My turf is as hard as a rock. What do I do???
sugarlandtexan
16 years ago
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paulinct
16 years agoUser
16 years agoRelated Discussions
What do I need to do to my clay soil before I plant tomatoes?
Comments (8)I have the same type of soil. CLAY! What I did, that worked well for me, was to loosen up the soil with a shovel. Then I dumped compost and bags of garden soil over top of the area. I used the shovel to mix it up a bit. Every fall I cover the area with leaves that decompose and really improve the texture. Whenever I plant now, I toss in more compost if I have it or Garden Soil from a bag. It keeps getting better and better. I don't think you'll need to haul away any soil. Just bring add some good stuff to what you have. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: My gardens...See MorePoor drainage, thin turf...What do I do?
Comments (5)Yes and yes. If you live in a condo you might not have control over the water schedule. Getting control of it can be a nightmare. Mulch is only in the form of mowed over leaves, not actual mulch. The mulch has to disappear below the blades of grass. I call it micro-mulch (where can I trademark that word???) You also need to control mowing height. Where you're located you should have a cool season grass like fescue or Kentucky bluegrass. Again if the condo assn wants the grass mowed tight to the ground, just forget about having it look really nice. Crabgrass LOVES to be mowed close to the ground. I was hoping you'd forget you asked about aeration and sand. Sand really won't help you if you need more living microbes in the soil. Mechanical aerating will give you a lot of peace of mind but it might not be the long term panacea you're looking for. If you aerate, aerate the snot out of it. Run it north, south, east, west, and every combination of compass headings you can come up with. I saw some pretty convincing pictures from a regular here. I believe he said he had about 12 holes per square foot when it was finished. Also if you have high and low spots in your yard, you can sweep the plugs removed by the aerator into the low spots to raise them slightly. Otherwise just leave the plugs where they land. If you read the organic lawn care faq and wonder where to find a feed store in Berkley, ask anyone who owns a horse. Or call your local county sheriff. They know where all the horses are in the county. The crabgrass does not surprise me but shade and crabgrass don't mix. Is the crabgrass growing in the sun? If not then you don't have crabgrass but probably have another pest. And if you have that much crabgrass I'm going to suggest you try to switch your turfgrass to Kentucky bluegrass. It really needs sun, too, but what you have isn't working (can you thin out the trees??). The nice thing about KBG is that it does not thin out like fescue types of grass, it thickens up. Of course it needs some sun to to do that. Just to set a goal for you, I'm going to post a picture of a fully organic KBG lawn grown with no weed killers. His only maintenance is infrequent watering and mowing high (and organic fertilizer). Now as to the crabgrass, it does not like deep infrequent watering. It like daily watering for 10-20 minutes per day. It also does not like shade. If your grass looks like that above, you'll note there are no thin or bare spots. There is no place for crabgrass to get hold. He could have crabgrass on both sides of that lawn but it cannot penetrate the dense turf. Mowing high and infrequent watering will take care of crabgrass in most lawns. Fescue lawns are different from most other turfgrasses and need to be reseeded every year or so for maximum density. It can be done but KBG is so much easier to handle. Something else to consider if shade cannot be opened up is planting other ground covers. There is a dwarf mondo grass that looks like short grass that has curled over on top. It loves shade and will very slowly take over the lawn. I had two small patches in my grass when we moved in in 1992 and they are now 6 feet across. I really should do something about that, sigh....See MoreI think my tomato plant has a fungus, what do I do about it?
Comments (2)I already answered another post of yours, and it sounds like you might have already replaced the soil. (You can read my comments in that other post) Anyway, two things stand out in these pics: (1) no mulch (2) other stuff in the containers (lemon peels??) If you have pictures of the fungus that is now on the foliage, that might be helpful in diagnosing the specific problems you're now having....See MoreHow do i know if my water is to hard?
Comments (3)You have already noticed a rather strong indication that your water is hard. At what level that is, is more difficult to do without proper testing. Buy a bar of Ivory soap and try to wash your hands. If the soap lathers, the water is soft, if not and there is soap scum on your hands, then you have hard water. Sprinkle some water on a mirro and let it dry over night. If you see white spots, the water is hard. Double check by wiping the spots off with a moist towel. If they remain, the water is hard, if they wipe off, then it is probably sodium, which is water friendly. Boil an ice cube in a teflon pan until it all steams away. If there is a white (or red) crusty remains and it doesn't want to wipe away easily water, then it is hard. Use vinegar to clean it up. Vinegar is an acid and acts readily against hardness stains and scale. It is foolish to jeopardize your plumbing fixture and appliances with hardwater damage. Andy...See Morefescue_planter
16 years agolou_spicewood_tx
16 years agorcnaylor
16 years agocarla morey
16 years agorcnaylor
16 years agograyentropy
16 years agodchall_san_antonio
16 years agofescue_planter
16 years agodchall_san_antonio
16 years agograyentropy
16 years agoturfboy
11 years agoKimmsr
11 years ago
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