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General Discussion => Essentially Flyertalk => Topic started by: wes mantooth on May 11, 2011, 08:15:49 PM
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:love: and :shakesfist: amiright?
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My Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) friend had all kinds of weeds in his lawn. And I was like, "Dude, c'mon. You gotta take care of those." Next time I came over all his grass was dead. Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) used RoundUp.
:facepalm:
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My Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) friend had all kinds of weeds in his lawn. And I was like, "Dude, c'mon. You gotta take care of those." Next time I came over all his grass was dead. Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) used RoundUp.
:facepalm:
Is he the Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!)?
sounds to me like he wont be sweating his off in the 100 degree+ summer mowing.
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He actually makes his wife do that. But he did have to sweat his ass off planting grass seed.
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The mexican dudes that mow my lawn seem to enjoy my lawn. :ck:
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whenever i buy a house, i'm gonna have a kickass lawn.
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Seriously though, it's worth it to pay Chemlawn (or whoever) to treat your lawn. My grass is growing so well right now that I have to mow it twice a week. That kinda sucks but it sure looks much better than last year.
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Chem lawn is good if your neighbor yards suck.
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True that. My neighbor's yard is rough ridin' dandelion city. I haven't seen one in my yard this year. :cool:
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Decided to have Blueville handle everything for me this year including the mowing. It sucks getting the bill, but they make it look a hell of a lot better than I did.
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I live next to an open field (or at least it was before they just dozed it in preparation for more houses), and I've fought all kinds of devil weeds. Dandelions especially. I've sprayed all kinds of stuff, tried to keep it fertilized, etc. My yard is really, really green, but it's just full of dandelions.
My plan is to keep killing them until I have a yard next to me and this isn't a problem anymore.
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yardwork really chaps my hide, ya know
recently bought a house and the previous owners obviously didn't give a crap about their lawn, so it is completely overtaken with weeds. been working on trying to salvage it for over a year, and am about to just give up and till the whole thing and start over.
:shakesfist:
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yardwork really chaps my hide, ya know
recently bought a house and the previous owners obviously didn't give a crap about their lawn, so it is completely overtaken with weeds. been working on trying to salvage it for over a year, and am about to just give up and till the whole thing and start over.
:shakesfist:
Probably best idea if you haven't seen results. Before you completely destroy it, try aerating. You can get one to pull behind a riding lawnmower for under $150.00. This will help for weed killer, fertilizer, whatever from running off the surface since it seems like the soil is compacted. Only weeds survive in compacted soil. Also allow for all the good nutrients it's not getting to get deep down in the grass roots. Can be difficult to get a bad lawn to look good, but once it's good... a person has to try hard to make it look bad again.
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while we're on this subject, what's the best way to get rid of gophers? cause i have one, and it's a pain in the ass.
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while we're on this subject, what's the best way to get rid of gophers? cause i have one, and it's a pain in the ass.
Flooding I've heard is one of the least toxic and environmentally friendly ways to get rid of them.
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while we're on this subject, what's the best way to get rid of gophers? cause i have one, and it's a pain in the ass.
El Chupacabra
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Recurring fertilizer treatments are like oil changes..worth it cuz the materials and time at your cost are nearly the same. Fert guys are negotiable too. Don't buy all the treatments.
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yardwork really chaps my hide, ya know
recently bought a house and the previous owners obviously didn't give a crap about their lawn, so it is completely overtaken with weeds. been working on trying to salvage it for over a year, and am about to just give up and till the whole thing and start over.
:shakesfist:
If the lawn is in really bad shape, it can take quite a while to bring back. Most people don't have the patience or just aren't willing to put in the work.
I would suggest applying a pre-emergent herbicide in the spring, a couple of weeks before weeds start appearing. Then, maintain a fertilizing & post-emergent herbicide schedule throughout the spring/summer/fall. Then do some overseeding later into the fall. Of course, you should be watering your lawn regularly as well. Repeat this process for a couple of years and you'll see good results.
If you don't feel like waiting that long and have the cash, tear it all out and put in sod. Then stick to your schedule so you don't lose it all to weeds.
If you tear it all out and simply reseed, you're still looking at a couple of years before you have a decently established lawn.
Anyway you slice it, keeping a nice lawn is a lot of work. That's why you don't see very many of them.
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I'm thinking about trying something like this but with less clutter
(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cvwd.org%2Fnews%2Fpress%2Fphotos%2Fpress_97_lg.jpg&hash=800dda06636fa717b32854e48e79185caec9d166)
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I'm thinking about trying something like this but with less clutter
(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cvwd.org%2Fnews%2Fpress%2Fphotos%2Fpress_97_lg.jpg&hash=800dda06636fa717b32854e48e79185caec9d166)
Xeriscaping is great if you want to save water and reduce maintenance. Not so good if you have kids and want them to be able to play in the yard.
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I'm thinking about trying something like this but with less clutter
(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cvwd.org%2Fnews%2Fpress%2Fphotos%2Fpress_97_lg.jpg&hash=800dda06636fa717b32854e48e79185caec9d166)
Xeriscaping is great if you want to save water and reduce maintenance. Not so good if you have kids and want them to be able to play in the yard.
There's always the back yard.
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I'm thinking about trying something like this but with less clutter
(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cvwd.org%2Fnews%2Fpress%2Fphotos%2Fpress_97_lg.jpg&hash=800dda06636fa717b32854e48e79185caec9d166)
Xeriscaping is great if you want to save water and reduce maintenance. Not so good if you have kids and want them to be able to play in the yard.
There's always the back yard.
Yes, there is. Figured wetwillie meant his entire yard. Could be wrong on that.
Xeriscaping is also cool because you can get really creative with it. Much more eye-popping than your typical grass lawn.
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Go with rock rather than mulch.
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Go with rock rather than mulch.
This. Unless you enjoy putting new mulch down every year.
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Decided to have Blueville handle everything for me this year including the mowing. It sucks getting the bill, but they make it look a hell of a lot better than I did.
also looks like someone might been getting a sprinkler system. :chirpchirp:
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
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I actually enjoy mowing my lawn. Nothing beats the look and smell of a freshly mowed yard.
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I actually enjoy mowing my lawn. Nothing beats the look and smell of a freshly mowed yard.
Sounds like you enjoy having a mowed lawn, not actually mowing your lawn.
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
I installed my own and it is on a well not on city water. I did not put a back flow on it because there are no ordinances where I live and the well is not in the city limits. Other than that yeah irrigation is really easy. Just remember to get head to head coverage and to not try and put too many heads on a zone. Test your pressure so you know how many heads you can put on a zone before you start. If you live on a hill you will need to calculate the pressure loss for going up hill or down etc. But my property was flat so I didn't need to worry about that.
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Really looking forward to never personally maintaining one again.
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
I installed my own and it is on a well not on city water. I did not put a back flow on it because there are no ordinances where I live and the well is not in the city limits. Other than that yeah irrigation is really easy. Just remember to get head to head coverage and to not try and put too many heads on a zone. Test your pressure so you know how many heads you can put on a zone before you start. If you live on a hill you will need to calculate the pressure loss for going up hill or down etc. But my property was flat so I didn't need to worry about that.
Wow, I hope you don't drink from that well.
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
I installed my own and it is on a well not on city water. I did not put a back flow on it because there are no ordinances where I live and the well is not in the city limits. Other than that yeah irrigation is really easy. Just remember to get head to head coverage and to not try and put too many heads on a zone. Test your pressure so you know how many heads you can put on a zone before you start. If you live on a hill you will need to calculate the pressure loss for going up hill or down etc. But my property was flat so I didn't need to worry about that.
Wow, I hope you don't drink from that well.
nope irrigation only, our ground water has high nitrates and is not good for drinking anyway.
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Sprinkler systems are pretty straight forward, minus the backflow assembly. However, even with a trencher, there is still quite a bit of digging involved. (You have to hand dig a hole for every head.) If you have like 4 dudes, you can install one in one weekend. Probably save a grand or so by doing it yourself. I used to actually install them for a couple summers but paid to have mine put in. (Bad memories of swinging a pickaxe in 100 degree weather.)
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
I installed my own and it is on a well not on city water. I did not put a back flow on it because there are no ordinances where I live and the well is not in the city limits. Other than that yeah irrigation is really easy. Just remember to get head to head coverage and to not try and put too many heads on a zone. Test your pressure so you know how many heads you can put on a zone before you start. If you live on a hill you will need to calculate the pressure loss for going up hill or down etc. But my property was flat so I didn't need to worry about that.
Wow, I hope you don't drink from that well.
nope irrigation only, our ground water has high nitrates and is not good for drinking anyway.
Wow, that was a close one.
'grats on the well. From what I hear, you were able to bypass the most expensive part(preventer).
Also, what did you use to design the head coverage? Simply a pressure reading mathed up by pressure needed per head? Or did you find something that helped you map out zones and head-to-head distances?
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Sprinkler systems are pretty straight forward, minus the backflow assembly. However, even with a trencher, there is still quite a bit of digging involved. (You have to hand dig a hole for every head.) If you have like 4 dudes, you can install one in one weekend. Probably save a grand or so by doing it yourself. I used to actually install them for a couple summers but paid to have mine put in. (Bad memories of swinging a pickaxe in 100 degree weather.)
I checked a few years ago and it was going to be about $2500 to have it done, but pricing the materials, I think I could do it for around $1k and then buy the preventer/pay a plumnber for a couple hours for around $500. Don't know if that would be cheaper now since the local construction market is horrible. :dunno:
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Got a buddy that owns a lawn company, he just installed one in my little bro's yard. Those numbers are right in the ballpark.
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Really looking forward to never personally maintaining one again.
:party:
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Also on your sprinkler system make sure you install autodrains. This will save you headaches of "blowing down the system." All you will have to do is drain the backflow at the end of the year.
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Good tutorial on installing a system.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/lawn-garden/3044261
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my yard is the worst. Looks like crap. Come by sometime and see my shitty piece of crap yard. I hate.
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Bought my Gpa's old house last fall and the yard is just a mess. The front yard had overgrown the driveway and sidewalk by about 6 inches which I finally edged this weekend, ended up with about 5 wheel barrows full of dirt.
Next project is to get the grass looking good and I need some advice. The lawn looked fine when my GPA lived there but I think the combination of drought/no one watering for the past 2 years have killed it.
This is what it looks like now(complete with pictures of dogs), any suggestions?
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(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F13%2F04%2F22%2Fytavyrer.jpg&hash=74e25bc306773d07375604d3c33d43083abdb70c)
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water the crap out of it
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Put in a pool.
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Where is this yard located? Is it always dry?
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Where is this yard located? Is it always dry?
Located in the KC area.
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Well at least it's not covered with weeds. Could be ballsy and verticut in some Macho Mix. You'd probably be fine since we have that cold front moving through and you can water the crap out of it, too.
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Any type of fertilizer I should put down or just water the crap out of it?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-enGOMQgdvg
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2012/05/rethinking-lawns.html
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-enGOMQgdvg
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2012/05/rethinking-lawns.html
Lawns are an enormous waste of resources and are pretty awful for the environment. They look nice, though.
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Sprinkler systems...
Anyone installed their own before? Sounds horribly easy. I have a trencher and am not Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!), so I can work with PVC and stuff.
Only concern would be connection to house water(backflow preventer, etc).
Seems like they would be incred cheap and easy.
Anyone?
parents neighbor did it, he's a moron. So anyone can do it.
Agree with you the tough part is the controls.
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sprinkler systems are super cheap. why waste your time?
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you know who probably has a great lawn? jake water's parents. the kid has everything in life.
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Bought my Gpa's old house last fall and the yard is just a mess. The front yard had overgrown the driveway and sidewalk by about 6 inches which I finally edged this weekend, ended up with about 5 wheel barrows full of dirt.
Next project is to get the grass looking good and I need some advice. The lawn looked fine when my GPA lived there but I think the combination of drought/no one watering for the past 2 years have killed it.
This is what it looks like now(complete with pictures of dogs), any suggestions?
Sorry Benji, water isn't bringing that back.
1. Get rid of the dogs, do you want dogs or a nice lawn? its tough to have both
2. Get your soil tested. Your local extension office will do this for like $20
3. Treat soil as directed from above results
4. Wait until this fall and aerate/verticut it and over seed
5. Water like crazy
6. Start a routine weed control program
Pro tip: most of weed control and yard seeding should happen in the fall
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lawns suck. i wish i could just pave mine over (might do). i really couldn't give a crap, but i feel like the neighbors are judging me (prolly are).
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Ben Ji, lots of Macho Mix and put golf course fert on it like every two weeks.
Also, I rake or verticut before putting it down, then cover it with peat moss and/or some straw.
I just moved into a house and the guy died before our last summer and no one did anything to the lawn. I just did a bunch of this 3 weeks ago and I have a bunch of baby little grasses going crazy at my place.
Also, most everything should be done in the fall, but if the alternative is mud for the summer, put some seed down. The down side is you will have to water it pretty much all summer since the new plants won't have strong roots. I did this and plan to overseed in the fall.
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pretty surprised monsanto hasn't taken over the grass seed industry
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lawns suck. i wish i could just pave mine over (might do). i really couldn't give a crap, but i feel like the neighbors are judging me (prolly are).
Is it desert-y enough to just put rocks out there like they do in Phoenix? Or maybe a native plant year or something.
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Sys, just let it all grow. Tell them that you are naturalizing your lawn as that is better for the environment and wildlife and how they are bad ppl because they obviously don't care about either.
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Is it desert-y enough to just put rocks out there like they do in Phoenix? Or maybe a native plant year or something.
yeah, it's dry enough. i don't really care for that look though, if i did something like that, i'd prolly just put down pavers over the whole thing with cutouts for trees (a rock lawn would also look dumb with the existing non-desert trees, and would be hard to rake).
but i'm not organized enough to do anything that ambitious this year. so for now, the neighbors are all judging me.
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Sys, just let it all grow. Tell them that you are naturalizing your lawn as that is better for the environment and wildlife and how they are bad ppl because they obviously don't care about either.
it doesn't rain here for like 8 months straight, so the naturalized summer lawn would be dead weeds that grew during the winter and bare dirt.
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Pave it and put down artificial turf.
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You could plant bermuda grass or buffalo grass, sys. Once you get it established, you should be able to keep it alive with very little water and you will hardly ever have to mow.
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lawns suck. i wish i could just pave mine over (might do).
seems mean to your border collie and his pads
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You could plant bermuda grass or buffalo grass, sys. Once you get it established, you should be able to keep it alive with very little water and you will hardly ever have to mow.
My relatives in that area do bermuda. Looks fine to me. :dunno:
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If you go the drought-tolerant grass route, don't wait until the fall to plant it, though. You will want to do that next month.
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Ben Ji, lots of Macho Mix and put golf course fert on it like every two weeks.
Also, I rake or verticut before putting it down, then cover it with peat moss and/or some straw.
I just moved into a house and the guy died before our last summer and no one did anything to the lawn. I just did a bunch of this 3 weeks ago and I have a bunch of baby little grasses going crazy at my place.
Also, most everything should be done in the fall, but if the alternative is mud for the summer, put some seed down. The down side is you will have to water it pretty much all summer since the new plants won't have strong roots. I did this and plan to overseed in the fall.
Will do this.
RaquetCat- I know that having a super awesome lawn and a super cute dog are mutually exclusive, I just dont want my to look like complete crap.
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last year absolutely destroyed my lawn( not great to begin with but was ok to go barefoot in.
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You could plant bermuda grass or buffalo grass, sys. Once you get it established, you should be able to keep it alive with very little water and you will hardly ever have to mow.
warm season grasses, all the rain here is in the cool season. i dunno, just seems to be at cross purposes, although lots of people do have these 3 mm tall bermuda lawns around here.
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lawns suck. i wish i could just pave mine over (might do).
seems mean to your border collie and his pads
yeah, that's prolly the main reason i will put in a lawn. though we live on the corner of a busy street, so it's not a great place for a dog anyways. but he's car smart.
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artificial turf.
no.
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btw, i'm pretty sure i'm going to seed in tall fescue and clover. just not till fall. so the neighbors will just have to judge away until then.
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I don't understand guys that hate mowing/yardwork - it is absolutely the best listening to music/podcasts a married man with children can get :dunno:
If you don't want to water but care about your neighbors judgment, let if get fairly tall for the dry season but edge and trim where it does grow so it looks tidy.
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Bought my Gpa's old house last fall and the yard is just a mess. The front yard had overgrown the driveway and sidewalk by about 6 inches which I finally edged this weekend, ended up with about 5 wheel barrows full of dirt.
Next project is to get the grass looking good and I need some advice. The lawn looked fine when my GPA lived there but I think the combination of drought/no one watering for the past 2 years have killed it.
This is what it looks like now(complete with pictures of dogs), any suggestions?
Sorry Benji, water isn't bringing that back.
1. Get rid of the dogs, do you want dogs or a nice lawn? its tough to have both
2. Get your soil tested. Your local extension office will do this for like $20
3. Treat soil as directed from above results
4. Wait until this fall and aerate/verticut it and over seed
5. Water like crazy
6. Start a routine weed control program
Pro tip: most of weed control and yard seeding should happen in the fall
This is all good, but I'd recommend just paying a professional to rehab the lawn for the first year. Then take over from there with your own fertilizer/weed treatments. A couple other tips:
1. I'm guessing you don't have a sprinkler system. If you don't, and you want to have a nice looking lawn, get ready for a lot of work setting out sprinklers, moving them around, etc. It's a pain in the ass.
2. If all that grass is dead instead of dormant (fyi - zoysia is still dormant), you're probably better off applying roundup this summer and starting from scratch this fall.
And using rock instead of mulch generally blows. Rock gets hot and bakes shallow root systems, and doesn't break down and fertilize your plants (like mulch). You'll generally have healthier plants if you spend a little time spreading around some mulch every spring.
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Sprinkler moving: if you have a smaller yard, buy this http://www.amazon.com/Aquazoom-2700-Square-Oscillating-Sprinkler-Adjustable/dp/B002VED42E/ref=sr_1_17?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1366666831&sr=1-17&keywords=sprinkler (http://www.amazon.com/Aquazoom-2700-Square-Oscillating-Sprinkler-Adjustable/dp/B002VED42E/ref=sr_1_17?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1366666831&sr=1-17&keywords=sprinkler) It is adjustable in several ways, has a timer so you don't forget to turn it off, and is overall fantastic.
(https://goemaw.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51dEdDfcDpL._SL1061_.jpg&hash=54b3adbab96c95097ef70a9fdc9cf327f1f38ba1)
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Benji, is that dirt or just dormant Bermuda grass? I'm in the PV area and I've got a Bermuda fescue mix. Fescue in the shade, Bermuda in the sun. Not ideal, but for how long I'll be in my house, not worth the time or money to remove the Bermuda.
Anyway, Bermuda will remain dormant for another few weeks until it begins greening up. Too early to fertilize it and verticuting is worthless, because the grass is invasive. At least, according to the folks at Grass Pad.
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Benji, is that dirt or just dormant Bermuda grass? I'm in the PV area and I've got a Bermuda fescue mix. Fescue in the shade, Bermuda in the sun. Not ideal, but for how long I'll be in my house, not worth the time or money to remove the Bermuda.
Anyway, Bermuda will remain dormant for another few weeks until it begins greening up. Too early to fertilize it and verticuting is worthless, because the grass is invasive. At least, according to the folks at Grass Pad.
PV area too and I think it is bermuda but now sure.
Will probably just water the hell out of it and fertilize it then see if it grows.
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If it's bermuda, you shouldn't need to water the hell out of it.
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Zoysia. GTFOOMF Bermuda.
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That looks like dormant buffalo grass to me.
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I don't understand guys that hate mowing/yardwork - it is absolutely the best listening to music/podcasts a married man with children can get :dunno:
This makes me sad. :frown:
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I think it's Bermuda. It's common in kc metro, including PV. Looks just like mine, too. Don't think buffalo is as prevalent.
NK is right, don't need to water Bermuda very much. In fact, I've read it's bad to water any grass a lot in spring time, as it impedes the grass's ability to tolerate dryer, hotter summer months.
Bermuda isn't as "pretty" as fescue, but it is hardier and, once it greens, will stay green through the summer.
My advice, just leave it alone. Fertilize in mid May and mow it. That's about it.
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Also, I'd google "de-thatching Bermuda". My neighbor does this, I haven't. May help.
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I don't understand guys that hate mowing/yardwork - it is absolutely the best listening to music/podcasts a married man with children can get :dunno:
This makes me sad. :frown:
really? I find it cathartic - I am not sure there is a better ( non destructive) way for me to cope with the Angel news than spreading some 18-2-24 while listening to Gary Stewart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWQ5pjOpVeI&feature=youtube_gdata_player (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWQ5pjOpVeI&feature=youtube_gdata_player)
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Bermuda and Zoysia grass is almost impossible to get rid of anyway, so you're pretty much stuck with it. Even if you kill it off in your yard, it'll just creep back in from your neighbor's yard.
The good thing about these grasses is they require very little water, fertilization, or weed control, and they're high traffic. The crap is so thick and invasive that it crowds out pretty much all other weeds naturally. Downside is that they're ugly, take a long time to green up, don't blend well with other grasses, and are a pain in the ass to mow (thick).
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Bermuda and Zoysia grass is almost impossible to get rid of anyway, so you're pretty much stuck with it. Even if you kill it off in your yard, it'll just creep back in from your neighbor's yard.
The good thing about these grasses is they require very little water, fertilization, or weed control, and they're high traffic. The crap is so thick and invasive that it crowds out pretty much all other weeds naturally. Downside is that they're ugly, take a long time to green up, don't blend well with other grasses, and are a pain in the ass to mow (thick).
Zoysia is beautiful. I agree with everything else you said.