see an even larger version.)
I did the last big cleanup last week. The Oak leaves finally decided to fall so I had my work cut out for me. When the Oak leaves fall, the entire ground is basically covered. It’s much worse than when all the other leaves fall. Oak leaves are big and thick. They fill up the bagger very fast and have a tendency to clog the chute.
The way I got around the massive amounts of leaves clogging things up was to give the lawn a quick mow first. I lowered the cutting deck to 3 1/2 inches and ran over the grass a few times. This chopped up the leaves nice and fine. Then, I attached the bagger and went to town. Things still filled up fast, but I didn’t have to stop to dump nearly as often. Also, stopping the tractor to unclog the chute lessened as well.
The Scotts Lawn Service visits are over for this year as well. They came out 3 times, since I called them in October. The first time they came, they put down a slow-release fertilizer and a grub control. The second time they came out (just a few days ago), they put down a winterizer fertilizer. Yesterday, they came out and put down a dolomitic pelletized limestone. I have been waiting for this lime application because I think this is one of the major problems with the soil here. It will…
“…help balance the soil PH and contains calcium and magnesium for improved health of the grass plant.”
I got that from the invoice.
The grass actually is looking better already. I am impressed. There were a bunch of larger brown areas from all the junk grass dying from the cold, but those areas are now turning green. My little over-seeding episode that I performed a while ago helped, I’m sure. Oh yeah, I also aerated the lawn about a month ago too.
I am planning on the grass coming back with a vengeance in early Spring. The Scotts people said that I am most likely going to have to mow twice as much. That’s fine with me, now that I have the ride-on mower and the bagger. No more clumps of grass shooting out of the side making dead spots all over the place.
Ahhh, the life of a guy who thinks about grass way too much.
I made a vow a few years back. I vowed that I would never buy trees from Arbor Day again. Obviously, I didn’t have much luck with my first batch.
I think the problem with the last batch of trees was that I put them in planters over the Winter. They didn’t do well in them. The planters froze like big ice cubes and only one or two of the trees survived. Since then, I told myself that I was just going to buy the more established trees.
Well, as usual, I softened my stance on the subject. I thought about it a few days ago and decided to give another round a try. This time, I would plant the trees directly in their permanent homes right from the start. Since they ship the trees in the early part of November, the soil is still soft enough to get a shovel into.
Baby Blue Spruce
I became a member (again) at ArborDay.org. With membership, I got 10 free Blue Spruce trees. I then ordered 10 Norway Spruces. Yesterday, I received the Blue Spruces in the mail. I was pleasantly surprised at the health of them and immediately planted them along the edge of the lawn and the woods. Since the trees are less than a foot tall, I also put bamboo stakes next to each tree, so I don’t run them over with the mower.
I have yet to receive the Norway Spruces, but since I liked what I saw with the first batch, I decided to order 10 more Norway Spruces. That will be 20 in all. I am going to spread them in between the Blue Spruces towards the front and side of the property. In about 10 years, we should start to see some growth.
