The recent lack of rain has stressed out the lawns. They are turning a bit brown. You may water with your sprinklers, but thaqt doesn’t green them up. You see, rain carries nitrogen and other nutrients down to the grass, which greens up a lawn very quickly. Your sprinkler, draws water from a well, or the city, which has no need to add those nutrients to it. So, you need to feed it to get it greened up. Use a slow release lawn food, apply it. Water it in if you like, then watch it green up….

Wow, last Sunday saw some pretty severe damage from the quick moving storms. Many trees were either toppled over or uprooted. We had only minor damage and lost our power for only a day. The grass around here is growing so fast with the added rain. The nitrogen from the rain has also greened many lawns up quite nicely.

Yes, it .looks very nice…the mulch piled up around the tree trunks. Looking like the tree grew out of a pyramid, the mulch is stacked high. The trouble with this is disease is breeding in that pile. The high pile of the mulch does not allow for water to move away from the bark. Fungus, mold, etc have a breeding ground for destruction. These attack the bark of the tree, which is the protective skin of the tree. Without it, insects and disease set in and you run the risk of the tree dying or even falling over after the rot has eaten away the tree. Mulch only 2 to 3 inches high…and you’ll keep that expensive tree for many years.

Two days of rain, off and on, have given the lawns a green up….except those with the chinch bugs. Tomorrow, I’ll bring up why you shouldn’t build mounds of mulch around your trees in your yard…

Yeah, I still see the growing brown spots in lawns around me. Mine is ok…I used an application of Ortho Bug B Gon Max granule in the early spring. It should last about two months in the soil before another application is needed, about June 30th for me. Will put my second feeding down this weekend as well. I use Scotts Super Turf Builder. It contains iron, which others do not have. Iron helps give the lawn a bit more greening and also helps protect against fungus, mold Etc.

We have had on and off rain for two days now and the grass appreciates it. With temps expected to rise this week to about 90…..will have to keep the grass long and water if needed.

Got some rain last night. Not the type one would want…it was fast, heavy and didn’t last long. Typically, these cause the water to run over your lawn and wash away, not penetrate into the root system. A slow, gentle rain is optimum. My neighbors to my east have the brown spots in their lawns again. I say again because they had chinch bugs. These are small insects that attach themselves to your grass, blade by blade, and suck the life out of it. The brown areas start small, but as the colony grows, so does the brown areas. AND, as the colony grows, so does the death of your lawn. I tried to explain this to them, but they felt it was  a lack of water. They watered the hell out of  the lawn and ended up having to re-sod.  Chinch bugs are treatable and their is a way to tell if you have them…..

No rain today…grasses around me are starting to turn brown and need a drink.  Time to water, but not at dusk. Water early in the am, 7am or so and then about 6pm. Too late and the water has no chance to dry and you are asking for mold or fungus growth…and that is a costly matter to take up. Watering also means…….not to the point of runoff. About one inch a week. Now, to measure this, use coffee cans spaced along your sprinkler path and water until it reaches a depth of 1 inch in the can…..

Lawn starting to get that worn down look. Hasn’t rained in 6 days and when you walk on the grass, it doesn’t bounce back…a sign it needs water. We’ll see if it rains tonight. If not, I’ll water it tomorrow..

Lawn is thick and looking great. Rain showers, the off and on type have kept it green and thick. My worry is now for mold or fungus to strike it. Will keep looking at it……

Oh, but what an odor. You apply in the am or early evening. Spray directly on the plants you are trying to save. The odor will keep the varmits away and save your plants, hostas and the like. You’ll smell the odor only while it is wet, but once dry, it cannot be picked up by you. It is made up of organic things like spoiled and rotten eggs. Again, a bad odor when first applied, then goes away from your nose. Apply to the same plant or area, 2x a week for 4 weeks, then once a week during the growing season.