free_man Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Those pictures are pretty amazing...my garden sadly got (mostly) destroyed by a very hungry raccoon and the flocks of deer that graze in the lawns of Westchester County. I'm amazed at people who can just leave stuff out like Skier's pictures shows...that would be toast here in the first night. I have a pretty sturdy fence, and a raccoon still managed to sneak in and devour half the garden one night....I spent five hours digging a trench around the garden and burying the mesh fence after this happened, but it didn't save the plants as the raccoon found another way to ease his lithe frame into the garden. It is really sad as I had a ton of nice vegetables and my plants were doing the best I'd ever seen this year. I still am getting tons of arugula, eggplants, and some corn (and should have a bunch of cucumbers and tomatoes soon), but the gardens here have gotten absolutely hammered. Same story across the street where a neighbor lost half a dozen broccoli plants overnight....not much to be done when you live in an area with no natural predators to cull the population of smaller mammals, and your house backs onto a 70-acre nature preserve teeming with this stuff.. I've given up on gardening in Dobbs, as have most of my neighbors, but luckily I'm moving to NH where they have some nice vegetable gardens that I can help cultivate. They have some sturdier wire fences and also less of a deer/raccoon problem, so I should be able to make a pretty successful garden up there, expanding what they already have. The deer ate all of our hostas. Literally, all. I find that pretty amusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&P Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 K good luck Thanks What I'll be looking for is a TTTF. They are becoming more popular as we become more eco conscious. They require less watering, are more drought tolerant, bug resistant. I've been researching seed for the better part of 2 months and I saw that the Tall Fescues being made/marketed from Lebanon have some of the highest ratings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 I measured the circumference of my pumpkin today.. 69" which converts to a weight of ~105 LB. 4 days ago on the 14th it was 55 LB ... so it's still doubling every 4 days. This is nuts! Never seen anything like it. I still can't get over how thick the stem is.. it's as thick as my leg. Plant still looks healthy but the powdery mildew just started.. I figure I've got 2-4 weeks more growing time. The tomatoes went nuts too.. I have at least 3X as many as I did in my last post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Local grain/feed supply store has a pretty solid seed blend. 25% masterpiece tf 25% picasso tf 20% rembrandt tf 10% bordeaux ky bl 20% exacta per rye I am a year ahead of my timeframe but I now know that I have a local supplier. I picked up 2-40# bags of bradfield cgm to put down. That should get me close to 20#/1000 sf. This will be my late summer early fall feeeding. I am also going to pick up 45lbs of Mag-I-Cal by Johnathan Green tomorrow. Its a lime alternate that is supposed to work better than the traditiional pelletized lime. I am hoping for some results this fall but not expecting miracles. Lawn still looks like **** but baby stepping my way along. I'm also going to get a soil test done so I have a baseline. I also plan on another round of compost tea when I know its going to rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Local grain/feed supply store has a pretty solid seed blend. 25% masterpiece tf 25% picasso tf 20% rembrandt tf 10% bordeaux ky bl 20% exacta per rye I am a year ahead of my timeframe but I now know that I have a local supplier. I picked up 2-40# bags of bradfield cgm to put down. That should get me close to 20#/1000 sf. This will be my late summer early fall feeeding. I am also going to pick up 45lbs of Mag-I-Cal by Johnathan Green tomorrow. Its a lime alternate that is supposed to work better than the traditiional pelletized lime. I am hoping for some results this fall but not expecting miracles. Lawn still looks like **** but baby stepping my way along. I'm also going to get a soil test done so I have a baseline. I also plan on another round of compost tea when I know its going to rain. Bob have you tested the soil to see if you need lime? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Bob have you tested the soil to see if you need lime? Soil around here runs acidic based on plant life. I have wild blueberry bushes around the yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 pumpkin update! circumference of 80.5" which converts to a weight of 155 LB 5 day weight gain of 50LB I think I'll hit 200LB ... maybe 300 if I am lucky. Hard to know how long the plant will hold up to the powdery mildew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Put down 100lbs ~15#/1000sf of CGM over the yard plus 45 lbs of Mag-I-Cal (Pelletized Calcium) Prepping a batch of compost tea as well that I will put down tomorrow night before the upcoming frontal passage. 2 more applications for the season. One more round of Milky Spore and one more round of fertilizer 8-3-1 Organic Fertilizer from Johnathan Green or Safe 'N Simple 6-2-4 from Blue Seal. I have found 3 local dealers that all sell organic lawn fertilizers so I'm feeling good about that. Lawn has come back to life in the past couple weeks with the cooler temps. Lawn back to being cut once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My lawn is a jungle and has tons of leaves and debris I need to really cut it down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Put down 100lbs ~15#/1000sf of CGM over the yard plus 45 lbs of Mag-I-Cal (Pelletized Calcium) Prepping a batch of compost tea as well that I will put down tomorrow night before the upcoming frontal passage. 2 more applications for the season. One more round of Milky Spore and one more round of fertilizer 8-3-1 Organic Fertilizer from Johnathan Green or Safe 'N Simple 6-2-4 from Blue Seal. I have found 3 local dealers that all sell organic lawn fertilizers so I'm feeling good about that. Lawn has come back to life in the past couple weeks with the cooler temps. Lawn back to being cut once a week. Well this round helped the lawn. Still hoping to top-dress the lawn in Oct along with my last fertilizing. Grass needs to be cut once a week now. Greening up and growing nicely. Still thin but the best its looked all year. Since I did not doo a Spring pre-emergent, I am paying for it. Crabgrass and Spurge. How about everyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Torchey Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well this round helped the lawn. Still hoping to top-dress the lawn in Oct along with my last fertilizing. Grass needs to be cut once a week now. Greening up and growing nicely. Still thin but the best its looked all year. Since I did not doo a Spring pre-emergent, I am paying for it. Crabgrass and Spurge. How about everyone else? Have you considered an early September overseed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well this round helped the lawn. Still hoping to top-dress the lawn in Oct along with my last fertilizing. Grass needs to be cut once a week now. Greening up and growing nicely. Still thin but the best its looked all year. Since I did not doo a Spring pre-emergent, I am paying for it. Crabgrass and Spurge. How about everyone else? Yup... but it is green Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Have you considered an early September overseed? Not this year. GGM went down a week ago. Not going to happen. My plan at this point would be to do it next year, late August-early September. If I go with the Tall Fecues that I have been looking at, it looks as though a require a longer germination period, so you need to overseed those sooner than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Yup... but it is green Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavisStraight Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I got a shatload of that growing all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneypitmike Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 pumpkin update! circumference of 80.5" which converts to a weight of 155 LB 5 day weight gain of 50LB I think I'll hit 200LB ... maybe 300 if I am lucky. Hard to know how long the plant will hold up to the powdery mildew. Awesome. When did you finally get yours planted? I got a late start and this year, I was relegated to an area that got far less than the full sun I was looking.. So mine are a bit of a disappointment. When do these stop growing? Also--I think I will seed the last of my new areas. Figure the fall will do them well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well this round helped the lawn. Still hoping to top-dress the lawn in Oct along with my last fertilizing. Grass needs to be cut once a week now. Greening up and growing nicely. Still thin but the best its looked all year. Since I did not doo a Spring pre-emergent, I am paying for it. Crabgrass and Spurge. How about everyone else? Lesco would take care of all your weed problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Lesco would take care of all your weed problems So can the proper organic lawn program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&P Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 i would be interested to hear how your going to prevent the crabgrass , assuming you don't use pre emergent how did the milky spore work for you? I used the granular and had lots of damage from grubs (they are espacially bad here , i've had three neighbors loose 75% of their lawn because of them)- 1st year though. I am hoping that the second year eliminates the ba$tards, we'll see. I tried to convince others , including pro's . they're response. I'd like to see how you make out first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 i would be interested to hear how your going to prevent the crabgrass , assuming you don't use pre emergent how did the milky spore work for you? I used the granular and had lots of damage from grubs (they are espacially bad here , i've had three neighbors loose 75% of their lawn because of them)- 1st year though. I am hoping that the second year eliminates the ba$tards, we'll see. I tried to convince others , including pro's . they're response. I'd like to see how you make out first. Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) is the only known organic "pre-emergent" weed control. There are conflicting opinions as to how good a job it does. From what I can tell, it's benefits are seen once you hit the 20# / 1000 sf threshold on application. CGM is a known fertilizer that is readily sold. if it is sold as a "pre-emergent" as well, royalties are give to Iowa State University who found out about the weed preventative characteristics of CGM and patented it. So you may pay a little more for the name on the bag if it has that. I try to avoid that. Bradfield Organics sells CGM. I put doen 2 bags of this stuff a week ago and it definitely greens up the lawn. http://www.bradfieldorganics.com/corngluten900.html (About $35/bag) I'll have to wait till next Spring to truly know the benefits of the CGM since I did not put it down it time this past Spring and that is why I have the problem I do know with crabgrass and spurge. You need to apply it when the Forsythias bloom to get the full benefits of the product. The Milky Spore full benefits will be seen in subsequent years since it takes time to build up in the soil. It also needs to be ingested by the young grubs to be effective. The beautiful thing about MS is that it lasts in your lawn for many years to come at the bacteria will naturally reproduce. It must have been an off year for beetles or the MS worked because I did not have nearly as bad a year as I did last year with them. One product that is supposedly better than MS is Nematodes. You can buy those and apply them to our lawn an they do a similar job as the MS is killing off the grubs. http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=499 As far as Organic products in general I am going to try the Johnathan Green Organics line of products next years as well as this Fall. http://www.jonathangreen.com/index.cfm/category/2/ I also found out that Blue Seal has a line of products as well. http://www.bluesealcountrystore.com/lawn-garden/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&P Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 thanks, recognize this a long term solution that takes a while to establish, just wondering if you perceived any benifit in the first year. did u have grub damage? Corn Gluten Meal (CGM) is the only known organic "pre-emergent" weed control. There are conflicting opinions as to how good a job it does. From what I can tell, it's benefits are seen once you hit the 20# / 1000 sf threshold on application. CGM is a known fertilizer that is readily sold. if it is sold as a "pre-emergent" as well, royalties are give to Iowa State University who found out about the weed preventative characteristics of CGM and patented it. So you may pay a little more for the name on the bag if it has that. I try to avoid that. Bradfield Organics sells CGM. I put doen 2 bags of this stuff a week ago and it definitely greens up the lawn. http://www.bradfield...ngluten900.html (About $35/bag) I'll have to wait till next Spring to truly know the benefits of the CGM since I did not put it down it time this past Spring and that is why I have the problem I do know with crabgrass and spurge. You need to apply it when the Forsythias bloom to get the full benefits of the product. The Milky Spore full benefits will be seen in subsequent years since it takes time to build up in the soil. It also needs to be ingested by the young grubs to be effective. The beautiful thing about MS is that it lasts in your lawn for many years to come at the bacteria will naturally reproduce. It must have been an off year for beetles or the MS worked because I did not have nearly as bad a year as I did last year with them. One product that is supposedly better than MS is Nematodes. You can buy those and apply them to our lawn an they do a similar job as the MS is killing off the grubs. http://www.gardensal...icle.asp?ai=499 As far as Organic products in general I am going to try the Johnathan Green Organics line of products next years as well as this Fall. http://www.jonathang...cfm/category/2/ I also found out that Blue Seal has a line of products as well. http://www.bluesealc...om/lawn-garden/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 thanks, recognize this a long term solution that takes a while to establish, just wondering if you perceived any benifit in the first year. did u have grub damage? No damage to the lawn due to grubs this year. That's to say I have no areas that are dying. Very minimal damage to foliage this year to to beetles this year. There are no beetles anymore. They were around for a couple wek stretch back in July/August. I did have some damage to my lawn last year from grubs. Exacerbated by the dry summer and lack of lawn care in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbutts Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 donno if this is still the place for chipmunk banter, but had a hawk come take one away right in front of me today in my yard hawks have been around all year, many less 'munks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 donno if this is still the place for chipmunk banter, but had a hawk come take one away right in front of me today in my yard hawks have been around all year, many less 'munks Natures natural killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walpole Joe Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Not this year. GGM went down a week ago. Not going to happen. My plan at this point would be to do it next year, late August-early September. If I go with the Tall Fecues that I have been looking at, it looks as though a require a longer germination period, so you need to overseed those sooner than later. Bob, you looking to use Jonathan Green Black Beauty? I've used it in shady spots around my pines, works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Bob, you looking to use Jonathan Green Black Beauty? I've used it in shady spots around my pines, works well. I thought about it. They have a couple nice seed products. I haven't made up my mind on a seed yet. The local Feed store has a seed blend that looks pretty good too. My plan is to over seed next fall. Probably right around this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinic Zone Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 Spent a good part of the day cleaning out along one side of my property along the tree line. Tiring but it looks good. Now I have some beds where I can transplant some plants. Also the stone for my walkways/patio/hot tub was delivered. Going to spend tomorrow putting down what I can. I still have to get the hot tub moved to prep the area under that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&P Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 thanks for responding, hopefully i'll have better results next yr No damage to the lawn due to grubs this year. That's to say I have no areas that are dying. Very minimal damage to foliage this year to to beetles this year. There are no beetles anymore. They were around for a couple wek stretch back in July/August. I did have some damage to my lawn last year from grubs. Exacerbated by the dry summer and lack of lawn care in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 Does anyone else have all their Oak trees dropping tons of half dead leaves? Must be some kind of fungus from the hot/wet summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ski MRG Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Back in June, against my better judgement, I overseeded some of my lawn. Fortunately June's cool wet weather helped the seed to get a toehold. I'm about to do another area of the lawn but have yet to buy the seed. I used a Scotts blend last time and was satisfied but it was fairly pricey. Anybody have any suggestions for a quality but less expensive seed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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