OK, I found that the average low for October is 43, good enough for me.
Sozobe--
Check for the average date of the first frost and then count ahead two or three weeks.
Just re-read this whole thread, incredibly informative, thanks again, everyone! I was looking for the average last frost date in Columbus (May 9th) but reading the whole thing reminded me of lots of good stuff to keep in mind.
My lawn is looking really encouraging! The seed I put down last fall is really busting out now; it's definitely the best it's been since I moved in, by far. I'm going to do a wave of weeding and then put down more seed in the sparse patches (while it's much, much better, it's still a bit raggedy), and then I'm optimistic that when the new stuff sprouts it'll be a honest-to-goodness lawn. :-D
Plus, since there is enough of the existing grass that I'll be filling in spots rather than coaxing whole swaths of seedlings from bare earth, I'll feel better about walking on it and weeding as the grass grows. That's what did me in last year, waiting for the grass seed to grow but meanwhile letting the weeds grow, too. (Terribly curious to see what will happen with the poison ivy this year... fingers crossed.)
Supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow, will talk to the people at the place where I get my grass seed about if now is a good time (I think so, I did it on April 10th last year and that was a bit late I think), and if all is well, do the whole thing tomorrow.
I kept the bag from last year:
[b]If you plant in spring:[/b]
Plant when temperatures are 40 to 80 degrees F. Frost or freezing temperatures will not harm seed or young seedlings, but may delay emergence by one or more weeks. Early spring planting generally results in better establishment than late spring planting.
I'm goin' in!
May the Mother of All Poison Ivy provide landscaping for Troll Corner.
I am actually kinda sorta feeling like I kinda sorta know what I'm doing. Based on trial and error last year I did one condensed rake-weed-seed assault yesterday -- took about 2 hours (in BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL omigosh BEAUTIFUL sunny warm weather) while sozlet was at a friend's house (much better for anything that I attempt to do in a condensed manner!) and got it all done, just in time for the return of the cool rainy weather. I'm a bit worried if it gets torrential and/ or if there's a bunch of wind, but so far so good.
I took another "before" pic, fingers crossed for an encouraging "after."
Note to self: find hay. I've gotten that advice a few places (put hay down over the seeds to keep them moist and protect them from birds, and the birds are enjoying the banquet. :-( Haven't found where to buy hay yet though.)
Oh and good news -- of the many, many weeds I got out of the lawn, not one was poison ivy!! (Last year, maybe 10% of them were...)
Good news: seed sprouted.
Bad news: it looks like a really, really bad hair plug attempt. Thin, clumpy, scraggly.
The birds just got too much of the seed, I think. Will do it again with hay.
How 'bout planting clover? It seems to be very forgiving, plus it adds nitrogen back into the soil and doesn't have to be mowed. It might fill in some of the bare spots.
Clover blooms and blooms attract bees. Bees sting.
It's actually coming along nicely, it's even possible that just the existing grass (which is more and more plentiful) will spread to fill the bare patches. Just, there was a pretty clear cause and effect here of birds chowing down --> not much grass coming up, so next time I do it I'm gonna use the hay to foil those darn boids.
Ooh, forgot that 'bout the clover. We haven't had a real problem with that here, there are bees but they don't seem to be actually living here. Commuter bees.
But of course it's different with a child.
sozobe wrote:
Bad news: it looks like a really, really bad hair plug attempt. Thin, clumpy, scraggly.
If you're looking for ways to cover the ground I seem to recall Greenwitch singing the praises of hosta.
She, I believe, dabbles in gardening and tells all of her customers that they can't go wrong with hosta.
Especially good for attracting lovely and scenic deer!
This is what things look like now -- hard to see, probably, but this represents tons and tons and tons of work (not just the grass, but getting all of the surrounding stuff under control):
MOAPI was crawling up the side of the giant tree in the middle -- the giant tree at the end is the huge stump I've talked about.
The white patches are just sun.
I'm having the cottonwoods trimmed, and when I was getting an update on how it was going, one of the crew volunteered that I should get ________ from a farm supply store to put down over the grassy area, and then seed on top of that. (They've been cleaning up as they go and with all of the raking my grass has gone from pretty good to not good at all.) I asked him a couple of times but just didn't quite get it, and they were busy. They're probably coming back on Monday so I can try to go out there with a notepad and have him write it down, but I'm curious. Anyone know what he likely meant?
Hand gestures seemed to indicate something that followed the idea of sod, though not sod -- slabs of it, as opposed to loose dirt or something.
It is kind of funny, soz, that you are channeling all of your energy into these plant threads in a feeble attempt to escape the incompetence of the Packers.
Be strong. There will be other years.
Figured out eventually that hand gestures notwithstanding the guy was referring to a certain kind of grass seed. I went to the place he recommended but they only sold it in bulk. Like, 50-lb bags or something.
I've been happy with Scott's Pure Premium Shady mix anyway.
Here's where I am now:
This is what it used to look like (actually that was after a couple of years of work already, can't find the earliest bald pictures). (And there was a weedy free-for-all in between, when I was dealing with the poison ivy.)
