August 15, 2003

www.CarrollGardens.com

Establishing a Lawn the Old Fashioned Way

Featured Items

This newsletter serves as "part-two" of sorts to last week's newsletter, entitled "Fall Lawn Care Program."  To read last week's newsletter, please click the link below:

"Fall Lawn Care Program" (part 1) - last week's newsletter

With modern varieties of lawn grasses, a good lawn can usually be established in existing soil without major amendment. However, there are some places where unamended soil will not support a good lawn:

• Sandy soils that are so porous that they dry out quickly and nutrients just leach through them.
   

• Extremely compacted soils; usually caused by construction equipment.
   

• Hard, stony soil. Usually these soils are made up of small stones like gravel or more likely broken pieces of shale with little organic matter between the particles.

When these conditions exist the lawn must be established by the old fashioned tilling method:

• Do a soil test and determine how much lime is needed to change soil PH level to approximately 7.0.
   

• Kill the existing grass (if any) and weeds with glyphosate and wait 3 weeks.
   

• Apply Espoma 100% Organic Lawn Food at double the recommended rate. That is, use a 10,000 sq. ft. bag for 5,000 sq. ft.
   

• Apply the lime.
   

• Till as deep as the tiller will go (at least 6 inches) and remove any large rocks.
   

• Spread 8 bags of good compost, such as Chesapeake Green, per 100 square foot.
   

• Till again.
   

• Rake to make the soil totally level. In areas that have at least a half to a full day of sun, apply Black Beauty grass seed at the rate of 10-12 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft. In shady areas, apply Shady Nooks™ grass seed at the rate of 3lbs per 1,125 sq. ft.
   

• Cover the seed to the depth of 1/4 inch by raking in with the back of a metal lawn rake.  That is, you should hold the rake upside down with the tines pointed skyward.
   

• If there is danger of erosion, use a manufactured product such as; a seed protector mat, “green mulch” or Curlex.  Do not use hay or straw because of the danger of weed seeds.
   

• To germinate, new grass must be kept moist.  To start with, it has no roots, so deep watering is not essential - just five minutes, morning and evening. On a really hot windy day, a third watering at noon may be required. As the grass germinates and sends down roots, deeper watering may be needed. When the new grass is one inch tall, double the watering time to ten minutes and gradually increase to twenty minutes six to eight weeks after planting.

Black Beauty Grass Seed by Jonathan Green

Shady Nooks™ Grass Seed by Jonathan Green (shady areas)

Chesapeake Green
Lawn Enhancer

Espoma 100%
Organic Lawn Food
 

Oak-n-Ivy Tecnu

Endless Summer
hydrangea (PPAF)

Only a Few Endless Summer Hydrangeas Left

The Endless Summer Hydrangea has certainly been the topic of much conversation this summer.  As one of the few garden centers to carry this hardy and beautiful reblooming hydrangea this season, we have kept busy filling orders all summer long.  As the summer begins to wind down, however, we find ourselves with only 30 still in-stock.  We encourage you to hurry and order now while there are still some available.

In addition to repeat blooms, ‘Endless Summer’ is unusually hardy, even in Zone 4 climates (its from Minnesota!). It produces big, showy flower mops – clear pink blooms in alkaline soils and blue blooms in acid soils. Makes an excellent choice for foundation, specimen and shrub or perennial borders.

Click to read more about Endless Summer.
Order your Endless Summer Hydrangea today.
 

Question & Answer

Question:  I bought a Lilac bush 4 years ago.  It has grown into quite a large bush.  However, for three years it did not bloom.  This spring it had 4 blooms on it.  During the summer it gets a mildewy look to it.  It just isn’t doing good. I see lilac bushes in many yards (many of them not tended to) and they are all doing well.  What could my problem be?

Answer:  I’m not sure your lilac is doing that badly; lilacs often take several years to establish before blooming.  Lilacs bloom best in full sun; is yours in too much shade? 

Lilacs and powdery mildew go together.  (Exception: dwarf Korean lilac; it’s virtually immune to powdery mildew).  Some varieties and locations in the garden are more mildew-prone than others.  This year, with all the moisture, mildew is worse than it was in dry seasons.  Mildew is not life threatening; but a heavy infestation will weaken the plant. 

1. I suggest feeding with Bulb-tone® (yes, Bulb Tone for lilacs) and Kelp Meal®: now, in November and again early next spring.

2. Spray now with Daconil 2787 fungicide to prevent the spread of the mildew.  It won’t cure it, but it will keep it from getting worse.

3. Spray with Daconil after the flowers fade next spring and again a month later.
   
                                                            Bulb-tone®      Kelp Meal®
    

Question:  I have several “rug” junipers that have grown together over the last 5 years to form a very nice “carpet” in part of my landscaping.  Each Juniper was planted through landscape fabric and the fabric was covered with mulch originally.  I have a clover-like weed (I believe it is yellow wood sorrel) growing up through the “carpet” now.  What is the simplest and most efficient way to get rid of this weed and not harm my “carpet” of junipers?

Answer:  I suggest you spot treat the weeds with regular slow-acting glyphosate (not glyphosate mixed with a quick-kill like Diquat).  I know of no selective “over-the-top” weed killer that will kill your weeds without harming the Junipers.

A few hints on applying the glyphosate:

1. Use a paint brush to apply it to the weeds.

2. If you accidentally get a little on the juniper, it won’t kill the juniper but will make a brown patch that will take a year to fill in.  Accidental over-painting onto the juniper can be cured by an immediate thorough washing of the affected area or pruning out the affected branch.

3. Juniper is most susceptible to glyphosate damage in spring when it is in new growth.  Weeds are most susceptible to glyphosate kill in September.

4. Use Weedscreen granular pre-emergent to protect new weeds from sprouting from seed.  Weedscreen should be applied annually when the Forsythia blooms.
    

Question:  Can I cover grass around an oak with a 2 inch blanket of mulch?  Or do I have to kill it first?  If I spray Roundup on it, will I harm the roots of a white oak (20 feet from a Wye Oak seedling)?

Answer:  I suggest you cover the grass throughout with a thickness of about 20 sheets of newspaper and then put the 2 inches of mulch over that.  Try to use the newspaper that has as little colored ink as possible.  Any grass that pokes through can be spot treated with Roundup®.  If you have wild Bermuda grass (long runners), be prepared for lots of grass to come through and 2 treatments, 6 weeks apart, of Roundup.

Question:  I got the Carroll Gardens newsletter today and was prompted to think about lawn fertilizer.  How can I fertilize a 3 acre yard….economically?  Is it possible?

Answer:  I suggest you fertilize with Espoma 100% Organic Lawn Food.  But instead of 2 applications this fall, you can get away with one in September and then a 2^nd application at half strength in early spring.  This plan will cut your fertilizer bill in half.  Your lawn won’t be quite as good, but much better than if you did nothing.

Espoma 100% Organic Lawn Food

Question:  I have a newly constructed home with a newly seeded lawn.  The ground is very compact and full of stones and bare patches.  Should I get a couple of loads of top soil to put over the current lawn and re-seed with Black Beauty?  I don’t know what to do to bring the lawn in.

Answer:  In general, I have found that a layer of top soil spread, an inch or so deep, over the surface does not do much - and in some cases is counterproductive.  (The roots stay in the good soil on the surface and do not penetrate into the sub-soil).  In the first drought, the grass dries up and dies because it is not deeply rooted.  Tilling topsoil or compost into the lawn is the best alternative.  But, it’s a lot of work.

In sun or part sun, Black Beauty is the grass seed to use.  Feeding generously with Turf Trust®, Espoma 100% Organic or Turf-tone® will do a lot for your lawn.  Check your PH to see if lime is needed.  Spraying with SuperBio will add beneficial microbes to your soil.  Instead of tilling, you can rent a slit seeder to overseed the Black Beauty in late August or early September.  Alternatively, you can “plant” the seed by making several passes on top of the seed with a core aerator.  The fertilizer and SuperBio® can be applied at the same time or anytime between now and when you seed.

I’ve found it takes a year or two to establish a good lawn.  However, top dressing with new topsoil is rarely the answer.  Your money is better spent on good grass seed and ample nutrients of good quality that encourage earthworms.  I find that most new lawns are massively underfed and starved, or alternately root burned with cheap chemical fertilizers. 

Espoma 100% Organic Lawn Food    Black Beauty Grass Seed    Turf Trust    Turf-tone    SuperBio

Question:  What is the name of a treatment for poison ivy?  After mowing the lawn some of the clippings stuck to my skin and it now itches on 4 spots.  Your radio program comes in real good here in Delaware.  I tune in every Saturday, it is great.

Answer:  I doubt your itch is caused by poison ivy.  Poison Ivy will not survive continuous cutting and thus is not a long-surviving lawn weed.  If you were cutting tall “brushy” areas then you may very well have cut some poison ivy.  Incidentally, poison ivy and poison sumac are very bad this year.  They really loved all the moisture and grew prolifically. 

Tecnu makes three excellent products for Poison Ivy.  One is a pre-exposure lotion - you put it on as an armor to protect your skin before you go near the poison ivy.  The second is a wash that removes the poison ivy if you didn’t use the first product and accidentally got into the poison ivy.  The third is a treatment for the itch and rash if you didn’t use products one or two and you “get poison ivy”.  These products are not easily found in stores, but are available on our web site via the links below:

Oak-N-Ivy Armor          Oak-N-Ivy Tecnu          Oak-N-Ivy CortiCool
 

Featured Plant - 'Sir Cedric Morris' Geranium

We have the unique opportunity to introduce most of you to the extra hardy Geranium ‘Sir Cedric Morris’. Its habit of forming impressive 24-30 inch mounds of color make it ideal for use in perennial gardens, rock gardens, borders or as ground cover - excellent for difficult-to-mow sunny slopes.

This especially large flowered variety produces a visually stunning show of luminescent magenta pink blooms with broad overlapping petals against the large, finely divided deep-green leaves.

More information about 'Sir Cedric Morris'                                Place an order

The Garden Club Radio Show

Every Saturday morning from 7:00 am to 9:00 am (Eastern time) you can listen to the highly acclaimed Garden Club Radio Show online through WCBM's website.  Click here for more information about the radio show, including how to listen online.

If you live in or will be traveling in the Maryland or Washington DC area, you can also listen to the show by tuning your radio to 680 AM. Any local listeners that may be traveling out of the area can still tune in to the show online, as mentioned above.  Feel free to call in with your questions at 410-922-6680 or toll-free at
1-800-922-6680.

Happy Gardening,

Alan Summers