OceanStWx

Probably the closest looking leaves that I've found so far. The (alleged) ash on my back property line is at least 30 ft tall. So it's a healthy tree and I would love to know for sure what it is. My main goal is to find something to replace all the jewelweed that grows in there. I want to go native like cardinal flower.

I've been using iSeek but I may try that one too.

I'm trying to ID what's in my bottomland/swampy area first to see what I want to keep, and second to see what might match well with it for planting. So far I think I've got smooth alder (my best guess because their leaves are not as serrated as other species, have a ton of this), southern arrowwood (I can only find one of these), there is a type of willow but I have yet to pin down the species (more of a shrub than a tree at this point). All make sense for a wet area. I'm pretty sure about 25 yard back in the thicket is an ash tree. I would love to figure out which type (especially if I can do anything to keep the EAB away). I'll probably have to wait until fall to get back in there though and ID some of the trees on the back edge of the property. It's just too thick for me to get through currently.

Time to go back and recalculate what I could've been. Edit: Looks like I was TOO consistent. New method only drops my best run to 9.5.

Don't tempt me.

That's my problem, I'll have a hard time getting back there so it will need to be fairly self sufficient. I also have half a mind to pick some favorite ideas and try and start as seed and transplant early on and see what happens. Then I won't be out much money if it doesn't work out. I could easily do that with my maples when they put down seed.

I've taken to lining those up like a putt with my PW/52 (if it's a real tight pin maybe the 56 or 60) and getting the heel off the ground. So I just stroke it like I would a putt for distance and it pops out really consistent. I change the club based on the distance to the pin.

I'm really shaky. I'm struggling with partial shots. 95% of the time I'm long. Long is never a good place to be.

It's a tough area to figure out, because it's quite wet in the spring and can at times retain water in the winter if it's a big rainfall/snowmelt combo. But when it dries out it's dry, so the drainage I think it pretty efficient. It tends to stay moist longer because we collect all the runoff from the neighborhood. So even several days after a rain there will still be running water through the active drainage part of the area.

I think I could convince my wife to get a family membership at a place like Falmouth (ME) because they have tennis and a pool. Great for kids! I'd say I'm 75% of the way to convince her already.

I'm in the midst of thinking about how to finish off parts of my yard. I have a swampy area that ideally would be populated by more interesting plants than currently growing there. Thinking of trying to get something like cardinal flower growing in there. Ideally I'd love to put something like quaking aspen or tamarack in there to add to the interest in the fall/winter mixed in with the alder already growing. But I'm also trying to hedge off the swap from the lawn by low shrubs. I'm think some swamp azalea would probably do well, and maybe a shadblow serviceberry or two. They would frame my Henry Hicks magnolia I just planted this season. Down the side of the house the swamp becomes a drainage ditch, and I think I'd like to add a wall along that (won't be retaining just decorative). That will frame the wildflower bed nicely I think and give me a convenient place to manage the weeds in the ditch from.

Honestly the iron game just wasn't that strong. Straight but often short, right, or left. Chip and a putt later and I walked away with par or bogey. If I was consistently hitting GIR I would've easily been living in the mid to high 70s because I had a strong putter. Now we birdie and then give it away with doubles and triples.

It's a crime I have only played that course once, but I also didn't start playing seriously until 2008. Shot my first round in the 80s in 2012, and first 79 in 2016. 2017 I knew we were going to try to have a kid so it was a grind to get the index below 10. Shot my best 9 (36, +1) and had a couple 78s and managed to sneak it down to 9.7 by the end of the year. I was probably a small adjustment away on my approach shots from being really good, but the season ended and the rest is history.

When you play every week it's pretty amazing how it all comes together quickly. But there are still flashes, as long as I can hang onto those I'm happy. I've gone 50/41 and 42/46 in my most recent rounds. Chuck the 50 and I'm content.

Having a kid has done a number on my handicap (only 4 rounds so far this year) but every once and a while it still comes together for me. Played with Ekster last week and split the fairway in half on 1 about 280. Had about 120 in and parked it to 1 foot. Probably should've just walked back to the parking lot though.

I tried to do the "wave of color" through the seasons. Lily of the valley and azalea bloom early, spirea late June-ish, and Hydrangea the rest of the year. All cultivars I picked to grow generally 4-5 ft tall and wide and not block our pinched windows in the front. I also have a running list of things I'd like in the yard.

I like the name, vive le resistance! We got two Endless Summer Bloomstruck hydrangea. I think my plant coverings weren't tall enough last year, so a few stem tips got burned and didn't come back, but otherwise they are flourishing. Last season the flower were a deep blue-purple, but this year it's a light rose-purple. So I've added about 0.5 pH worth of sulfur to see if that does the trick.

I did the ziplock and paper towel route for lupine this spring. Worked great as I would say the majority of those seeds that germinated have taken root in the wild flower bed. Now slugs and snails are doing a number, but I've kept them at bay with garlic water spray. Next step will be a more potent repellent. Several clusters are doing really well though. I think I successfully saved my October glory that had crown dieback last summer. Trimmed the dead branches and sprayed neem oil for the bugs that seemed to be enjoying the open wounds a little too much. Nice full crown this year, no dieback that I can see. Hydrangea are definitely blooming purple though, so the blue flowers last year were just a sign of the potting soil the plant came in. My beds need some amendments to bring the pH down.

That's what my practice swing always looks like. I honestly think 90% of my problems could be solved with a "slow back and accelerate through" but I tend to accelerate back and overswing. I know I'm doomed when I can see the club head out of my left eye cross the plane at the top of my backswing (I'm right handed).

Is this for E Mass trying to steal your snow?

Nearly gave myself heat stroke today, but I dragged myself around 18 walking. 50 back (teed off 10) and 41 front.

I've been tracking that for a bunch of years now, I've been pretty consistently averaging about 240 carry. Depending on how damp the course is anywhere from 250-270 on the roll out. The good swings can get me 270 carry and near 300 on the roll out. I would really like to figure out how to do that consistently, because the game does get easier.

That's why I want to run the soil test first, but all signs pointing towards at least slightly alkaline at the moment.

My plan is to do the same this fall. I think I may have to mix some peat in to get the soil away from alkaline. I'll just some soil tests first, but I'm pretty sure that's a big issue for me.

First round in on Saturday at Belgrade Lakes. Normally my crap posture means I fat my shots early in the year, but my big miss was topped shots all day. 52 on the front then resorted to G&Ts and managed 3 pars on the back, actually 3 of the last 5.