I always have some of the same type of damage in the same part of my lawn as you. Plus, the snow plow also leaves lots of sand too; which I try to move around with my leaf blower. Funny how that leaf blower seems to move most of it back onto the city street? Usually the Spring rains mitigate the salt in the soil and I just over-seed the dead areas and cover with compost. I used some bagged mushroom compost this year and the new grass (TTTF) sprouted very fast with a twice daily misting. I'd heard that the mushroom compost has some residual salts in it...but it surely helped my grass seed to germinate. I imagine you could flush the areas with your hose if mother nature has not blessed you with lots of rain.

Padawan, you did the right thing, they just need to be hosed off from all the salt, the whole thing, plants, soil and pot-you need to really give them a good drenching. If the soil is loose on the top you could remove that but a good "soaking rain" from your hose should be just fine. If they are in clay pots you might need to scrub and rinse the outsides of the pots as they wick away salt through the pores of the clay; that is some of the crusty white "age" you see on old flowerpots.

This a good time of year to bring this thread back to life I have a few more to add Green eggs and Ham Tortillas 4 eggs 2 -3 Argugala leaves chopped 8-10 cilantro leaves chopped 1 stalk green garlic chopped use leaves too teaspoon of cumin Hot pepper to taste Salt and pepper Cheese 2 -3 tortillas Scramble the eggs with the 7 ingredients Add to a tortilla serve with salsa ond sour cream Mushrooms & Spinach Casserole with Green Garlic 4 stalks of green garlic 0r garlic scapes (chopped) 2-4 Shiitake Mushooms (thinly sliced and cut into small pieces) 1lb Lean ground beef or turkey 3 cups cottage cheese olive oil 12 oz package of whole wheat wide noodles/pasta 1 med onion chopped 1 lb spinach (chopped) ½ cup sour cream 3 eggs 1 cup Asiago or Romano cheese Salt & Pepper Cook noodles according to package rinse and set aside. In a large pan saute Green garlic ,onion, in small amount of olive oil. Add meat and cook till brown and crumbly. Add Mushrooms & spinach to the pan and cook until spinach is wilted and bright green. Salt and pepper to taste Mix in cheeses,eggs and noodles. Transfer to 13x9 inch baking dish . *Cover with foil . Bake at 350 for 35 40 mins. *at this point the casserole can be refrigerated and cooked the next day. Green Garlic Pizza Serves 4 1 recipe pizza dough, stretched or rolled out Topping: 4 medium-sized bulbs spring garlic, sliced thin 2 tablespoons olive oil 4-6 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated 1/3 pound shrimp, cleaned, deveined and sliced lengthwise 2 tablespoons lemon zest 1/4 cup minced Italian parsley Salt and pepper to taste Sautee the garlic in the olive oil until just wilted. Spread the garlic on the pizza dough. Distribute the shrimp over the garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the cheese. Bake in a pre-heated hot oven until the crust is golden. Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon zest, parsley and salt and pepper. Brush with a little more olive oil if desired.

I wanted to thank everyone again for all the great suggestions and to give an update... I've moved a bunch of irises to a test area of the strip. They've been there a week and so far they are still standing, which is encouraging. I did not cut the foliage back as I normally do when transplanting and I think this has helped keep them from being trampled. The mint that I'd planted before is doing better too, and seems to have started to spread out a bit. The star of Bethlahem that I have in the back yard is all going to get moved to the strip soon too... its too invasive for the back yard, so I have high hopes for it in the strip. I'll be looking into the ajuga and bishop's weed as well. I'd tried thyme at one point but it died almost immediately. I must say that part of the improvement this year is probably due to the new downstairs tenents who moved in last fall. The two guys who moved into our downstairs apartment last fall both have cars now, so they normally use the spots in front the house. They seem to really respect my plants and my efforts to improve the yard and garden :-) The rebar would be tempting when I'm feeling particularly frustrated, but its the owners I'm irritated with, not the dogs. I understand that the dogs have to go somewhere; its up to the owners to aim them at the tree instead of the daffodils and to pick up the solids. My "kid" problems are probably different than most people's. Most of the "kids" aren't that much younger than me and go to Tufts University; they own the house next door and uses it as a dorm. I call to complain occasionally about loud parties on weeknights... calling to complain about the litter and trampled plants afterwards seems like overkill when the campus police at least come promptly to break up the loud parties. At least I have someone to complain to about those "kids".