The 2023 Lawn, Garden, Landscape Party Discussion

[QCD17]

Hoping this early spring doesn't mess up the fruit tree pollination like it did last year.  Had tons of flowers, and no apples.  Most likely due to the temp being too cold for the bees to do their thing.

[Spanks45]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:12 AM, BrianW said:

If anyone wants to go an organic route on their lawn I have been having amazing success with the following products. I'm using this in my 5000 sqft fenced in area for my small dog.

Purely Organics for lawn fertilizer. Available at Home Depot. I believe its made from recycled grain from a brewery. Works similar to Milorganite with the soil and you can't burn your lawn with it. I use 3 bags a year.

$31.97 for 25lb bag that does 5000 sqft.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Purely-Organic-Products-25-lb-Dry-Lawn-Food-Fertilizer-LFJRDK1/204279747#ratings-and-reviews

I don't use much of any herbicides. A healthy established lawn doesn't really need any. I will walk around and spot treat with a sprayer using some Tenacity which is semi organic made from Mesotrione derived from the bottle brush plant. 

https://www.greencastonline.com/labels/tenacity

I also use this organic one that is just Iron HEDTA.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/bonide-captain-jacks-lawnweed-brew/natural-organic-weed-control

For ticks and insects I spray wondercide every 30 days. Its just cedarwood oil. I also have had amazing success putting their cedarwood oil on my dog for ticks. 

https://www.wondercide.com/

For grubs I drop a bag of Grub Gone. Its active ingredient is Bt, a naturally-occurring soil bacterium

https://beetlegone.com/products/grub-gone

Here is Woody enjoying the organic lawn. 

Thanks for your organic/natural tips. I have always gone the natural/organic route and my yard was always nicer than the yards that paid service companies to maintain their yards. My new property is almost all sand, so no matter what I do, the grass goes dormant the second July roles in, unless it rains constantly. Would love to try the purely organics, but milorganite seems to keep the deer and other critters out of the yard. Thus less ticks overall. Tons of grubs here and have been meaning to try that product, glad you have had success. 

We are adding a pool house and patio next month, which will require heavy machinery and tons of dirt, so the yard will have to wait until that disaster is over....

[amarshall]

Oaks continue to torment and drop leaves in Napril.




.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

What could be causing a nearly constant wet spot in my yard?. The area where my neighbors yard and my yard meet has had standing water for months. I even pumped it today and the water is slowing filling back in?

 

there are no faucets nearby on either my house or neighbors. There sprinkler system was also turned off and blown out for the winter, so there would be no water coming from there.

 

what gives?

[512high]

33 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

What could be causing a nearly constant wet spot in my yard?. The area where my neighbors yard and my yard meet has had standing water for months. I even pumped it today and the water is slowing filling back in?

 

there are no faucets nearby on either my house or neighbors. There sprinkler system was also turned off and blown out for the winter, so there would be no water coming from there.

 

what gives?

Is it a low low area?  Are you/neighbor on septic or town sewer? Perimeter drain? (or drain coming off a sump pump)

Did this just start?meaning a week ago/ month?

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

13 minutes ago, 512high said:

Is it a low low area?  Are you/neighbor on septic or town sewer? Perimeter drain? (or drain coming off a sump pump)

Did this just start?meaning a week ago/ month?

It is a low area, but not like crazy so. Town sewer, which is in the front of both houses (water is in back). They don’t have a pump that I’m aware of. I have one, but it flows through a pipe out to way behind my property.

 

Its been wet in the past, but never held water to this degree.

[512high]

Just now, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

It is a low area, but not like crazy so. Town sewer, which is in the front of both houses (water is in back). They don’t have a pump that I’m aware of. I have one, but it flows through a pipe out to way behind my property.

1 minute ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

It is a low area, but not like crazy so. Town sewer, which is in the front of both houses (water is in back). They don’t have a pump that I’m aware of. I have one, but it flows through a pipe out to way behind my property.

 

Its been wet in the past, but never held water to this degree.

Its been wet in the past, but never held water to this degree.

Well when you you have a sump pump that goes through a pipe way out behind your property, any chance this "wet" spot is inline with your sump drain line? I have seen those crack and of course when pump runs, the area fills up where the crack is or break.

If its not anywhere near there, no clue, is you water line from your well in that area?

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

23 minutes ago, 512high said:

Well when you you have a sump pump that goes through a pipe way out behind your property, any chance this "wet" spot is inline with your sump drain line? I have seen those crack and of course when pump runs, the area fills up where the crack is or break.

If its not anywhere near there, no clue, is you water line from your well in that area?

The line for the sump is like 50 feet away and the area around the pipe is completely dry so it’s not that. And no well lines anywhere near it. We’ll is in the side yard.

 

Groundwater? Spring? Water table is so high currently it can’t drain off?

[512high]

1 minute ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

The line for the sump is like 50 feet away and the area around the pipe is completely dry so it’s not that. And no well lines anywhere near it. We’ll is in the side yard.

 

Groundwater? Spring? Water table is so high currently it can’t drain off?

Yes on all above, if no other sources near by, time will tell !  If its there when we begin to dry out etc, then there maybe something below 

[DavisStraight]

3 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

What could be causing a nearly constant wet spot in my yard?. The area where my neighbors yard and my yard meet has had standing water for months. I even pumped it today and the water is slowing filling back in?

 

there are no faucets nearby on either my house or neighbors. There sprinkler system was also turned off and blown out for the winter, so there would be no water coming from there.

 

what gives?

I have an area like that between me and my neighbor, he said it's an underground spring. We both use that area to dump leaves and branches because it's too soggy to grow grass.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

2 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

I have an area like that between me and my neighbor, he said it's an underground spring. We both use that area to dump leaves and branches because it's too soggy to grow grass.

I wonder if it’s that. The are is soft even in the summer, but it still grows grass. Grass is ready to Be cut right now in that area lol

[BrianW]

8 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

I wonder if it’s that. The are is soft even in the summer, but it still grows grass. Grass is ready to Be cut right now in that area lol

Sounds like an underground spring. I have one that runs through my yard and can actually hear the water flowing underground.

If you look at your yard with a drone you can usually actually see a huge difference in green. During the drought last year I could see the green strip from the spring  with my drone as clear as day. 

The water table has been really high here lately as well. Most ponds and lakes are completely full with a few over their banks here. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

15 hours ago, BrianW said:

Sounds like an underground spring. I have one that runs through my yard and can actually hear the water flowing underground.

If you look at your yard with a drone you can usually actually see a huge difference in green. During the drought last year I could see the green strip from the spring  with my drone as clear as day. 

The water table has been really high here lately as well. Most ponds and lakes are completely full with a few over their banks here. 

There is a distinct green strip running from my neighbors yard into mine, and the low area in my yard is where there is actual water above ground.

 

This makes the most sense to me now, as there is no water lines in the area of their yard where it starts, and no faucets on the house anywhere are leaking.

 

I guess in the summer it gets just dry enough to not have visible water above the surface?

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

So after doing some research, it does appear what is going on checks several of the boxes for a spring. It’s at the base of a small incline, low area, etc etc.

I wonder if it would Be characterized more as a “seep” as opposed to a spring, because I don’t see any water actually flowing out of the ground.

 

like I said yesterday, I pumped the water off that was there and by the end of the day, it had filled back up. Not fast, and it hasn’t really spread outside of that area, so who knows.

 

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So after doing some research, it does appear what is going on checks several of the boxes for a spring. It’s at the base of a small incline, low area, etc etc.

I wonder if it would Be characterized more as a “seep” as opposed to a spring, because I don’t see any water actually flowing out of the ground.

 

like I said yesterday, I pumped the water off that was there and by the end of the day, it had filled back up. Not fast, and it hasn’t really spread outside of that area, so who knows.

 

Dig a pond. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

4 minutes ago, mreaves said:

Dig a pond. 

I wish .

I am intrigued by what is going on though. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Also, the area around the water is pretty soft for a few feet, but the majority of my yard is fine. If this was a spring, wouldn’t my whole yard theoretically flood, or be wet?

[dendrite]

21 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Also, the area around the water is pretty soft for a few feet, but the majority of my yard is fine. If this was a spring, wouldn’t my whole yard theoretically flood, or be wet?

I don't think so. Check out some of them on findaspring.com.

[Brewbeer]

could be groundwater perched on a clay layer

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Pics are meh, but here we are

 

 

 

[CoastalWx]

Just seems like ground water no? Wasn’t there last year?

For the hell of it you could try digging a hole and you’ll find out quickly if it’s ground water.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

3 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Just seems like ground water no? Wasn’t there last year?

For the hell of it you could try digging a hole and you’ll find out quickly if it’s ground water.

I drained the whole area off Friday with a pump and it filled right back in.

[Damage In Tolland]

5 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

I drained the whole area off Friday with a pump and it filled right back in.

Urine?

[BrianW]

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

I drained the whole area off Friday with a pump and it filled right back in.

Where is the closest water? Is there a pond nearby? There is a pond uphill across the street from me and the level of that has a direct correlation with my groundwater level.

Use a post hole digger and dig down like a foot and look and see it's actively flowing.  You will be able to tell right away. 

I have looked up some ways online to potentially tap into the one in my yard for watering my lawn. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

7 minutes ago, BrianW said:

Where is the closest water? Is there a pond nearby? There is a pond uphill across the street from me and the level of that has a direct correlation with my groundwater level.

Use a post hole digger and dig down like a foot and look and see it's actively flowing.  You will be able to tell right away. 

I have looked up some ways online to potentially tap into the one in my yard for watering my lawn. 

There is a small pond maybe a few hundred feet away behind a neighbors house. We are told it is spring fed, but I have no way of confirming that.

And I think I’m going to try that. I’m going to pump off as much water as possible and then dig a small hole, see what happens.

Something is definitely going on, because even last year while there wasn’t stNding water like this, during the drought, when my entire lawn was basically dead, this area was still lush green in this like 4x4 section 

[Lava Rock]

This is more exciting than my crappy lawn stories.

Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

[QCD17]

We had a spot in our yard that was always wet.  Had it dug up when we put in a new driveway last year, and it turned out that it was a pipe coming from the curtain drain around the foundation. The idiots that put it in just had it randomly stop in the yard, instead of carrying it another 50' to the drainage line that feeds into a man made pond.  So of course I had to tack on 50' of new drainage to the cost of the driveway, topsoil, reseeding, etc.

[DavisStraight]

In the neighborhood I grew up there was a house with a nice piece of  land that was never built on, it was big enough for two house lots, I always wondered why they never built. Got my answer after a few years, there's an underground spring that some years creates groundwater, some winters there was so much we'd use it as a hockey rink when it froze. It's hard to know what's happening underground.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

1 hour ago, QCD17 said:

We had a spot in our yard that was always wet.  Had it dug up when we put in a new driveway last year, and it turned out that it was a pipe coming from the curtain drain around the foundation. The idiots that put it in just had it randomly stop in the yard, instead of carrying it another 50' to the drainage line that feeds into a man made pond.  So of course I had to tack on 50' of new drainage to the cost of the driveway, topsoil, reseeding, etc.

Is a curtain drain on the perimeter of the house? Or inside?

 

my neighbors house is pretty close to mine. I can’t imagine they’d have something like this dumping out 10 feet from the house 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

I also suppose this could all be nothing and it’s just standing water right now because the ground is saturated and water table is high