Here's my take (whether it's right or wrong that's for you to decide). If you mow at 4", it's probably 5-6 inches tall when you cut it. Grass that tall, especially perennial rye, has a longer stalk/sheath than grass that's kept at say 2.5-3 inches. When you cut away 1-2" of grass blade, you are removing the greenest part of the lawn, and revealing more of the sheath, which is generally much lighter. Now when you mowed that path at 2.75, you effectively removed most of the grass blades and some sheath, leaving you with just sheaths, which is why it was brown for a few days after mowing. You also shortened the sheaths compared to the rest of the lawn. The change was the new blades emerging from the newly shortened sheaths. So now the path area has grass with more blade relative to sheath than the rest of the lawn, which is why it's darker green. I suspect that if you mow the whole yard at just 4 inches the darker green path will fade as the grass reverts back to it's longer sheath length. This post was edited by tiemco on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 13:29

"I moved into a new-to-me house last spring that has a small pond in the backyard - about 6'x3'x3'. It doesn't have any fish or plants growing in it, so pretty much all I did last year was clean out the leaves and pull out some of the rocks that had fallen in that were supposed to be around the edge. Tadpoles took over in May, so I left them alone, hoping that frogs would help with summer mosquitoes. If they did, I shudder to think what it would have been like without them around. (I also used dunks on a regular basis throughout the summer.) The water stayed remarkably clear overall." Hello Rosten18, If you had no plants and clear water last year then consider yourself lucky. Also, I wonder if you had frogs or toads. I'm in KS too and the Eastern American Toad is the primary visitor to my pond. My first year I had lots of mosquito larvae in the pond and used the dunks to take care of them. But last year I bought about 2 dozen Gambuzzia (sp), the mosquito fish, from the local tropical fish store and had absolutely no mosquito problem. "Now that spring is coming around again, I'm wondering what I should do with it. I'm afraid I simply don't have the time to deal with fish, and any plants would have to be really low maintenance. At one point it had a filter - it's still sitting out there - but the cord has been cut, and I have no idea where the rest of the cord is, or whether there is still power running to it. It's far enough from the house that I don't really want to try to run another line, so I was thinking about trying something solar powered." If you were to try mosquito fish you wouldn't have to do anything, at least not very much. They feed on the larvae that accumulates on the edges. My experience is that they have a hard time overwintering here in KS so you might have to spend a few bucks but they're not expensive (about the same as buying guppies). I'm not sure of the filter you speak. Is it a filter in a skimmer, or, is it a power filter in-line between a pump and a discharge? Perhaps it is part of a biological filter in a filter box? And what cable has been cut, the buried electrical cable or the cord to the plug of a pump? Sorry for so many questions. I would want water moving to help enjoy the pond so I would repair the setup. "I'd appreciate any advice, but in particular I'm wondering whether I need a filter if I don't have anything living in the pond. I would also like to know whether anyone has experience with solar powered pumps, and whether there are any brands in particular to look for. The main reason I would do a pump is to keep the water circulating, which I'm assuming would eliminate the need for mosquito dunks. Is that a safe assumption? " Do you need a filter? I would think you don't need much of a filter for a 6 x6 x 3 pond with out too much load but you will have sediment to handle. How do you want to keep your pond clean, by hand? It's your call. I don't have any experience with a solar pump. Sorry. I like mag drive pumps because they are oil-less and have great dependability and don't use as much electricity as regular pumps. A simple pump will do for you and your situation. You won't have to spend more than $100. You won't get a break from discouraging mosquitos, at least not too much of one, if you add a pump and circulate water. There are always areas or pockets that can support their existence. It is best to do the dunks or the fish. "Also, I've cleaned out most of the leaves again, but is there any reason why I shouldn't empty the pond entirely and refill it with clean water? I'm assuming the tadpoles will be back, so I should probably take care of most of this within the next month." Water chemistry, I guess. I would try to leave water that doesn't include chlorine or chloramines in it. If your water supported tadpoles last year then you probably have sufficient water this year. If you go and empty the pond you should expect an algae bloom and perhaps a reduction in aquatic life, unless you use a de-chlorinating water conditioner. Most city water in KS uses chloramines (make sure your water de-chlor. is able to handle this because some dry formulas cannot). I'm really not that lazy, but it's just me, and between working full time and going to grad school, there's only so much I can do! I'd like this to be fairly maintenance free, so I can devote any spare time I have to a garden. Thanks in advance for your help! It sounds to me that you can go either way. Not do a whole lot besides hand cleaning, or. you can invest and make a beautiful ornamental pond out of it and have aquatic plants. I just can't imagine a pond without plants! One or two hardy water lilies and some anacharis (sp), a few floating water hyacinths. And you have an easy and beautiful pond. Good luck!

Being one of the "folks in cold zones" I thought I'd chime in as well. I agree that there's no reason to prune your roses so low, particularly if they're already healthy and growing. I don't think a hard prune is going to make them any likelier to regrow those blackspotted leaves, except in the sense you'd force it to grow entirely new canes to replace the canes you cut off. You could do an "aggressive deadhead" type of prune, where you cut down wayward branches to reshape and tidy the plant, like you do with most Austins, but don't take off more than 1/3 of the branch unless you have to. The exception for those of us in cold zones is to make sure you check mature canes and near the base of the plant for undetected winter kill that will work its way up or down the plant if not pruned off. That's usually the advantage of pruning in the spring, so you can notice those nasty purple or brownish splotches spreading on branches that are doomed regardless. If the lower branches are between leaves from BS, that might offer you the same (dubious) benefit of being able to find the canker. Otherwise, enjoy the taller than usual roses for this short and mild winter past! Cynthia

Joanne, I actually meant setting the plants on the paper towels after watering to pull away the extra water, not so much for a permanent sitting situation. So maybe that would be a good way to keep the moisture down without letting everyone get parched. Even though they're covered, they seem to get pretty dry in a week-and-a-half to two weeks. I like the cellophane sleeve idea for moving. I've been concerned about making it without ripping up all the outer leaves. I've been reading the other thread that talks about moving recently, which has also been helpful. I think I will be moving all living things (plants...cats...husbands) in a car, so at least I'll only have myself to blame for any damage. And hopefully, I can get those things squared away before dealing with other boxes.