Sorry I lost track of this discussion. My preference for fertilizer is plain alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). No mixing, no fuss. Apply at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. MorpheusPA likes Milorganite and soybean meal. Those are very good, too. I like alfalfa because I can find it locally and it is less expensive in South Texas. You can mix them or not. The application rate for any mixed grains is still 20 pounds per 1,000. This watering schedule you're on is only for this year and only because you seeded in the spring. This is an attempt to nurse your new seeded grass through the heat of summer. Eventually, deep and infrequent watering will mean that you water a full inch of water, once every week or two depending on heat. Next summer if it gets into the 90s then you should water once a week. Otherwise every other week should be fine. Nutgrass hates this watering schedule, so it must be good. The way you measure one inch of water is to set out some cat food or tuna cans. Turn on the sprinkler and time how long it takes to fill the cans. That will be your target time for watering once the summer heat breaks (next month). When the heat breaks and you know your watering time, water for that time and set your calendar. Watch the grass to tell you when to water next. As soon as you see any part of it drying out (the grass, not the soil surface), water again immediately. Remember the days and reset your calendar. Eventually watering like this will stretch out the calendar and you'll be watering every other week or less. If you do this, you should not need to worry about weeds. Weed seed needs much more water than this to germinate. If you are not germinating weed seeds, then you won't get new weeds. As for current weeds, the broad leaf weeds can be killed with something like Weed-b-gone spray. Spot spray individual weeds if you only have a few. For weeds over a broad area I would still use weed b gone spray. For grassy weeds you'll have to use something else. Someone else can help you with the various chemicals for grasses. After you get rid of current weeds, then you're relying on grass density and infrequent watering to keep the weeds out. With Kentucky bluegrass in full sun, grass density will not be a problem. With anything else in the shade, you will have to overseed in the fall to keep it dense. Good news is most weeds like full sun, too, so the shade helps. Watch the sloped area carefully for runoff. An inch of water can take hours and hours to apply with an oscillator sprinkler. That is actually a good thing because it allows the water to seep in slowly.

You hear some interesting things working at a nursery. Customers say the darnest things. My favorite came from early this spring. If this were a book I would entitle it: "IS THIS MUSHROOM EDIBLE?" So I get this phone call from a customer asking me if I know about mushrooms. Just to confirm I asked the gentleman (sounded like he was older) if he meant how to get rid of the mushrooms in his lawn. He said no, he wanted to know what mushrooms were edible. He said he thought he heard that any with gills were poisonous (flawless logic...). You know when something strikes you so funny that you laugh, even though you know ya' really shouldn't? That is what happened to me- though thankfully I was able to turn it into cough that lasted awhile to add a air of authenticity ;-) My only reply was that I REALLY was no expert on mushrooms and I would advise seeing if there is a a local mushroom-hunting group or specialist and asking them before eating ANY found mushroom. The guy even asked if I knew the phone number/how to get in contact with them. Yeah...I have that in right here next to the numbers for Skagit gardens and Monrovia. LOL. "Is this edible" has popped up before too with regards to other things. Hate it when I am asked that. Because obviously you have to be 1000% sure it is, otherwise they are NOT going to be a repeat customer, if you know what I mean, lol. I once told [a thankfully good-humored customer] that pretty much everything is edible, the question is whether or not you would survive the attempt. One thing I never EVER what to hear again (but know I likely will if I work at the nursery again next year) is "what is that grass planted around town that looks like wheat?" Talking about Calamagrostis. I can't for the life of me understand why people think it looks like wheat. Drives me nuts. Also for questions on the Euphorbia polychroma/epithymoides planted in the beds. Seems I alone get three questions a day about it when it is in its prime. "But it doesn't look anything like that plant" they say, holding up a not-"blooming"-anymore-1 gal.-potted version of the Euphorbia. SIGH. Ditto the "that plant looks like a weed" and "that yard looks kinda' nice, except for the lawn". CMK

it depletes the biology in the organic matter, not in the soil. right now you have very little- in the soil. I will summarize what I did to rejuvenate my lawn. First winter I seeded rye and clover in the most barren parts as an experiment. The rye grew to about one foot before being terminated (two movings). Find roots of rye below (they are much deeper than grass, although of course they don't get to 8 ft in clay at half development). This was enough to have good grass growth, not everywhere, specially in some shady parts. One barren flowerbed in shade by the house has been covered with vegetation (some re-seeding flowers) ever since. http://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010139fieldcroproots/010139toc.html The next winter (september actually) I planted new grass, changing the seed mix from fescue to ryegrass (not related to rye, but the commercial species with deepest roots, also cheapest) and reseeded also with clover, rye, and arugula (of which I had a large bag that I wanted to get rid of). Now the lawn is green, except in some bald spots where I put manure, and it matted, blocking all germination in spring (seeding was done in september, manure spreading during the Xmas period). Of course manure is good, it is just a seed suffocation problem that will go away on its own (also in a residential area apply manure only in deep winter). Note that I am the one suggesting the least work, and the least money. You have to be patient but you will see the year to year improvements with your own eyes. A lawn is an unsustainable artificial ecosystem, but you can delay the applications of compost or fertilizer that are needed to keep it going by having deeper roots. or you can come closer to eliminating applications if you accept periodical cover crops. Once again i suggest you test some parts (I did start with parts that were not only barren but received no foot traffic), look at the plants, look at the soil, at the earthworms, and form your own opinion.

I'm sorry Kim and Moni. I'm sure at some point I would get lonely too. Kim (and Jen), I would have loved for y'all to come over last night to can tomatoes, but things were a little crazy around here with the chick situations as well as other things. Even before Rick came over, I got the tomatoes peeled and diced and ready to can. I needed it to be done in a very neat and tidy way and wanted to do it alone. I did not want to mop the floors or wipe cabinets at midnight. Too tired for that. Next 'round, y'all should come over. Our beans have been a flop, so no canning those. Hopefully the fall beans will produce enough for a few canning sessions. We got 15 pints of diced tomatoes and they are so pretty. Very red. They were mostly Jet Setter and Jet Star. Peeling larger tomatoes is much nicer too! Those little ones like Roma and Juliet, we'll use for sauce and they'll go through the tomato press. The chicks and moms are doing well. Stormy and chick got to leave the dog crate that was in the storage area of the coop, and go to her broody box that has a nice little outside area. It's in a dog kennel that is divided in two. Blossom was on the other side. But we moved her into the chick brooder with her little wounded chick. The chick seems okay. Maybe a little stressed. I brought it in tonight and put more ointment on it's wound and sorta force fed it some plain yogurt. I removed the upper part of the divider in the old coop, which is the brooder for Dolly and Peg. They can see each other clearly and haven't been too upset. I'm SO hoping I can take the divider out altogether and they'll be able to raise their chicks together. Our chicken yard looks like a homeless camp. I don't mean for that to sound snotty or mean....but it does look like one. I've delivered food and other items enough to know that it does. I have dreams for a tidy broody hen apartment complex. We got a nice rain. SO happy. A few minutes before, a wonderful cool breeze came it. It was HOT before that. I had rigged up fans for all of the chicken areas, but then took them down before the rain started. You know, our gardens do not look great. BUT, other than the beans (and the beans were a big chunk of the SG) , everything has done very well! The kitchen garden is so weedy, though. Has anyone started cauliflower from seed? It's been nearly 2 weeks and the seed is a no show.