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Hey guys! I have a few lawncare questions. I posted over in the home care thread but didn't realize this one existed so I'm moving it over here. I live in central Mississippi. Hot and as humid as poo poo essentially. Basically I have owned my house for near 6 years and the lawn has gotten progressively worse over those years. I mow it, but... that's about it. We're getting ready to finally get serious about our landscaping so I wanted to see what I need to do to rehabilitate this lawn. The back yard, which was almost all dirt, will be left out for now. We cut down like 4 trees back there and threw some st. augustine seed down and are just letting it do it's thing. In 2 years time it's actually filled almost totally in which is nuts. A lot of it still rough, especially nearer the "forest" (my house/street butts up to literal million dollar homes and each one has a nice giant cushion of trees on their lots to buffer them from the plebes). But we're going to be redoing the fence and some other stuff there so I look forward to reapproaching that in the fall. For the front yard, I have three main areas of concern. 1.)The grass, which I'm an idiot and don't know what it is (maybe St. Augustine), has gotten progressively more riddled with weeds as well as just a dead... underlayer (for lack of a proper term). I'd love to know how to properly nurse it back to health. There are a couple of still decent areas. One is the right hand side lawn. This actually used to have two huge oak trees between my house and the neighbors and was literally 100% dirt. We cut down the trees b/c it was screwing both our foundations and the grass just grew naturally. It's pretty excellent. And then an area on the front left lawn that gets more shade than the rest of the lawn. Both have decently healthy grass. Here are some pics: The decent sidelawn:  With closeup:  Now some of the crustier areas:     Crusty area with weed:   So you can see the grass just isn't filling in, has some weed encroachment (it's basically filled in our lawn) and there is this totally crispy underlayer of dead grass it seems. I'd say roughly 80% of the grass is now the lovely crunchy weed mix. 2.) In front of the pine tree, there seems to be a good bit of erosion. And possibly some damage from being rained on by sap (I have nothing to support this other than the damage areas mimics the canopy shape and size)? The pine tree sits basically right where the hill starts to steeply drop towards the ditch so I'm thinking erosion. The tree and the damaged area:  Closeup of damaged area. It's hard to see but there's some small "tiers" (kind of like tiny rice paddy stair stepping) as it descends. Further enforcing erosion to me.  Another angle:  Profile (terrible pic but you can see the grade of the slope):  3.) A shittily sodded patch of grass from a utility company. Essentially they're laying fibre and bust my sewer line. They come out and fix it but do a lovely job of resodding. The grass doesn't match, is now dead (even though I watered it and it seemed to do fine the first year) and the whole area has settled really unevenly. Specifically right at the road. But it has been over a year and I feel like it's done settling. Overall shot:  The drop right where it meets the street:  Two closer shots of the sod:   So yeah any advice would help! And I can always provide more pics or details. Sorry if this is overload!
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May 25, 2020 04:58
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:23 |
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Hubis posted:'sup dogg! It absolutely was thanks! And yeah I've signed up for the Lawn Care Nut from your reco in the other thread. Been really enjoying the videos so far. Looking back on my habits, I basically never watered the lawn and cut way too short and essentially allowed all of those fried areas to take over. It's my first lawn with really tricky shade/sun areas so I took it all for granted. Oh and yeah I've never sharpened my blades in the 6 years I've owned this mower. Eek. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:To echo what Hubis said, raise your mower to the highest setting for St. Augustine, and mow every single week when it rains (really every 5 days is best). The utility co. patch looks like zoysia maybe, but more likely bermuda or bahia or some poo poo. I'd zap it and start over with st. Augustine sod, but if you have healthy st. augustine around it and keep it wet, the st. augustine may take over. It is aggressive and it likes it wet. Your erosion area under the tree is likely to be tough. It is really hard to get new grass established in shade, and I think Hubis is right that you have some soil compaction issues (if you are on red clay this can be a big problem). Your soil also looks kind of low in organic matter, but that's pretty normal in much of the south. Fertilize and don't bag/remove the clippings and the soil will improve over time. "Crusty area with weed" looks like it may be compacted as well, and could use some fertilizer and water. That weed is spurge I think and at least in my yard it seems to mostly take over in hot, dry parts of the yard. Thanks for this too!
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May 30, 2020 05:06
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Recommended edger? I love my weedeater but I'm tired of turning it on its side and the one I have now doesn't have an edging attachment. Not that it matters because the last edging attachment I got was horrendous. So I'd like a dedicated edger. Preferably electric. I edge my driveway, path from driveway to porch and the street. Unfortunately the street has no curb and they pave it like poo poo so the asphalt edge is rough and raggedy. My Lowe's had the 60V Craftsman leaf blower and weedeater both on sale for $100/each and I loving love them. But it looks like there's no 60v Craftsman Edger as far as I can see.
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Jun 10, 2020 03:55
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Motronic posted:The only time I've ever used an actual edger as a landscaper was for remedial work. Like first time out at a derelict property. No I've been doing it for years so I have the technique down. But I have this really lovely aggregate for the driveway and walking path and the road as I mentioned is really ragged asphalt and with how quickly my grass can get over it... it means just destroying my string when I edge. I just loving blow through it and it's annoying as hell.
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Jun 10, 2020 04:16
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Ha I was just coming in to say both "it's really more of a convenience thing" and " actually using it near the asphalt is probably just going to ruin it." I really more than anything want a clean edge at the road. I hate the way the growth so quickly spreads out to the road (centipede). It looks so trashy. Now on the plus side literally everyone's yard does it on our street because if how poor a job they did paving it. I should have gone through and carved out a straight edge while the asphalt was still soft.
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Jun 10, 2020 17:22
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Motronic posted:So you have a weed problem too. Centepedegrass is very susceptible to 2,4-D in the spring, but it should still work this time of year. Wait, I may be saying the wrong thing here. Centipede grass makes up a lot of my lawn there. I don't want to kill it right? edit: Anyway i'm excited to finally get to fertilizing this weekend. We had tons of rain and then Cristobal the last few weeks so I had to hold off. Funnily enough my neighbor had a bunch of dirt to fix an issue in their backyard and he used the leftover to try to regrade and fix the area adjoining our two properties. The grass had gotten sparse so he wanted to put some new seed down. He threw a bunch of peat moss on it and 24 hours later a huge deluge washed it all into my yard. Thanks for the free poo poo! BonoMan fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 16:10
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Motronic posted:If that's what your lawn is made of and what you want - then no, I suppose you don't want to kill it. That's a nuisance weed around here, which is what I thought you were describing it as. Oh interesting. Granted I'm new to this but nothing I've seen has described it as weed or nuisance. It's not the prettiest, but does seem to be a legit lawn grass. edit: SA is not letting me make changes. Weird. BonoMan fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 17:05
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devmd01 posted:It’s taken some work but the yard is pretty clear of weeds. It looks pretty good all trimmed up! want to put mah feet in that grass
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Aug 8, 2020 02:50
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That reminds me. Came home one day last month and found this: Apparently my neighbor (who's dad was living with him at the time) called the city to come fix their ditch because of poor drainage. The screwed that up and then to fix it they had to "regrade" (I put that in quotes given the hatchet job they did) the ditch for 3 houses in a row to drain to the closest drainage culvert. All three ditches they regraded they hosed up. Not just in the looks (I mean look at that poo poo) but in that each one... right before it gets to the driveway culvert... goes too low. Still waiting on them to come fix this poo poo.
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Aug 25, 2020 23:30
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FogHelmut posted:The house I lived in growing up was on 1 acre of grass and had slopes too steep for a riding mower. The self propelled mower was a life saver. Yeah even with just moderately steep slopes on my yard a self propelled would be awesome. It's one of those "don't know what you're missing til you use it." That said... my current mower is not self propelled and it gives me one helluva workout sometimes.
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Sep 3, 2020 19:26
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:
Mississippi State and their extension service in Mississippi is loving awesome.
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Sep 14, 2020 18:35
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OSU_Matthew posted:This is what you want to dig that out: This is awesome but godddammmnnn $70 for a shovel blade is a little hard to stomach (but prob worth it)
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Sep 15, 2020 14:56
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Motronic posted:What the hell was that garage built for? Clown cars? I mean it's pretty clear what it's built for!
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Jul 2, 2021 16:04
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It'll die/get damaged pretty quick... Probably in just a day. But if there are no other outstanding issues it should grow back fine.
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Aug 13, 2021 18:07
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SpartanIvy posted:Turns out what is killing my lawn isn't any kind of fungus but Army Worms. There's an epidemic of them around here. I edged my yard and there were just handfuls of the caterpillars crawling around on the sidewalk afterwards. As additional evidence, I was down at some trails a few miles away and all the grass looked the exact same as mine does. Yep Army Worms are everywhere!
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Aug 16, 2021 16:57
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Yeah speed at which you can progress *and* speed of the throttle is important. I have great control and was still chewing through string... Then someone (prob Motronic) said just do it at half throttle. String lasts much longer now and end effect is the same!
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Aug 25, 2021 15:20
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Motronic posted:That wasn't me, I got full throttle, but I'm also MOVING. Partial throttle sounds like a good idea while you're getting the hang of it. Oh I move at a good clip but my aggregate concrete would still eat the string like crazy. I've been edging with my weed eater for 10 years so I got it down pat. The problem for me was waiting too long and the grass creeping back over the edge. And it was uneven at the edges so there was always some exploratory edging that had to be done.
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Aug 26, 2021 12:37
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Hey folks - looking for some ideas from some of you thought leaders god I hate that term lol Bought a house and it's got a nice little quaint back "yard." We're tucked away in some trees so it's very shady. There's a low profile deck and fence that will be replaced. They're pretty rotten. They're not going to fall through, but they're past their prime. The seller, I guess in some attempt to make it look "nice", just dumped a bunch of black mulch down with some plants and called it a day. The mosquitoes and bugs are *outrageous* back there. This is coming from someone born and raised in rural Mississippi where there are no worse mosquitoes. I'm still in the south so being tucked away in the trees means it is hot and humid and, with summer afternoon rains, it stays moist. I think a lot of the skeeters are hanging out under the deck too. So, while I like the idea of the deck, we'd probably replace it with something not as hospitable? The massive amount of mulch (seriously it's more than it looks) stays totally wet all the time too which doesn't help. Anyway, personally I'd love to remove all the mulch and plants and do something more... rock based? Sort of a xeri/hardscaping thing? Not sure which term fits. While I know being tucked away in the trees means I won't totally get rid of the bugs... I'd love to not have the back yard be a haven for them. I'd love to pretend I would totally DIY this, but likely would have to pay someone to get started on something I can add to or maintain. So I'd love to have somewhat of an idea of where to start by the time I get to that phase. Sorry that's a long post for "what would you do?"  
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Jul 15, 2022 17:01
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Given the small size of your yard and all the trees/cover around, I don't think you're going to solve your mosquito problem with landscaping. Mosquitos do best in still air, and that's probably a big part of your problem. With all the tree cover I doubt you get much of a breeze. E: you don't really have much plant cover to remove. I doubt a ton of mosquitos are hiding out in those scrawny little azaleas/ Yeah the azaleas were never really a concern, just the deck that is likely trapping lots of moisture and the overall mounds of mulch as well as they stay damp. As for location, I'm in North Carolina in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill). Haven't gotten a grasp on the soil just yet. My wife was like "let's just remove it all and see if we can get some grass to grow" but that doesn't seem likely to me. As for the rocks, its a combination of look + getting rid of lots of detritus flows. Our front yard is basically the same as the back. Lots of mulch... patchy dirt areas , etc. And whenever it rains, lots of detritus seems to skim off the PO's "landscaping" and get everywhere. We clean it daily. So it'd be nice to have something that isn't always getting *everything* so dirty and has relatively low maintenance... and I like the look of it. Again, I totally know it won't solve every problem, but hopefully it'd help! Def gonna check the pest control thread - I think I remember reading some good advice from way back (when I lived in MS).
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Jul 15, 2022 18:10
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ohhyeah posted:Do you have a general timeline? I think that would be the place to start for two reasons. 1 - replacing the deck and fence are going to be disruptive. No point in adding new plants to have them get trampled by the fence guy. 2 - trading money for time. You could pay big money to have a new patio with mature plantings dropped in now, or at the other end of the spectrum DIY the whole thing over 3-4 years with clearance plants and random pavers. Thanks for the advice! No real timeline. We just moved in... We got some years! Yeah I didn't know the right word so I was trying to combine xeri/hardscape to basically just say "rocky or not super plant based landscaping." We don't have good green thumbs and it's such a small contained shady area that I'd like to do something with less maintenance and is more rocky/sculptural/Christ it's late and words are failing me.
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Jul 17, 2022 05:24
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Wallet posted:Plants are extremely easy (no green thumb required!) if you pick the right plants for the conditions and location. If they're appropriately chosen and sited, you really shouldn't have to do anything at all. I'd go for a few nice shrubs and some shade groundcovers. Put some cool rocks (or big old boulders if you can get 'em) in there for the groundcovers to scramble on/over and you'll have a sweet looking low maintenance setup. That looks super nice, thanks! And yes there is some dappled sunlight so it's not completely cave like. (My house on the other hand gets like... No ambient light but that's another thread).
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Jul 17, 2022 14:57
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According to the awesome app Seek, it's a Winged Euonymus
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Sep 1, 2022 23:11
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This is the back of my house - facing a roadway. We got back there yesterday to clear some of the larger fallen debris from all the trees over the past year or so. We want to eventually clear this area of all the (I think) Boston Ivy growing everywhere. If you look at the left side of the image, you'll see a ribbon marked tree. That's our survey marker and it extends to the right to the other edge of the property. So we'll need to take care of all of the area within that zone back to the house and the HOA will, hopefully, take care of the rest. We got most of the heavy debris out and clawed away any vines encroaching on the house but goddamn... what's the best method for de-ivying a large section of this area? Eventually we'll cut down the trees contained within our area as well and re-landscape the whole thing to be more of a back "yard" (or at least outdoor experience for the kids since we get zero sunlight lol). 
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Feb 12, 2023 18:47
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Motronic posted:I don't think you want the "best" method, as it's not really affordable for most. Getting rid of ivy is second only to getting rid of bamboo and the same basic method works: dig off the entire layer of topsoil and sanitize it with heat and/or replace it. Thanks for all of that. Yeah we expected to have to do typical maintenance with removing new growth once we do the heavy lifting of trying to get rid of all of this so that's expected. "Luckily" the are is pretty contained to what you see. It goes a little to the left then hits a curb and dies and to the right it hits a very straight line where the OTHER hoa (for the development ours butts up against) does a great job of keeping it away. So we shouldn't be getting re-fed from other areas.
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Feb 12, 2023 19:05
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wesleywillis posted:My boss has some sort of invasive poo poo growing in his back yard. I *think* its Ivy, but don't quote me on that. His solution is to cut the poo poo out of it and then cover the gently caress out of it with mulch. haha I appreciate it, but probably won't go this route. We're trying to de-vegetate that area a little. We have copperheads in the area and have had several appear on and around our (neighbors and I) carports. I have kids so trying to not give anything any vegetation or coverage to use. devicenull posted:Anyone around you rent out goats? (not joking) Man this would be awesome. I'm a little worried the location is terrible (that road you see is fairly well traveled because it leads to a parkway just a block or so over) for that though.
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Feb 15, 2023 02:33
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Was fixing a small brick that had gotten pushed up right outside our front door. So took the brick out and it looks like there's this white, chalky, potato-like ... thing underneath it I'm trying to identify. It was dense, but could be crumbled away like a really overcooked and dry potato. It sort oscillated between wet and potato-inside looking (that sort of semi-translucent yellowy interior) and crumbly dry chalky white material. Almost like when it got exposed to air. Some photos and a single video here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QT6s7bMKm8G5zhrK6 At one point there was a little reddish piece that made me think it's possibly a root of some kind, but nothing that seemed definitive. Odd!
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Feb 19, 2023 19:46
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:23 |
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Felder Rushing's book 'Slow gardening' is overall fantastic but has some good insights. And everybody should listen to the Gestalt Gardener. He's a joy to listen to. One of the few good things to come out of Mississippi! https://www.npr.org/podcasts/486075531/the-gestalt-gardener
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Feb 21, 2023 02:38
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