Drought of 2012

This past summer the state of Iowa was blasted with record temperatures and very little rain.  Mowing companies had a great spring, but have had a very rough summer and fall.  To give you an idea of what we dealt with in Waukee, IA.  Below is a house that rarely water their yard this summer and the effect that it had.

The first picture is from June 5th, 2011.  Granted it's late spring, but that particular summer there was very little need to water the lawns on a regular basis as we received sufficient rainfall.

The next picture is the same property from this past September (2012)

Will this lawn recover?  Most likely, as will most of the drought stricken lawns.  Turning brown and going dormant are defense mechanisms to protect itself from these conditions and once the rain returns most lawns will recover.

However, what should you do to help the lawn along and speed up the recovery process? Once the rain returns, make sure to fertilize your lawn.  Grass needs nutrients and just fertilizing without any water is like throwing money down the toilet.  In addition, some of the grass may not return or your lawn may return thinner than years past, so it is really important to over-seed your lawn to help thicken the grass and green it up quicker.

Dogs, Urine, Winter & Brown Spots

Q: What do they all have in common?

A: Trouble for my lawn.

Meet Newman (and his freakishly long tounge, and yes named after the character from Seinfeld)

 
He was a birthday present for my wife a few years ago, and while he has been a great family dog, he does have one tendency that bothers me to no end. You see, I live in Iowa and the winters can be brutally cold, and Newman being a boxer has a thin coat, so he dislikes the cold months about as much as I do. So, when it comes to relieving himself, he doesn't venture too far outside, which ultimately leads to about a 5x5 area just off of my deck that is saturated, which ultimately ends up with urine burn the following spring.

What causes urine burn? 

In dogs urine there is a nutrient called "urea" and this is an organic form of nitrogen.  So, when Fido goes over & over & over in the same area it's like over-fertilizing an area of your lawn causing damage.  Also, urea has been found to be more concentrated in female dogs.

What can we do to prevent urine burn?

Well, we may not be able to prevent it completely, but there are some steps you can take to maybe limit the damage a little bit.

1.  Water the spot where your dog urinates, this will dilute the urea and limit/eliminate patches in your grass. (I live in Iowa, winters are very cold, not a legitimate option for me.)
2.  Train your dog to urinate in a certain area on your lawn so that the spots are isolated to a particular area as opposed to all over your lawn.
3.  Keep your dog hydrated, by doing so this will also dilute the urine your dog eventually discharges
4.  Avoid fertilizing these areas. The urea is a form of fertilizer, so adding more will only contribute more to the burning of your lawn.

We attempted Grass-Saver biscuits from  PetSmart, but our dog wasn't too fond the taste as he would just let them fall to the floor.

Come February or March I will do a follow-up to this post to show you how to fix these patches. Hopefully we have another mild winter, so I won't have to do too many.

If anyone has any suggestions for prevention of the spots, I'm all ears and will try nearly anything.

Mower Maintenance

We're near the end of the mowing season, and I'm going to talk about lawn mower maintenance. Hopefully by now you have completed your fall lawn upkeep which you can find in my "It's Fall, Think Spring" post.

You don't want to put the mower away too soon because you want to make sure that before the lawn goes dormant for the winter, that you have it at a shorter height (2 1/2") to avoid fungus and snow mold come next spring.  However, once you have made that last cut you want to take care of these 7 steps before putting your mower into winter hibernation. Please note that this is for 4-cycle engines.

1. Empty your gas tank:  There are a couple options here for you.  If you have too much gas in your tank you may want to siphon the gas out of the tank and then turn it on and let the engine run until the gas runs out, which is the other option if you don't have a whole lot of gas left in the tank. Regardless of which route you choose, you will want to run your engine for a bit to thin the oil, so when you change your oil (step 2) you get more of the old oil out of the crank case.

2. Drain the Oil:  I have a Toro 22" Recycler lawn mower, so I don't have an oil plug at the bottom of my mower, so I have to tip my mower on its side to drain the oil into a pan or recyclable container.  Some lawn mower's have a plug on the bottom and may require removal of the mower blade.

3.  Remove the Blade (if you haven't done so already):  Take a puddy knife or a wire brush and clean any grass and/or dirt that may be caked onto the bottom of the mower.  This will help prevent rust and also allow a clear path for your mower blade to move.

4.  Sharpen or Replace the mower blade:  If your blade has damage and the dings/chips cannot be sanded out, it is time to replace the blades.  If there are minor chips that can be easily sanded out, you will want to sharpen your blades.  Blades that are dull or dinged up will not cut properly and could do unwanted damage to your grass. Whenever you have sharpened or replaced your blade, put them back onto your lawn mower.

5.  Change your air filter: A dirty air filter does not allow your engine to burn gas efficiently, so you will want to make sure you have the air filter replaced or cleaned.

6. Replace your Spark Plug:  They're not expensive, so for just a couple dollars, a new one will give you peace of mind that your lawn mower will start come next spring.  Take your socket wrench and remove the old one, and plug in your new one and then tighten it.

7.  Fill with fresh oil:  Once all of these steps are completed, you can fill your engine with SAE30 oil.

There you have it, come next spring you will be happy you took care of these steps now as opposed to having a lawnmower that doesn't start and then paying someone to repair it.

It's Fall, so Think Spring!

I know, it's been a long hot summer and some of you may be getting to the point of the year where you're thinking about winter and being able to put your lawn mower away for a while, but this is when you need to be thinking about your lawn for next year.  So, hang in there and make sure to do the following before you put your lawn mower and other gardening tools away for winter months and come next Spring you will be glad you didn't call it quits too soon.

1.  Summer temperatures are behind us, so now you will want to cut your lawn to a shorter height.  You do not want to leave your grass long in the winter as the snow will compact the longer grass and reduce circulation in your lawn and may ultimately cause certain lawn diseases come next spring.  So lower your mower deck so that you cut your lawn to about 2 1/2 inches in length

2.  Rake those leaves!  Luckily I live in a new development so the trees aren't mature enough to produce mass quantities of leaves, but you do want to make sure that you remove the leaves that you do have from your lawn.  With the snow on top of the leaves, which are ultimately on top of your grass, this will also contribute to the reduction of the circulation in your soil and make your lawn prone to mold, which will produce those unsightly yellow patches next spring. Raking is the best route, but if you don't have too many leaves a good mulching lawn mower will do the trick.

3. Have you aerated your lawn?   Aerating puts holes into your lawn and this provides better water, nutrient absorption & enhances oxygen levels which stimulates root growth.  While buying an aerator isn't feasible for a lot of homeowners, you can check with a local hardware or rental store and you could go in with a group of neighbors and rent one for the weekend and your whole neighborhood could benefit from this.

4.  Apply gypsum!  Over time the soil becomes very compacted, or in the case of my lawn I live in an area where a lot of clay makes up a lot of our "soil". Whatever the case is, you want to make a habit of aerating your lawn. A lot homeowners in our neighborhood had their sod laid on top of clay and very little black soil. It has been a 7 year process of aeration & application of gypsum to break that clay down so that my lawn can thrive in the hot summer months.  Gypsum is very inexpensive (bought mine this past weekend for $8.99/bag) and it should be applied to your lawn at least once a year (fall and/or spring, for best results do both).  This works in breaking down the clay so that water and nutrients can flow to the roots of your grass.

5. Over-seed your lawn:  No matter how much TLC you give your lawn, grass inevitably will die.  Grass will start to slow down after only 5 or 6 years, so you need to replenish the grass that eventually doesn't come back.  So, over-seed your lawn every fall, more specifically late August or (preferably) September.  The nights are nice and cool and the days aren't too hot, but warm enough to provide ideal conditions for germination of your new grass seed.  (Please see my post on over-seeding to get the details on how to do this properly).

To Over-Seed or Not to Over-Seed?

That is the question and the short answer is a resounding YES!  Many homeowners spend a lot of money on lawn care companies to come and fertilize their lawns and they will also run up large water bills to keep their lawns green, but many homeowners skip one of the easiest steps to maintaining a thick and lush green lawn.

That step is called over-seeding, and below I will take you through the simple process and you will wonder why didn't I do this before?

Did you know that in only 5-6 years grass will slow down in production?  This means that grass will die off or won't grow back nearly as thick as it did the first couple years.  So, how old is your house or how long has it been since it's been over-seeded?  I recommend doing this every fall, but you want to make sure you do it at least every couple of years to ensure you have new grass growing to compensate for the grass that dies off or grows back thinner, which makes it prone to more unsightly weeds.

Step 1:  Cut your lawn shorter (we're in the fall now), you can afford to cut it shorter because it isn't as hot during the days and the nights are cooler, so the natural shade of longer grass isn't necessary.  I typically don't want to bag my lawn clippings, but this is the one time you want to make sure that you do it.  Seedlings need to have direct contact with the soil, so make sure the debris is picked up from the mowing so that when you spread the seed, it increases the likelihood of getting to the soil.

Step 2:  Get out your broadcast spreader (or borrow/rent one).  The grass seed you buy will indicate what setting you will need to set your spreader at.  You want to make sure you don't spread the new seed too thin, you want to make you use a lot of seed to increase the number of grass seeds that will germinate and take root.

Step 3:  WATER, WATER, WATER!!  If you let the seed get dry, it will not germinate.  You want to make sure you water your lawn twice a day for two weeks.  This is the step that most homeowners don't like to do or think they can slack on, but without providing the environment for those seedlings to take off, step 1 & 2 were a complete waste of your time.

This is one of those jobs that you will not see an immediate impact, but if done on an annual basis you will continue to see thick, healthy lawns for years to come.