Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
I think it’s finally finished.
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.
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Sunday, October 19th, 2008
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, lawn aeration was on my list of things to do. I think I mentioned that I was going to purchase a plug aerator next Autumn. Well, as with many things I say I am going to do in the future, this got done a little faster than expected.
The reason I couldn’t help myself was the great deal I got on the aerator. I checked a few places online and kept coming up with the same price everywhere. Then, I found the same aerator that everyone else was selling, over at Ace Hardware for less than half the price. I called the local Ace and had them order it for me. The guy told me the reason for the cheap price was that the warehouse was discontinuing them.
I was a little surprised when the hardware guy rolled the aerator out in a box. I wasn’t aware that I was going to have to assemble the thing. I mean, how many parts could there actually be?
Lawn plug aerator parts
It doesn’t look like too many parts, but all the small ones are in the small boxes. It took about an hour and a half to put together. This was one of those projects where, if I didn’t have the instructions, I would still be working on it. It wasn’t a difficult job, just methodical.
Lawn plug aerator
The unit looks very good when it’s all together. I was pretty excited to hook it up to the tractor, because I like attachments. I also wanted to see all those little plugs of dirt get spit out by this little contraption.
John Deere X300 and a tow behind lawn plug aerator
In order for the machine to operate correctly, it needs some weight on top of it. I used about 10 one foot by one foot pavers and some bungee cords for this.
The aerator works great, but is a little clunky when in action. I didn’t expect the bounciness of it. I guess that is the way it has to be…it’s riding on 24 tines, getting thrown all over the place. It made a whole heck of a lot of holes about 2 1/2 inches deep. You can’t really see the plugs because the grass is not that short. If I cut it short, you would see them.
Next up, lime treatment and winterizer fertilizer.
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Monday, October 13th, 2008
A few days ago, I gave up. I admitted to myself that my patchwork ideas and techniques were no match for this large semi-terrible lawn. Sure, it was beautiful during the Summer, but now its true self is showing.
Ever since it started getting chilly outside, parts of the grass have been turning brown. I know it’s normal for grass to turn brown, but not so early in Autumn. I looked up a few things online and discovered that there were some issues with the lawn. Then, I called Scotts Lawn Service. You know the company…they are the ones that make all the stuff you see on the shelves at Home Depot and Lowe’s. I know, I didn’t know they had a lawn service either.
The guy came out and checked the place over. He gave me a write up of what they would do and how much it would cost. I asked him if this would make the lawn green and thick. He gave a slight chuckle and said “yes.”
Scotts Lawn Service
That’s all I want, a nice healthy, green, thick lawn. I don’t want to see bare spots, moss, brown spots or weeds. They seem to have the cure for this.
They came out today for the first application. They put down some fertilizer and grub control. During the next visit, they are going to put down some lime and a winterizer fertilizer. He said this is to establish good roots and an early green up in Spring. That’s all for this year.
Next season, starting in the early Spring, they are going to come back out and put down some weed control. That should get rid of the brown parts of the lawn, because that is what’s dying right now, causing all the brown areas. Throughout the season, they are going to fertilize, lime, kill grubs, aerate and reseed. By next Autumn, I think the lawn should be ready for a magazine. Well, that’s my hope anyway.
You know, the funny thing is that I think I am actually saving money by having someone else do this. I priced out 11,000 square feet of fertilizer today at Home Depot and it was about twice as expensive as what they charged me for that part of today’s service. Same for the grub control. Strange.
One thing I am going to do myself if aerate. John Deere sells a tow-behind aerator that I am going to get. This should pay for itself in one and a half visits of what they charge.
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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
Man, I need some sleep. As you may recall, yesterday I mentioned that I set up a new web store with tons and tons of items. Well, last night and today, I completed 4 more sister stores. They compliment my classified sites. Their addresses are:
MyAutoMarket.US
MyPetMarket.US
MyCycleMarket.US
MyBoatMarket.US
This makes twelve websites that comprise the DotUSNetwork. I think I need a break.
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