Who is growing their own this year?

Beautiful looking garden. The kids planted a few onions, carrots, and some lettuce. The taste of fresh vegetables from the garden is something even our kids can tell is better.
 
Katoomer said:
To relieve stress I keep the lawn looking good
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Awesome yard and Grass. My dad was a grass nut when I was growing up. We had a small property but he kept it looking like that. We were not even allowed to play on the lawn.

Oh, the view ain't bad either!
 
Katoomer said:
To relieve stress I keep the lawn looking good
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Looks great... and difficult to get a real strong lawn in Vancouver I'm sure, as it was a real challenge in Seattle area. I was a total lawn geek at my prior home. I put in 2000 cubic yards of topsoil, and planted about 12,000 sq ft of lawn. I even bought a used over-seeder, as one real secret to an awesome lawn is to overseed at least once per year, and in Pacific NW that should be done last two weeks of August. In the spring I would aerate and overseed again. The enemy for most lawns in the pacific NW is poa annua, as it is a native grass and man I hate that stuff. There is a new chemical that targets poa, but it is maintenance intensive as you apply 1/10th of a very small annual dose every three days. But, you can finally control poa!

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As I type this there is a crew out-front remodeling our front landscaping at our new home in Portland. The house was a "street of dreams" house so it was massively over-planted so it would look good for the show. After 7 years and prior owner doing poor maintenance, it was so overgrown we decided it would be better to start over. There is much less room for lawn, but we're adding a lot of amendments to break up the Oregon clay. I'll have it looking like the first cut of rough once again!
 
Bob, that is a fantastic looking lawn. I'm fairly new to this stuff and the yard is just 1 1/2 yrs. old. What is the process you would recommend for overseeding in August? What type of grass seed worked best for you?
 
Bobvin said:
Looks great... and difficult to get a real strong lawn in Vancouver I'm sure, as it was a real challenge in Seattle area. I was a total lawn geek at my prior home. I put in 2000 cubic yards of topsoil, and planted about 12,000 sq ft of lawn. I even bought a used over-seeder, as one real secret to an awesome lawn is to overseed at least once per year, and in Pacific NW that should be done last two weeks of August. In the spring I would aerate and overseed again. The enemy for most lawns in the pacific NW is poa annua, as it is a native grass and man I hate that stuff. There is a new chemical that targets poa, but it is maintenance intensive as you apply 1/10th of a very small annual dose every three days. But, you can finally control poa!

View attachment 6556View attachment 6557

As I type this there is a crew out-front remodeling our front landscaping at our new home in Portland. The house was a "street of dreams" house so it was massively over-planted so it would look good for the show. After 7 years and prior owner doing poor maintenance, it was so overgrown we decided it would be better to start over. There is much less room for lawn, but we're adding a lot of amendments to break up the Oregon clay. I'll have it looking like the first cut of rough once again!
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Nice
Wow
 
Katoomer said:
Bob, that is a fantastic looking lawn. I'm fairly new to this stuff and the yard is just 1 1/2 yrs. old. What is the process you would recommend for overseeding in August? What type of grass seed worked best for you?
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You can rent an overseeder from most rental places. Basically they are big thatching machines with a seed hopper attached. Having purchased a used overseeder, I would say the rental units are almost as good. The rental ones usually drop the seed in front of the thatcher blades, so you do end up smashing some seed, but not really a big deal unless you are being too thrifty with seed. I tend to be very liberal in that regard. If you find a rental unit that is a true overseeder, it'll look like a thatcher but the seed falls into the groove behind the blades.

As for seed, in the Pacific NW I initially tried to plant bluegrass, but the germination time is about 3 weeks and it never seemed to take, even as an overseed. So I finally settled on using ryegrass. It doesn't spread like bluegrass, as it is a bunchgrass, but can make an amazing lawn. I chose my varieties carefully, and created my own mixtures by going to SeedSuperStore.com. Drew, who owns that place, is a total lawn geek too. For our new lawn here in Portland area I will just use his Perennial Ryegrass Blend mixed with some creeping red fescue.

Check the same website for fertilizer, as what you get from the home improvement stores is crap and causes your lawn to have a huge growth spurt, then fades quickly. A timed release fertilizer will keep the growth constant, keep the lawn green, and is much healthier for the grass.

The poa killer chemical is Tenacity by Sigenta. Now you can get small quantities for home use, but it is still expensive. I bought a gallon when it was fairly new, and paid far too much, having used maybe a pint so far! Poa creates odd circles of different color grass in your lawn, goes to seed even on golf course putting greens @ 1/16" high, and grows well when your other grass is dormant in late fall / early spring. It has caused groundskeepers headaches for decades. Being able to control it is a big deal for the golf course industry.

But my secret is really just continue to add new young grass plants on a regular basis (1 or 2 times per year) by overseeding. Use good seed, and the right fertilizer. Aerate at least once per year too, so the soil doesn't get too compacted.

That Seed Super Store sight has a fair amount of info.
 
One thing I have found is that generic brand grass seed, grown in who knows where, is not the best selection. I buy 50lb bags from a local garden center and the seed is locally grown specifically for the area I live.
 
Shadowfax said:
One thing I have found is that generic brand grass seed, grown in who knows where, is not the best selection. I buy 50lb bags from a local garden center and the seed is locally grown specifically for the area I live.
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Indeed! I found one bag of grass seed at Home Depot that was 40% ANNUAL ryegrass. Planting your lawn with that would surely create disappointment next spring.

And, even locally here in Portland area I found a mix, supposedly "for my area" that contained 30% bluegrass. Well, my experience has shown bluegrass just doesn't do well west of the Cascade mountains. If you can get it to germinate, it dies out in a couple years.

Just like any other crop, it makes sense to know a little bit about the plant you are growing. There is a lot of variety to grass, some for shady areas, some for dry areas, some creeps, others have a bunch-like habit. Some grows in hot climates, others in cool climates. Grass plants age, and as they do they get less robust, and tend to become more stem-y. The nice soft little blades become twigs. Which is why regular overseeding makes such a big difference.

MOST of the grass seed sold in the USA is grown in Oregon & Idaho, shipped, mixed, etc by many brands. Check out the website I mentioned above, you can quickly learn a lot about lawn grass. I cross referenced what I learned there against a lot of other sites, and the info is good and accurate. High quality seed and good soil prep is the key.

I'll be placing an order myself in the next week. When the crew here has finished planting all the softscape, I'll be planting the grass seed myself. And until I can tackle the back yard, I'll overseed to at least get it improved.

I told you I was a lawn geek!

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Bob, you are extremely helpful. I was considering overseeing with a KBG blend as from what I read it would work great in the NW.
Read that's what they have at Safeco field. Now you are making me reconsider. I want to keep my grass cut short ( 1" ). Will be using a reel mower. For fertilizer and grass seed I am fortunate is there is a large wholesaler ( Grower Central ) a few blocks from my home. I will take a look at the seed blends they have. They supply all the golf courses in western Canada. The fertilizer from them has been working real well. I do have Poa Annua as well. I just ordered 5 lbs. of a generic Barricade herbicide that is supposed to work well on Poa Annua. Says to apply in late summer early fall as that is when it is germinating.
How high do you cut your grass and what do you cut it with?
 
I PM'd you. I don't want to clog the thread with my lawn geekiness.
 
Bobv, Since nobody else is growing a garden, and many have lawns, no sweat for this thread. Post your good useful info
 
Growing your own would normally refer to a garden; vegetables. ...In your backyard. ...As it is meant here.

But, you can also grow plants, flowers, trees, pot, vines (grapes), fruits (fruit trees; apples, plums, pears, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, ...), mushrooms, grass (lawns), kids, pets (fishes, birds, ...), ...

No vegetable garden for me this year, but lots of other growing things though; for the sweetness (fruits), for the eye and smell (flowers), and other things for the mind (clarity). And if I could show you over two million trees that would be something (my own effort). ...And some in the hundred feet high range.

* I always considered our planet as a big garden of Eden. ...And still. ...All year round; pruning, thinning, irrigating, spacing, ...
Take good care of our land and of our people. ...Dancing, music, love, peace, smiling, happiness, health, ...
 
Well, we got our first two ripe Juliette Roma tomatos today. A few more are blushing so it's not going to be too long before we're innundating everyone we know with thse little jewels. They're like a flood. Thet start with a drop or two, and then...

The Beefsteak and Cherriy 'maters are still hard and green so it'll be another week or two at least befire we see any actionthere.
 
Katoomer said:
To relieve stress I keep the lawn looking good
Click to expand...
Unless you live where there is sufficient summer rain to keep a lawn self watered, you should not have one. Large lawns are a 1950's concept that has no place in today's world. Arable land should be used to grow food. Also, most lawns are fed chemicals that ultimately end up in either the water table or our streams and rivers. We should be stressed out by all the negatives associated with lawns.
 
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