Lawn Care.

Wow, landscaping is annoying. Specifically: lawn care.

The HoR had a spectacular 0.14acres of land, of which approximately 50% was grass. This did not take much care. A quick mow every week or two and that was about good. Now that I have a real house with a real lawn I am interested in keeping it managed and lush.

There’s a really great This Old House page that goes into great detail on steps… but it feels pretty extreme. Rather extensive, expensive and certainly not a short term fix. While I’ll probably find myself doing the extreme when my cheap efforts fail, right now I’m going for cheap and easy.

This is what I found:

Seeding: Overseed. And rough up that dirt before you put the seed down.

Overseeding is easy. Roughing up dirt with a bow rake? Not that hard on good soil but on our rocky soil it’s a beast. I could buy more topsoil or get a roto-tiller, but that’s major lawn surgery and we’re back on the extreme scale.

Watering: Twice a day for new grass, 1″ of water each time.

1″ of water is a LOT of water. Websites all over the place suggested putting an empty tuna can on the lawn; you stop watering when the tuna can is full.

I tried this with a traditional impact sprinkler. After 15minutes of watering, the can didn’t even have a 1/4″ of water. I am still trying to figure out how many minutes are needed to get an inch. Right now I’d describe my watering efforts as moistening not watering. Unfortunately, our low yield well pump makes lawn watering for extended periods a little extra tricky.

The This Old House link up above conflicted with this advice instead saying 5-10minutes. I’ll trust Bob Vila on this one.

Mowing: Use sharp blades, cut one-third the length.

This one I can do.
Once I buy a mower.

3 thoughts on “Lawn Care.

  • 5/7/2014 at 2:42 pm
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    I hate lawn care! Our lawn was not maintained by the previous owners and we are slowly cleaning up the property, it’s a drag. My remedy: walk around the neighborhood and feel grateful that some of the other lawns look way worse than ours. And thank my lucky stars that the tree covered in poison ivy is just across the property line in the neighbors yard. Good luck.

    Reply
    • 5/8/2014 at 10:09 am
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      Thankfully, we have not yet found poison ivy on our new property. I’m hoping it stays that way!

      Reply
  • 5/9/2014 at 8:05 am
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    I have a mower I can sell you on the cheap. it works great and is reliable. I don’t need it since i got a new one for Fathers Day a little while back.

    Just like the Dinosaurs in Jurrasic Park, the poison ivy will find a way.

    Reply

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