Lawn Care

Summer is Winding Down–What Should Gardeners Be Doing?

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Last week I posted a photo about the quality of light that told me that the seasons were changing. I also had a photo of a type of spider that appears this time of year in my garden (at least in a size when its big enough for me to notice).

Since seasons are changing in the northern hemisphere, what should gardeners be doing?

Certain lucky gardeners can plant whole second gardens of course. And if I were organized enough, I could get in a second crop of faster growing things like leaf lettuces and radishes and perhaps even peas if I had started then a bit earlier. But honestly, between the drought this summer and the poor critters that have been coming to the gardens to get at the produce because there’s no other sources for moisture, I really don’t have much desire to plant anything else as a “salad” crop for critters.

If this has not been your problem, by all means, plant a second crop of edibles!

One thing that should be done this time of year–even for those of us in drought stricken areas unless there is a watering ban–is to renovate the lawn. But please, folks, once again, let’s do this sensibly.

I noticed that one of my neighbors–the one that has been having a lawn company pesticide the heck out of their lawn literally every single week all summer long–finally had some core aeration done. Any wonder why that was necessary? This is the same neighbor that “tried” organic care last year but then said that the lawn looked terrible. I hate to tell you what it looks like this year. It’s completely fried from all those chemicals in a drought. But no one’s asking my advice.

If someone were, I would say the core aeration is a great place to start. A little layer of compost might be next.  Ditch the pesticides and don’t fertilize–not in this drought! Lawn renovation might have to wait. But compost and aeration will never do any harm.

If you haven’t gotten around to ordering bulbs, you probably should. Even where I live, it’s still too warm to plant. But you definitely want to reserve them so that you get your choice. The growers won’t ship until it’s the appropriate time to plant anyway. And bulbs are remarkably forgiving.

Finally, get out to your garden centers. Anything that is left over is going to be on sale at a nice discount. And they most likely will have brought in some great new fresh stock for fall planting too. While that may not be discounted, you might see just the thing (beyond mums, cabbages and pumpkins) to liven up the yard for years to come. Just remember that you will need to water it if nature is not helping you.

So what are you waiting for? Fall has some of the best gardening weather around. Go out, enjoy, and get planting!

Our Latest Eco-Friendly Mower

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20160525_164847This is the Spoiler’s newest toy. We’ve been mowing with battery operated mowers for decades–no mean feat when your yard is just about an acre and probably half of that is devoted to grass.  Our neighbors to the north and south use lawn tractors, the one behind us uses a stand on commercial mower, and the one in front of us has gone to using a lawn service–so more tractors and gas blowers.

As I am fond of saying, our neighborhood sounds like an industrial zone from spring until December, when the last of the leaf blowers get put away. There’s no such thing as peace and quiet. The commercial guys are there every day of the week from 7 am until dusk and on the weekends, the homeowners start up. Many of them don’t even have the decency to stop at dusk.

So the only little place where there’s less noise–I won’t say no noise because I am startled still by how much noise these things still make–is on our property. We use nothing powered by gas except a commercial grade leaf blower on occasion in the fall to move leaves from the back to the curb (when you have a heavily wooded property, you can’t use all the leaves you create, no matter how hard you try) and of course our snow blower with the tractor treads for our ski slope of a driveway.

But the lawn mower, hedge trimmer and “weed whacker,” as well as the light use leaf blower for most jobs are all battery powered.

The new lawn mower is a Black and Decker. It’s probably our fourth. We trade in the old ones so the batteries get properly recycled. This one is 40 volts. All the others were 24 volts. That means it will run longer so that ideally the Spoiler will only need two charges to cut the grass instead of three.

It also comes with two batteries so that when he runs through the first one he can pop in the second and keep on mowing. Now knowing that it took at least three charges from the old lawn mower to get through our lawn, we’ll see how well this works. But because this mower is more powerful, perhaps it will have a longer running time and he’ll be able to get the lawn done with just the two batteries.

He was so excited when he got the mower that he called me out to try it. I was still in my work clothes. He made me push it, then made me push it with one hand. I told him that it was very nice but since I never mowed much with the other one, I really didn’t know what to say.

“But you can push it with one hand,” he said.

“Oh, I see,” I replied. “It’s so light, I can mow in my work clothes. Hold on, I’ll go put on my pearls and then you can get a photo.”

So that was part of the attraction too–that the new mower is lighter than the old. As for me mowing–in my pearls or not–that’s not happening any time soon. I have too much work elsewhere in the yard!

Wordless Wednesday–Photos from the Freedom Lawn

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A little over 2 weeks ago I talked about my “Freedom Lawn.” That post had no photos because we were still having snow!

It has since warmed up enough for things to green up and start blooming so I thought I would post lots of photos so folks could see what I meant by this concept–and either be horrified or not.

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The first thing we do is let the violets grow and bloom. Violets are an important early nectar source for early butterflies and moths. You can see two different types here alone–the deep purple and an “introduced one that has self-sown from my garden, viola odorata, ‘Freckles.’

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This is a close-up of ‘Freckles.’

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This is probably the source of one our biggest battles between the Spoiler and me. I love the moss and he doesn’t. We have a lot of it naturally. He doesn’t understand how sustainable it is, and that where ever it grows, he doesn’t have to mow, water or feed. What’s not to like? This is along one of the beds.20160418_164949

We also have quite a bit of moss naturally in the lawn. People don’t necessarily understand that moss doesn’t need shade to grow. This is on a sunny slope among tree roots. Because our soil pH is so low (it’s in the 3s!) moss naturally loves our soil. You can see all the stoniness too that comes from being on rock ledge.

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Here’s a better view of the moss, tree roots and some other “freedom lawn” inhabitants in that same area. There’s chickweed, some dandelions (which will be weeded out) some grass and some moss. The chickweed will stay. Although it’s very weedy and seedy, birds love the seeds.

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This is an area on the top of that slope where it is slightly shadier so there is more grass–and greener moss.

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Finally, there are grape hyacinths (muscari) that the ants have planted for me all over the slope of this part of the “freedom lawn. ” (More about ants as pollinators during Pollinator Week.)

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I am always careful to cut all the flowers before our first mowing. This was our “harvest this year. Usually I get 4 small vases full. This year it was five. I think perhaps because the mowing was delayed due to the cooler weather, the flowers had a longer time to grow. It was a nice bonus!

So that’s the “Freedom Lawn.” The look is not for everyone. But I am fortunate–several of our neighbors have violet patches as well so they don’t get too upset about ours. We don’t live in a place where perfection is demanded–at least not too often!

Feeling Patriotic? Grow A Freedom Lawn This Year!

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I would love to say that I came up with this concept but I did not. It’s not even a new concept. It’s been around for a decade or more as I wrote about in a post that you can read here.

In fact, the concept is even more relevant now with all of the drought going on in various parts of the country. Look what has happened regarding drought in the last ten years or so–we’ve had sort of a rolling drought that persisted for years, moving from the south, through the southwest and then into California.

And let’s not even talk about the persistent wildfires that get bigger and burn hotter each year out west.

With all that going on, it’s downright unpatriotic–to me–to attempt to plant a perfect carpet of grass. (But remember, if we all liked the same thing, what a boring world we would have. I know my male readers are just cringing right now).

So how do I define a “freedom lawn?” At my house, in my clay soil, even in a drought, we are fortunate enough to remain a lot wetter than most, so what I try to do is to persuade the Spoiler to allow most of what wants to grow there naturally to remain.

Not only do we garden in wet, heavy clay, but we garden on a slope. So this is really a tough climate for grass.  Our pH is really low so the soil is very acidic–again not ideal for grass–but perfect for moss! So in a lot of spots, I have convinced the Spoiler to just leave the moss. And it’s working!

So there’s no mowing and very few weeds that invade. Anything that comes up, I hand pull–but in that environment, very little invades. Some plantain might occasionally come up. But we do get lots of little ferns. Very pretty.

On the flat, sunny slopes, we have violets–perfect nectar spots for the bees and butterflies. This is a tough on to balance because the violets can over-run a lawn. In our clay, they do not seem to get out of control.

Occasional dandelions will also come up. I will let them flower, but we weed them out before they seed since they are perennial. The flowers are great for early tiny bees.

And clover, which also occurs naturally if you let it, is a wonderful asset to the lawn. Not only does it feed bees and butterflies but it helps fix the nitrogen in the soil because it is in the legume family. Prior to all the 4-Step programs, clover was actually sold in grass seed mixes for just this purpose. Once the commercial fertilizer programs came along, they couldn’t figure out not to kill it along with the other “broad leaf weeds” so they just chose to list it as a weed.

And if that isn’t a sad tale, I’m not sure, what is!

The Quest for Garden Perfection

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On this April Fool’s Day, let’s not be Gardening Fools, shall we?

Where I garden, in central Connecticut, it’s still pretty cold. In fact, over the weekend and into early next week, they’re predicting snow in some amounts from flurries to a few inches perhaps. So it’s really too early to do much “gardening.”

But that hasn’t stopped my neighbors (who as you know by now, I like to use as regular examples of Gardening Fools).

Last Sunday, my next door neighbor was mowing his lawn–on Easter–on his tractor.  I can still see the mud ruts he left because our heavy clay soil is far too wet to be thinking about doing anything in, never mind compacting with a tractor! And he wonders why his lawn is a mass of weeds, does he? Scraping it at inappropriate times of the year has a funny way of leading to bad consequences. Try not to follow his behavior.

He will then douse that same lawn in so many chemicals that he has actually killed some of my plants with the drift. Please don’t be that type of Gardening Fool, okay? If you practice good garden practices to begin with, you can vastly eliminate the need to kill your abutting neighbor’s plants!

Finally, a little further down the block, another neighbor is already out with the crabgrass preventer. I only happened to notice it by pellets he left lying on the pavement (and the chemical smell as I walked by with the dog).

Please, if you are going to be a home applicator, try to not coat the street in front of your home with noxious chemical fertilizers. It’s bad enough that those of us that walk dogs have to dodge and weave all season long to try to avoid the Chem-lawn (excuse me, Tru-Green) coated lawns that we are warned against.

But to have to avoid pellets in the street–which are then washed into the storm drains and therefore our waterways–is really asking too much of us. Don’t be this type of Gardening Fool! Keep your fertilizers–of whatever type–on your lawns and in your beds, please.

On Monday I’ll talk about what I’d love to see in lawns–the beloved Freedom Lawn. In this election year, what could be more patriotic?

 

What to Do On A Lovely March Day

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It’s been unseasonably warm this week in my part of the country (actually, if the truth has to be told, it’s been unseasonably warm all winter, but not crazily so so that you wanted to go out and garden. This week even I wanted to go out and garden!)

But unlike in other parts of the country where there is actual gardening going on this time of year, (a friend came to visit from Florida this past weekend and told us she was harvesting tomatoes. Talk about gardening envy!) this is not necessarily the best time of year to be “gardening” in my part of the country. The weather is fickle and late spring snows can easily undo some of the work you have just done.

So for those gardeners in colder climates, here’s what to do on those lovely spring days.

First, if your soil isn’t too wet to walk on (and that’s an important if. If your soil is too wet to walk on, stay off! You risk damaging the all important soil structure!) go out and begin the inevitable clean up from the winter. Pick up downed branches and larger debris.

At this point in the season, even though we are still in moderate drought, my heavy clay is going to be too wet to work. So I don’t dare go near the garden beds. Anything I can do along the edges is fine.Your garden may be different.

How can you tell? If you pick up a handful of soil and it sticks together like a snowball, don’t mess with the garden! That includes walking in there to prune shrubs! You’ll just compact the soil.

Long time readers have seen photos of moss in my garden. I adore it. But remember, moss needs 3 things to grow: acidity, shade and compacted soil. It gets all 3 in my garden. The heavy clay is naturally dense; I have lots of shade and the pH of my soil is in the range of about 3. But I certainly am not going to compact that clay any more than necessary by walking on it or working in it when it’s wet.

So what do I do on a glorious March day? Usually, I take a walk. There’s not a lot I can do in my garden without messing it up.

On Monday I’ll give you some tips for early spring chores.

Be A Garden Renegade–Pick Up A Rake

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Wednesday is Earth Day (although with the rapid acceleration of issues and problems around the globe, I could argue that every day should be Earth Day!) And yet what happened on the first lovely weekend of spring in my neighborhood? The gas guzzling,  polluting power equipment came out in droves in my neighborhood. I could barely hear myself think because of the noise from leaf blowers, lawn mowers and even lawn tractors.

Now, I have to ask myself, what on earth were those folks thinking?! The grass isn’t even green yet. There’s nary a crocus in sight and the only daffodils blooming are against warm southern exposures–in microclimates, in other words.

So there’s nothing to mow! And if they were using that gas guzzling power equipment to pick up lawn debris, might I suggest a radical idea? Use your two hands to collect any large branches and then pick up an old-fashioned rake and rake up the small stuff.

You’d be surprised about the benefits of raking. It can be aerobic if you do it correctly and long enough. It can also be pleasant. Without the noise and the gas fumes from your blowers in your face, you can hear all sorts of things–bird song, for example. It might actually make you enjoy something that you once thought of as a chore.

And it has benefits for the lawn. It can lightly de-thach and remove things like snow mold (which we all have lots of after this winter!)

Then, if you are top-dressing with compost (a great idea) or lightly sowing new seed, it will make better contact with the soil.  All that mowing (particularly with tractors!) and blowing just keeps the soil compacted.

Even if you are (perish the thought!) putting down one of those chemical fertilizers, it will now remain in place better until a rain washes it in, because it will actually have some soil to make contact with–not that same hard-packed stuff to roll off of.

So this spring, be a garden renegade–pick up a rake, get outside and get a little exercise and fresh air. It won’t kill you!

The Quest For The “Perfect” Lawn

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This is an organic garden blog. You’re not going to find much about any of the conventional 4 step lawn programs here. In fact, you’re going to find a lot of scathing criticism, because, at least in my climate, our local “agricultural” school, UConn, only recommends fertilizing the lawn twice a year at most. (Yes, that school is known for more than its Women’s basketball program.) You can find that recommendation here, along with lots of other great lawn care information for Connecticut lawns.

But–and I’ve posted about this before–what if you don’t want your lawn to be all grass?  Sacrilege, I know, but this past winter, I received mailings from two separate companies that were selling “lawn alternatives.”  And by this, I don’t mean low growing “step on” type plants that we’ve seen in the past like creeping thyme (lovely but only in the right light and soil–which means not mine!)

The first company, Moss Acres, has been in business for decades.  They sell different kinds of moss for all sorts of projects from pavers and patios to large projects like the north side of my home.  I was lucky–my moss came in naturally.  If you want to jump-start a project, this is the company for you!

They also have small quantities for terrariums and craft projects.

Those of you who are long time readers know that I adore my moss–to the Spoiler’s dismay sometimes. I am blessed with large quantities of it at various places on the property. It is one of the best qualities of our property. And it is highly sustainable, requiring nothing at all.  In times of drought it may get brown-ish but it greens right up again as soon as we have the least little bit of moisture.

While this would never be an alternative for an arid climate, it’s certainly suitable for the Northeast, and anyplace with regular spring and autumn rains–as well as acidic soil.

The next company, OutsidePride, is selling seed for a type of clover it’s calling miniclover (and it has trademarked that name). A type of trifolium repens, this clover can be grown on its own or added to existing lawns.  As someone who, again, has an abundance of natural clover in the lawn, I can attest to the benefits of clover in the lawn for a variety of reasons: it attracts pollinators like bees, both native bees and honeybees;  for the most part it deters hungry rabbits from perennials and vegetables (although last year there were so many rabbits nothing deterred them); and it is food for some of the early butterflies like the clouded sulfur. What’s not to like?

OutsidePride also sells mixes for bees, cover crops, native grasses, and for something I just can’t fathom–deer food! To each her own I guess!

 

 

Let’s Not Be Mindless About…Pre-Emergents

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I’ve saved one of the best for last because this is something that I think too few folks understand. I even saw a garden center recommending that we apply pre-emergents to our garden beds now without any recommendation that the beds be weed free first (or snow free, for that matter–at the time I read the blog post, 6″ of snow still covered most of my beds and the garden center wasn’t too far from me!)

Pre-emergents are just that–for weeds that have not yet come out. If there are weeds already there, forget about it. If you have perennial weeds, forget about it.

What do I mean by perennial weeds? Well, dandelions are perennials. Did you get all those out last year? I know that sadly, most of my weeds are perennial or I wouldn’t be back there going over the same thing year after year after year. And if they’re not perennial, they’re bi-enniel, like garlic mustard, for example. No pre-emergent is going to stop that from coming back.

Worse yet, the advice was simply to apply a pre-emergent with no mention of how to do it correctly. In order for the darn things to work (and please keep in mind that unless you’re applying corn gluten meal, all pre-emergent are not organic) you must water them in. So perhaps that’s why the garden center made no recommendation about how to do it–because they knew it was impossible to water right now.

But without water, the pre-emergent doesn’t work properly so all you’re doing is basically applying a chemical to your garden that will not control even annual weeds–so why are you doing that? Don’t go there.

If you want to control weeds and don’t have heavy clay soil, you’re much better off mulching. If you do have heavy clay, try what I saw one garden writer describe as a “living mulch”–otherwise known as plants or a low groundcover

But these pre-emergents are way over-sold for what they can do. And if you cannot apply them properly and water them in, and if your area is not weed free to begin with, do not expect good results.

Don’t Spray the Lawn Weeds–Cook with Them

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I have had posts on this topic at various times over the years but I don’t think I’ve ever done one in the fall. Mostly I do them in the spring, or I’ll do a series on weeds, or lawn weeds, or perhaps even weeds that have some edible or useful properties.

But suddenly a variety of chefs and cookbooks are springing up that rely on–gasp–foraging! I’m fairly sure I did a post on the woman who is, or used to be a bond trader in New York who wrote a cookbook on foraging and who supplies all the trendy New York restaurants (that almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? It almost sounds like a cliché–bond trader becomes trendy forager, writes cookbook for star chefs? Oh puhleez! if it were that simple, why didn’t we all think of it instead of writing these silly blog posts year after year? Sigh)

But here’s yet another story about a woman supplying the restaurants in Kansas City (and the story references back to that other NYC story so I know I didn’t just make it up! And my mistake–she wasn’t a trader; she was a lawyer. Sort of the same difference when it comes to getting out of one career and finding a new one in the weeds if you ask me. And I should know!) with “weeds” like chicory, “anise hyssop” (the story mentions that–I wouldn’t call it a weed but there you have it!) and dandelion blossoms.

Perhaps they have less adventurous tastes out in the Midwest at the moment. That’s fine. We all have to start somewhere. And I’m so delighted that chefs, once again, are at the forefront of the experimentation and that we gardeners are presenting them with lots of things to try.

So how about it gardeners? Why not lay off the last fall feeding of conventional fertilizer and let the lawn go organic for a change? Then in the spring, rather than “freak out” when a weed or two appears, try identifying it first (always, always always know what you are eating before you do so!) and if you can positively identify it as safe to eat, experiment!

There are lots of web sites and even some cookbooks now that talk about cooking with wild and foraged plants. Think about it–this could be the easiest garden you ever grow. Give it a try.