Landscaping Projects

[casts_by_fly]

The dogs did a number on a couple spots with traffic and digging, but on the whole it’s come along pretty well. A little overseed and patching in the spring and it should thicken right up. It’s all rye so it grows quickly. If I’d known it was going to stay this warm for the next week I would have put down more seed two weeks ago. It’s already so much better than it was I’m really happy. A little more leveling in the spring for the uneven settling and it will be awesome. I’m already cutting it at 1” and with a couple spots leveled I can go to 3/4” easily. 
 

 

[Jar11591]

It’s that time of year again around these parts so I figured I’d revive this thread. We’re getting an extra month of spring on the front end here in upstate NY, so we’ve already been able to get started on the yard. First order of business was building a compost bin, the first of the eventual 3. A couple pallets, some L brackets and braces and it went together in 10 minutes. 

We’re trying to get more efficient and less wasteful, so throwing the fruits and veggies we didn’t get to eat before they spoiled will feel better than throwing them in the trash. We sowed all our seeds indoor yesterday, and in a couple months when it’s time to move them outdoors, we should have lots of good homemade compost.
 

After the rest of the compost bins are built, my next order of business will be to run power to my shed. Just gonna add a switch controlled light. I already have outdoor power so I can jump it from there and run it underground. 
 

After that we will be redoing the front garden bed. We’re going to expand it and replace a couple of the dying hedges and add some more native plants. Should be about 8 yards of mulch. Not bad. Beats the 25 yards of stone and soil I moved by wheelbarrow last year for the back yard.  My back is still feeling it. We are also going to re-attempt our lawn makeover. We’re going for a mix of clover, creeping thyme and lavender to cut down on mowing and maintenance, but last year we ended up with crabgrass, nutsedge, and more crabgrass. Trying to do it chemical free seems like an uphill battle but that’s what the girlfriend wants so that’s what I’ll keep trying. 
 

What outdoor projects y’all got on the agenda this year? 

[TOXIC]

Funny timing.  We are in a warm period with a hefty drop in temperatures during the week.  Raked the front dirt patch and over seeded.  As usual the seed will take and then in mid summer no matter how much I water it, it will die because of the monster sugar maple I have in the front yard.  Landscaper who redid all of our yard told me that the maple will drink on average 150 gallons of water a day out of the soil so grass really can’t survive.  We tried anyway and had it sodded but it took about 4 years to give up.  Now we just have accepted it will be sparse grass and some ground moss.  I do blow the leaves down off the cliff my house is built on.  Because we are in the forest, composting is out of the question, I have literally tons of leaves.  Pic shows the front and the maple trunk and the other shows the side yard.  We are literally in the forest.  

[casts_by_fly]

I kicked off my spring routine this past week. The boxwoods are trimmed. The pool grass got its first cutting already. Pre-emergent on just about everywhere.  The pool grass above didn’t get it because I’m going to overseed it a bit in the spots the dogs mucked up. I am going to level it again and overseed next week.  We’re getting the same drop in temps here so I’ll wait. I also have a 6’x4’ patch out front that got salt burned from the plow trucks dumping the snow there. That’s going to take some work to fix and get right. There are some trees that are going to get a good pruning to let a little more light onto the grass. Otherwise, my input level is going to be a lot lower this year. Things are in pretty good shape so nothing I need to transform this time around. 

[Jar11591]

Got a lot of the seedlings planted in the garden beds as the last frost is hopefully behind us. The green beans are already starting to flower. 
 

[casts_by_fly]

very nice.  I'll grab a snap of my pool yard grass later this morning after I give it a trim.  The overseed has started to fill in and the grass that was there is looking pretty good aside from a couple spots I 'burned'. 

 

Note for future grass growers.  Have good tools and USE good tools.  I have a great 4 gallon electric backpack sprayer with a fan tip.  I decided I didn't want to use it for 1000 sqft and 1 gallon of spraying.  Instead I used my little 1 gallon can with a hand pump and spray tip from a cleaning products trigger bottle.  The result was inconsistent spray of mesotrione (an herbicide which works as preemergent and is safe for seeding).  Mesotrione is generally pretty safe and is safe for most cool season grasses (its hard on fine fescue) when applied at the standard rate.  But when you have an inconsistent sprayer you double or even triple up how much gets on any individual leaf/plant.  The result is 'bleaching' of the grass blades and there is nothing you can do but let it grow out.  The best of my grass has just about grown out of it now, but I still have streaks in places where I sprayed a little heavier.  Not critical, but 100% avoidable.

[gim]

I for one am glad I don't have any sizable landscaping or outdoor projects to do this season.

 

I have a raised, enclosed garden bed that I'll be using but I need to wait another week or so before planting anything in there.  Last year was my first season using it.

 

My lawn needs to be badly mowed already but we get rain every other day here and its like a swampy sponge.  Can't do anything out there until it dries out which does not appear to be happening anytime soon.

[casts_by_fly]

Gave it a quick trim. In 48 hours it grew about 3/8-1/2”. Considering I’m cutting it at 1” that implies I have to cut it almost daily or every 36 hours to maintain the 1/3rd rule. But it’s looking pretty good.  The little holes from the dogs last year all have seedlings growing and should be mostly full in another month. The thick parts are nice and thick now. You can see the whitening in places still here. In a week it will be gone. 
 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I for one am glad I don't have any sizable landscaping or outdoor projects to do this season.

 

I have a raised, enclosed garden bed that I'll be using but I need to wait another week or so before planting anything in there.  Last year was my first season using it.

 

My lawn needs to be badly mowed already but we get rain every other day here and its like a swampy sponge.  Can't do anything out there until it dries out which does not appear to be happening anytime soon.

I’m not doing anything major this year either. Just get it all growing and thick and full now. 
 

 

[gim]

3 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Just get it all growing and thick and full now. 

 

I'll try to remember to post a photo of my yard after I can get out there.  Its raining again here this morning.

[MN Fisher]

I have only one thing to say about my yard

[TnRiver46]

Carrying dirt up a hill in a big bucket with a shovel for a yoke sucks 

[VolFan]

I’d let you borrow my wheelbarrow but the drive is a bit much…

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Carrying dirt up a hill in a big bucket with a shovel for a yoke sucks 

you could just back the truck up the hill and toss it out of the bed. Just sayin…

[TnRiver46]

10 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

you could just back the truck up the hill and toss it out of the bed. Just sayin…

I wish! I’m getting the dirt from inside the dog fence at the bottom of a big ole hill, it collects and buries the fence pickets . I couldn’t even drive a wheelbarrow down there much less a truck 

[padlin]

I have the cold weather crops in, garlic, onions, and peas, the rest has at least a couple weeks to go. On the plus side, the asparagus is up. It’s easy to go too quick around here, 70 degree days make you forget about the very real possibility of frost till the end of the month.

[gim]

Well it finally dried out just enough the past couple days so I could mow the lawn for the first time this spring. It was like a hayfield in the back. More rain coming tomorrow.

 

 

[12poundbass]

@gimruis, lawn police violation! It appears row five from the right (picture #2)is about 1/2” bigger than the rest.  👮‍♀️ 

[casts_by_fly]

looking pretty great to me!

[A-Jay]

It's a little early in the year, even for me.

But I couldn't wait any longer as it was getting very jungle-like.

So that first cut always feels & smells pretty good. 

#sharpbladesrule

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

My house

moms house

 

im jealous of you north country boys, I been mowing since been mowing since been mowing . Got 5 yards to keep up with, poison ivy on my arms and neck from the weedeater 

[A-Jay]

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

im jealous of you north country boys, I been mowing since been mowing since been mowing . Got 5 yards to keep up with, poison ivy on my arms and neck from the weedeater 

Pretty much one of the few times I'd rather shovel 3 ft of wet snow off the roof . . .

Hope you get better.

A-Jay

 

[gim]

Hey @A-Jay is Tank still riding on the mower with you these days?  🤣

[A-Jay]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hey @A-Jay is Tank still riding on the mower with you these days?

LOL ~ He may have out grown it.

I'll ask him prior to the next scheduled mowing,

and if he's up for it, I'll post a pic.

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

17 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Pretty much one of the few times I'd rather shovel 3 ft of wet snow off the roof . . .

Hope you get better.

A-Jay

 

It’s no biggie, poison ivy and I have a symbiosis nowadays. I let some of it live on my skin as long as it doesn’t take over my entirety like it used to when I was a kid 

[casts_by_fly]

18 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

My house

moms house

 

im jealous of you north country boys, I been mowing since been mowing since been mowing . Got 5 yards to keep up with, poison ivy on my arms and neck from the weedeater 

 

Man, twelve days of carrying a bucket up and down that hill.  Must have felt like sisyphus.

 

looks good!