Who is growing their own this year?

[octadyndude]

Looks great Bob. :thumbsup:

 

[Katoomer]

Bob, lawn looks fantastic. What seed blend did you use?

 

[Bobvin]

Bob, lawn looks fantastic. What seed blend did you use?

Hey Dale, I started with a pacific nw blend of ryegrass from SeedSuperStore (dot com), which is 1/3 ea. Fiesta4, AmazingGS, and Pangea. To that I added about 10-15% Garnet Creeping Red Fescue. All, I believe, are grown right here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the grass seed capitol of the world!

For the large stretch across the front of the property, I ordered just the ryegrass blend omitting the fescue as it is a very sunny spot. 100 lbs of grass seed is a lot of seed, but the site has been over-run with mostly poa. I have been cutting it down 1/4" at a time and blowing off the cuttings. When I get it down to 1 inch - 1 1/4 inch I'll use my thatcher/slit-seeder to tear through the old poa and thatch, which is going to create a mountain of debris. After that, mow one more time then overseed with my slit seeder.

After a couple years of doing the same, the lawn will be fully 'renovated', though I expect 100 yards of topsoil will be spread over a few years to fill low spots and even out the surface. Of course, springtime aeration too.

 

[Katoomer]

Drew has recommended the ryegrass blend for my lawn as well. I have full sun.
The Poa is my worst enemy right now. I have been bagging clippings to remove seeds. Tomorrow I am going to spray with Prodiamine WDG which is a generic Barricade hoping that will stop the Poa in it's tracks. What are your thoughts on using herbicides to control Poa?
But that means overseeding will have to wait until spring. I am toying with the idea of buying a Billy Goat combo slit seeder/thatcher rather than having the hassle of renting.
Keep up with the wonderful info, thanks.

 

[Steve]

Anyone grow tulips here? Tulip festival is on today, so I'll take The Ladies for a drive for some Dutch pancakes. It been 15 years since I planted bulbs.

Anyone have a favourite colour or strain?

 

[Bobvin]

The Poa is my worst enemy right now. I have been bagging clippings to remove seeds. Tomorrow I am going to spray with Prodiamine WDG which is a generic Barricade hoping that will stop the Poa in it's tracks. What are your thoughts on using herbicides to control Poa?
But that means overseeding will have to wait until spring. I am toying with the idea of buying a Billy Goat combo slit seeder/thatcher rather than having the hassle of renting.
Keep up with the wonderful info, thanks.

Hey Dale, two thoughts. 1) re: herbicide for Poa. I have studied extensively and read the University trials, go with Tenacity not the Barracade. You can apply Tenacity over new seed, but to control Poa you need the most proven approach, which is to apply 10% of the annual dose (5oz/acre) ten times, spaced three days apart for each application. You can have 80-90% poa control with this method. Poa is ongoing battle. If you apply a little more, but fewer applications, you will get slightly less control. If you were stateside I would send you some, I have an eternal supply (bought a gallon when it was new product, now you can get it in pints.)

2) I bought a used Ryan Mattaway, but the rentals are just as good, and much cheaper. I would just rent if doing it again. And I wouldn't have to store something I use 1 or 2 times per year.

 

[Bobvin]

So what did I do yesterday for my Birthday? Well, being a lawn geek, and with weather window closing, I got a major workout manhandling this beast of a thatcher/overseeder and cleaning up the debris. I knew I was biting off a big chunk. This area is across the upper part of my property, about 275' in length, averaging about 40' wide. There is an easement designating this as "common area" so it has been maintained by the HOA lawn service for the past 7 years. Which means they've mowed it and once per year added some weed&feed. I expect it was planted with a contractor mix, which means crappy seed and up to 40% annual grass—meaning after one winter 40% of the lawn won't survive. That has left the lawn open for an influx of poa, which spreads like crazy but doesn't create roots on the spreading stems. Grab a hunk of this grass and you might find the rooted plant a couple feet away. Also meaning it looks OK for a couple months in the spring, then goes dormant until the autumn rains return. If I had the time and mojo, I'd start from scratch like I did with the small patches in front of the house. But starting over on 11,000 sq.ft. would be a summer long project, so I'm going to just try to renovate with an annual overseeding for the next several years.

(There is a 50 lb. weight on the front, making the whole thing weigh over 300lbs. Stopping, turning, raising & lowering the blades, ugh! Today I can feel it.)

 

[Shadowfax]

Yeah, they can give you a real workout. I feel that way after tilling the gardens with my power tiller. Good workout if you could do 20 minutes every other day

 

[Katoomer]

That does look like a real workout Bob.
I went ahead and sprayed the Barricade as a pre- emergent for the Poa. I'll get some Tenacity over the winter and start on that program in the spring. I have a small area of lawn in my front yard (350 sq. ft.) that is old and tired so come spring I will rent a sod cutter and start from scratch. I'm tempted to replace the boulevard lawn with artificial turf as it would save me fighting the losing battle of brown spots from the large dog population in our neighbourhood. Thanks again for your help. Some day I hope to be a lawn geek as well.

 

[Bobvin]

I had also ordered some pre-emergent barricade clone, then read the label and was worried about it stunting the new seed, so went ahead again with the Tenacity. For the new lawn just used annual strength on the soil before planting. In fact, was worried I'd overdone it, but the grass came up strong. I'm super cautious about the chemicals though as my cats love to be out in the lawn. I'll post some pics as the overseeded lawn starts to come up.

 

[CPP]

Ok Bob, I'm tired reading this and it's 9:10 in the morning.

 

[Shadowfax]

Wow, December 22 and I just finished prepping the gardens for next year.

The Garlic Patch was completed and planted the weekend before Thanksgiving as it should be. Planting before first frost is key. 104 heads have been planted, similar to last year's 100 heads which we are still thoroughly enjoying.

I was finally able to turn over the whole main garden by hand, since I can only do a few square yards per day with my back issues. Got the compost spread as even as I could and mulched over with ground up leaves. All I need to do for planting is till it in when ready.

I am not sure if it was the weather, other conditions, or if I am just getting a little better at this each year, along with adding nutrients every year. We had a bumper crop of everything we planted this past season. No Early Blight or any Blight on the tomato plants this year like the last 3 or so. We had hundreds of awesome tomatoes to eat and share along with close to 1000 cherries. Bell, Cayenne, Jalapeno, and all peppers did very well too as did Peas, String Beans, Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Lettuce and more did great also.

Looking forward to another good year and weather in 2015 for another bumper crop.

 

[Matt715]

Brian, it sounds like you had a super successful season! I wish I could say the same for me. With all the frost in the ground and rain we had this spring I got off to a late start. Our summer was cool and rainy which led to some really bad blight on my tomatoes and lots of mold on my cucumber vines. It wasn't a total disaster, but it certainly wasn't good.

I actually had my largest harvest of raspberries this past season. It had to be well over 10 gallons from my small patch. I did get a good crop of acorn squash (about 30 of them), lots of broccoli, a good crop of early cucumbers (enough to pickle 15 or so quarts), a decent crop of peppers, and enough beans to carry me though the winter. I ended up getting my first killing frost on September 11th and then freezes on the 12th and 13th so that put an end to the season quite abruptly. Maybe things will go better for me next year.

 

[Shadowfax]

Matt,

Bummer on the weather and frost. We had a really decent summer compared to some of the latest super hot and rainy year.

Better luck next year.

Oh, I forgot to say that I was still pulling and eating fresh scallions right up until I turned the garden over.

 

[Shadowfax]

Spent the weekend finishing the prep work on main garden and yesterday we planted 250 Peas, 100 Scallions, and 4 types of Lettuce. Had the babies out hardening too.

I bought some new grow lights this year after a few bad years using hand me downs and getting really nice results this time.

We planted about 80 Onions a few weeks ago in the front of the Garlic and all are doing fine. Looks like I will have another bumper crop of Garlic and many fine onions this year.

Next up is final prep and planting of Potatoes and then all the Tomatoes and Peppers as they are ready as well as a row of Swiss Chard.

Happy Gardening!

 

[a.wayne]

Wow, Congrats Brian

 

[Shadowfax]

Everything we planted a week and a half ago is up and growing nicely. I got the soaker hose laid out and working for the first 3 rows, will continue that after the 4 rows of tomatoes and 2 rows of peppers go in soon.

Sunday I also planted 60+ Potatoes. I prepped the location much better and added lots of organic material and food during planting this time so I hope to get some bigger ones this year. There is nothing like picking a fresh onion and unearthing a few fresh potatoes and frying it right up in the iron pan.

 

[MDP]

Yum!!

 

[Shadowfax]

So it's that time of year once again. I am a little ahead this year which is a good thing.

The Garlic ended up growing over the winter and not staying dormant since it was pretty mild. That just means it will be ready earlier this year, and we still have 20 heads from last season.

All the Tomatoes and Peppers are growing nicely under the grow lamps and we have started hardening them outside for several hours a day.

I had the main garden turned and tilled and leveled so over the weekend we got the first 3 crops planted. Two types of Lettuce, a bunch of Scallions, and three types of Swiss Chard.

We are taking the first week of May traveling to Portland ME, and around for our 30th Anniversary so we will be planting Peas, Tomatoes and Peppers the week we get back. Then the Potatoes will go in.

We were also given several Strawberry Plants that I got in a few weeks ago so we will see what they do.

What's in your Grden this year?

 

[CPP]

Well our 'mini grove' in our side yard, we have our Meyers Lemons, Mexican lime and a Pomelo tree all have passed their bloom and now we have fruit buds all over each tree. Nothing like free fruit. Lost our Valencia orange tree last year.