I'm not a good gardener. I don't like dirt. It is one reason I'm an engineer. No real dirt involved. I am good at thinking about particular subjects. Plants are not one of them. Because of this, my neighbors have to deal with my less than spectacular house. Honestly, it isn't a forte of my wife either. On top of that, we're too cheap to pay someone to do it for us. They'd have to be better at it than us. I will be forthright, when it comes to selling this place, yeah, we're gonna get someone to "fix" it for us.
In years past, yes, we did pay for some yard work. They came by every month, sprayed stuff, and our lawn did benefit. Well, the front really benefitted from that attention. I've never really had a problem in the backyard. When they fertilized the backyard, it made a hard to work with situation even worse. The grass grows like crazy back there. On top of that, it is also very wet in the first half of the year. As a consequence, it gets to be a mess. I have to mow with the highest soled shoes I have, as I don't have a good pair of boots for the task. The lawnmower complains about being overworked. The grass clippings accumulate as I hope for the sun to dry it out and make it manageable.
So the past few years, we've stopped the lawn service. The crabgrass has come back. Weeds are just once again gaining a foothold. No problem. There are some things I feel adequate to work with. I can control the weeds. I can put stuff in the trees to keep the Japanese Beetles away. I can pull some weeds out of the overgrown flower beds.
Well, this year, Tracy complained about the ants. So I've been occasionally spreading insecticide around the house. Not the whole yard. Just the house. Well, I am also aware that we have a problem with cutworms around here, and I saw some tell-tale signs of cutworms; little circular bare spots. So I spread some insecticide around the spots that have been a problem in the past.
Fast forward a week or so, and the spots became more pronounced. They were spreading. What? So I bought some more insecticide, spread it over the front and side yards. It was so dry that I was worried I was stressing the yard out more. Also, I hadn't been mowing, as the grass just wasn't growing very quickly. But I did notice a few things that were odd. The grass was dying, or dead, but the dead spots seemed to be the same height as the green grass around it. The cutworms in the past died...but the spots seemed to spread. In fact, after some time, the dead spots seemed to follow where I spread the insecticide I spread. Was the stuff bad? I've never had a problem with the stuff before...
Then one morning, and it was fairly damp as the humidity was in full force the past few days, I went out to get the motorcycle out for my trip into work. I looked over the dew-soaked grass.....and it was white. White? Surely this was a trick of the eye. No, it was white. Spider webs? I mean, I know the dew shows all the spider webs and the fact that I hadn't mowed...maybe we are just up to our eyes in spiders. I went over to the grass to take a closer look. Yes, all the dead spots were white. It kind of looked like webs....but no. It was all spikey. Holy crud, what is that stuff? Some new kind of bug? Why didn't the insecticide kill it? Fuzzy...Oh man, this is some kind of mold or fungus. How did this happen? Why just my yard? The others don't have it. Why is it just where I spread the stuff? Is there mold on the insecticide?
So I did a few internet searches. Yep. Fungus of some sort. Most just said that there isn't anything you can do about it, that it comes out when it is humid and it will go away. Good. And we'll see. I already told Tracy that I was afraid that I killed the lawn this year, thinking that the insecticide was too strong and it was killing all the grass...or that maybe there was a problem and I was spreading grass killer instead.
We are a few weeks removed. No Japanese Beetles to speak of. The lawn has recovered. It is green again. It is in its normal "I suck for a lawn" mode that it has been since we moved in. Life goes on. We still might get a lawn service next year. We just aren't good at this aspect of ownership.
In years past, yes, we did pay for some yard work. They came by every month, sprayed stuff, and our lawn did benefit. Well, the front really benefitted from that attention. I've never really had a problem in the backyard. When they fertilized the backyard, it made a hard to work with situation even worse. The grass grows like crazy back there. On top of that, it is also very wet in the first half of the year. As a consequence, it gets to be a mess. I have to mow with the highest soled shoes I have, as I don't have a good pair of boots for the task. The lawnmower complains about being overworked. The grass clippings accumulate as I hope for the sun to dry it out and make it manageable.
So the past few years, we've stopped the lawn service. The crabgrass has come back. Weeds are just once again gaining a foothold. No problem. There are some things I feel adequate to work with. I can control the weeds. I can put stuff in the trees to keep the Japanese Beetles away. I can pull some weeds out of the overgrown flower beds.
Well, this year, Tracy complained about the ants. So I've been occasionally spreading insecticide around the house. Not the whole yard. Just the house. Well, I am also aware that we have a problem with cutworms around here, and I saw some tell-tale signs of cutworms; little circular bare spots. So I spread some insecticide around the spots that have been a problem in the past.
Fast forward a week or so, and the spots became more pronounced. They were spreading. What? So I bought some more insecticide, spread it over the front and side yards. It was so dry that I was worried I was stressing the yard out more. Also, I hadn't been mowing, as the grass just wasn't growing very quickly. But I did notice a few things that were odd. The grass was dying, or dead, but the dead spots seemed to be the same height as the green grass around it. The cutworms in the past died...but the spots seemed to spread. In fact, after some time, the dead spots seemed to follow where I spread the insecticide I spread. Was the stuff bad? I've never had a problem with the stuff before...
Then one morning, and it was fairly damp as the humidity was in full force the past few days, I went out to get the motorcycle out for my trip into work. I looked over the dew-soaked grass.....and it was white. White? Surely this was a trick of the eye. No, it was white. Spider webs? I mean, I know the dew shows all the spider webs and the fact that I hadn't mowed...maybe we are just up to our eyes in spiders. I went over to the grass to take a closer look. Yes, all the dead spots were white. It kind of looked like webs....but no. It was all spikey. Holy crud, what is that stuff? Some new kind of bug? Why didn't the insecticide kill it? Fuzzy...Oh man, this is some kind of mold or fungus. How did this happen? Why just my yard? The others don't have it. Why is it just where I spread the stuff? Is there mold on the insecticide?
So I did a few internet searches. Yep. Fungus of some sort. Most just said that there isn't anything you can do about it, that it comes out when it is humid and it will go away. Good. And we'll see. I already told Tracy that I was afraid that I killed the lawn this year, thinking that the insecticide was too strong and it was killing all the grass...or that maybe there was a problem and I was spreading grass killer instead.
We are a few weeks removed. No Japanese Beetles to speak of. The lawn has recovered. It is green again. It is in its normal "I suck for a lawn" mode that it has been since we moved in. Life goes on. We still might get a lawn service next year. We just aren't good at this aspect of ownership.
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