Lawns Hub

If you’ve been reading up on composting, you probably know by now that you can either have aerobic or non-aerobic composting. Briefly recapping, the difference lies with the type of micro-organisms that break down the organic material into what we use as compost: the process can be either aerobic (literally meaning involving air) or anaerobic/non-aerobic (where the breaking down is done without air).

Aerobic composting is much superior to the anaerobic kind. It means your “ingredients” will break down faster and almost no smelly side effects (whereas anaerobic composting tends to produce more smelly gas).

The problem? To get the desired aerobic process going, you have to take time to manually turn your compost heap, at least once a week. Now, some folks love this type of work, taking care of their precious heap as if it were a family pet. They know what its temperature is on any given day and nurture it accordingly. However, if you want to take composting to the next level, or if you want to save on manual labor, Earthmaker has the solution for you:

This dark looking talk is an advanced aerobic composter with three chambers. Operated by the force of gravity, it moves organic material through the chamber for continuous cycling and perfect aeration. This means both faster composting, producing up to 10 gallons per month, and less gas emission (in other words, eco-friendly and doesn’t stink ).

So, if you recycle organic waste for your lawn, you may want to consider moving on to this smart system. Check it out on Amazon here.

Yes, it’s winter time, and many “lawners” are staying indoors and away from their lawns. Still, now’s a good time to get ready for spring, and since it’s also the time of year when you may be looking for a unique gift for a fellow lawn enthusiast, I thought it might be worth  mentioning the Ames Lawn Buddy:

This simple product, priced at under $50 is a huge success with lawn and garden owners. It’s not just a mobile storage area, it’s first and foremost a mobile seat, that allows you to sit down at just the right height to perform your gardening chores. Finished with one spot? easily glide onwards to the next.

And yes, the storage room is awesome too, with room for all your tools, and even for a cold drink! This no-rust, all plastic product is a total hit with owners providing raving reviews on Amazon. You can still get it in time for the Holidays - what a cool unique gift!

Click for more details and price

Here’s a unique piece of lawn decor, or garden decor, if you will. Not only does it feature a delicate fairy - a favorite theme for many a gardener - but it has another magical quality: it lights up your garden at night time:

You see, this pretty sculpture has a built-in lighted globe with its own solar-powered ni-cad batteries. Its  photo cell sensor can tell when it turns dark outside and that’s when the globe gets lit up with a soft delicate shine. It will stay lit for several hours (four to six, according to the manufacturer), giving a soft glow to a special corner of your lawn.

If you’re looking for a beautiful lighting element, as well as an interesting item of lawn decor, this one is definitely for you: click here for the product page on Amazon where you can read more about this product and make your purchase.

Setting up your own lawn care business is as easy as it sounds.  If you own a truck or even just a trailer for a car that could handle clippings, pruning, fertilizers, gas cans and tools, you too can join the trade. Many have done just that, in fact.  Another fact is, that is exactly how began my businesses, at first. It does not require a monster amount of money to begin, just an urge and the ability to starve a while and to work harder than heck to get it all going.
In fact, in no way would I go through it again…  What you learn in your first year is that so many things complicate matters it’s just not funny.  You can go to work on your new gig with your hopes high and a willingness to work just short of killing yourself in order to get it all going, but it can almost do just that.  Just the same, in answer to the question of whether or not it can be done, of course it can.

What is so often overlooked are things like the following:  Business licenses; licenses of all types including in some places contractor’s licenses; tax compliance forms and papers; insurances, business-wise and vehicular; medical issues and the all-important Workers Compensation issue if you hire anyone; gas and oil for hungry trucks and mowers; tools and their inevitable replacements; an office space and the papers and parts for that; somewhere to store tools safely; advertising issues; networking issues.  Tired yet?

And what about the trade-specific issues like plants health, lawn diseases, pruning techniques, fertilizers, aeration and dethatching issues? Have you had any experience at it?  Do you have a small bundle of work you can begin with? It is one thing, after all, to declare yourself and independent business man, yet another altogether to actually BE one. It takes jobs and the ability to get more.

Now, being in the field yields more work.  Lawn mowing firms are highly visible.  They get asked all the time for extra work from neighbors of projects.  It is entirely possible to make it work, doing just that - referring and getting referred.  But the end analysis means at least a little bit of starvation in my experience unless you can begin capitalized sufficiently.

So, yes, it is entirely possible and requires less to begin than almost any other trade.  The fact is, if you take pride in your work, you will find more, too.  That’s a no brainer. People who answer their telephones also rake in the clientele, simply by answering.

It’s a great thing to do.  Plenty of exercise in a great environment, the working conditions are what drew me to it. But bear all that other stuff in mind, please.  It will save the completely deflating discovery of their needs before you lose heart after investing all that sweat.

Seeding a lawn from scratch is not as intimidating as it might seem.  Like gardens, we get to experience a miracle of Nature as we see the initial sprout sticking up out of the ground, then watch in wonder as it thickens and grows into some green expanse we can be proud of. There are a few things to pay attention to, but I can tell you now, grass seed is a most reliable grower, so one can relax and enjoy after a few simple tasks are known and adhered to.

Make sure the surface is smooth enough to consider having a lawn on it, first. Final grading should reveal the surface dimensions and slopes you really do want.  Also, try and determine the soil is an adequate medium for your eventual busy and hungry little grass plants.  Grass requires a pretty constant diet of water and nutrients, either in the form of rainfall, in the case of water, or from bacteriological sources in the organic material beneath the surface. Make sure there is organic matter in the soil when preparing a lawn. Compost of some type should have been tilled in thoroughly, allowing a good bacteriological base. Once this is establishes, and the raking is done, then casting the seed is pretty much child’s play.  Make sure the seed is dispersed as uniformly as possible.

Once the seed is spread, I like to either cover it with a small sheen of compost but this purpose can be arrived at by passing the back of a spring rake over all the seed, thus surrounding the small seed pods with something that will insulate a bit and retain water. It also can protect from the beating sun or even from frost.  I like also to run a half filled or less lawn roller over the seeds to further insure some insulation and press them deeper into the soil.  After this, water adequately but no too much and watch it grow.

Fescues grasses are divided into two categories:  fine and tall varieties.  Fine Fescues are lawn-specific in almost every case and provide a mic of seed that can endure some of the problems which others cannot.  There are varieties of fine fescues which are the best available choices for that conundrum faced by almost all lawn fanciers with trees: deep shade.  “Chewings  and Creeping Fescues” have been developed as perhaps the most shade-tolerant grasses of all.  There are others which have different general qualities, but I have planted “Chewings” with some great results.

Fescues develop into a thick mat, dense and much more drought and disease-resistant than bluegrasses.  Insects are also much less of a problem for these grasses, research has proven, owing to certain genetic, chemical properties.

Originally developed as a “transitional” grass, this seed is very drought resistant, perhaps as much as any “cool season” grass.  It is pretty universal throughout the American Mid West and into Canada as well.  Red Fescues are almost universally added to Bluegrass mixes to supply a longer-lasting green color once the bluegrasses go dormant.

Almost all the “thin Fescues” are delicate-seeming, with thin blades made for walking on.  The Tall varieties however, are much coarser.  These seeds are often used on athletic fields and in pastures and such owing to their slower rate of growth and their extreme durability.  Drought-tolerance is their other primary feature, as these grasses develop root systems that reach amazingly deeply into the soil beneath them.

I once seeded a front lawn in 100% Tall Fescue and I ended up regretting it.  The coarseness wore my feet out.  But it stayed green far longer than my other neighbor’s lawns and I needed less water to make it work as a lawn, so I kept it.  Mixed in bluegrass, it toughens it and keeps the watering issues more moot.

I received more questions about dog urine and lawns following the last post, so here goes.

Yes, it is true, dog urine burns lawn grasses all the time. Everyone knows about it, it can be a frustrating experience seeing little burn spots pocking the landscape like bomb damage.  It is indeed an unfortunate event, but knowing why it does this is a probable help in dealing with it. The current urban myth says that female dogs have an innate chemical which is especially detrimental, but it is simply not true.  Male dogs tend to spread their urine out, busily marking shrubs and fire hydrants with all due diligence, thereby spreading their urine for functional effect. Meanwhile, while female dogs also “mark: certain things in a territorial way, they generally just unload their wastes in more decisive amounts, thus the myth of the Female Urine Problem.

The problem is in the nitrogen.  Waste products include high concentrations of nitrogen as byproducts of digestion.  What happens is almost as if you were “overfeeding” with a nitrogen fertilizer.  In many cases, studies have shown that by watering within 8 hours of a dog urinating on your lawn, you can reduce the damage substantially.  While no one is going to sit and hold a hose all day for owners who let their dogs pee in your grass, it is helpful to know that some consistent watering reduces the effects of dog urine enormously.  Indeed, if you own a female dog, or a male, for that matter who trashes some poor shrub daily, just water those sots they most frequent and you might avoid the worst of the damaging effects of all that compressed nitrogen. The burnt out spots always have a ring of intensely green grass around them, which should give us our best clue.  Water liberally if you spot it happening and avoid at least one of the spots  Knowledge is forewarning.  Using some common sense techniques to limiting the passage of dogs on your lots should be first and foremost in any prevention scheme..

Ok, enough of plastic. Even if you’re not happy with your live lawn, here’s some advice on how to fix some problems.

Sometimes stuff happens. A car misses the driveway and scores a nice 6 foot divot in your nice green lawn.  A dog who used your lawn as an outdoor latrine has damaged it to an uncommon extent, making it look like a bombing run. You had a gas spill.  You overfertilized and scorched a huge patch.  What to do?

Generally, the essential rule of thumb is to “treat” any areas with a few essential principles:

Any contaminates, such as gasoline or diesel spills, weed killer accidents, dog urine spots and the like can go in two directions.  The less obnoxious, such as dog urine spots can simply be “leached” by applying a good amount of water to allow the nitrogen to percolate further own into the soil.  Other spots, like the gas or diesel spills may even require the removal of the contaminated soil.  In this, once a certain amount of soil is taken away, I still recommend a leaching process.  Diesel is “clingy”, greasy and has a tendency to stick to the small particles of earth and silt in the soil. It also leaches out slower than, say, gas or alcohol.  Likewise for weed killer combinations. Just the same, some leaching is good.

Once leached and the soil replaced, apply seed in the same manner you would a new lawn.  For small areas, the fact is, not a lot of work is actually required.  Remove a bit of dirt, grab some known clean dirt, pack it in and apply seed.

When replacing lawns grasses which died due to drought or to under watering from a once-defective irrigation system, toss down some rye grass, or Bermuda, depending in your climate, along with some basic structural grass and let it rip.