Gardening/Maintenance Thread

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:51 pm

Gotcha. When they do ours, they have a normal trash truck with a vacuum truck following, as they collect bags, too.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:37 pm

You know Spring is right around the corner when four out of the six mail pieces are lawn service fliers.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:42 pm

Can't wait.
Picked up my brush hog Saturday. Gonna put me in a nice garden this year in the overgrown area behind my house once I mow it over.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:31 am

I've been clearing a lot of brush in the patch of woods behind my house with my tractor. It was timbered about 15 years ago and the brush/greenbriers have taken over. So I'm getting rid of them to make it a more usable space and somewhere that I might put a little firepit and spot to hang out. It's such a tedious process ripping stuff out, burning it, etc but I'm getting there. My question is now what should I put down to green it up? I've basically removed everything that's smaller than ~6 inches in diameter. So there's some significant open space now. I was thinking about doing some rye, but it's an annual grass. Clover caught my eye too but that stuff is $$$$$.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 2:28 pm

Weekend three of brush clearing. I cut down about 20 'tree of heaven' yesterday. Then I read you shouldn't cut them down but you should 'hack-and-spray' with herbicide. I guess when you completely cut them down, the roots release sprouts and now I'll have 20 per one i cut down next year,.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 3:28 pm

Never heard "tree of heaven" before. Always heard of it as sumac.

If I remember correctly, the roots are rather easy to dig out. 20 trees makes that tough chore.

I've had issues with trees that were cut down and the stumps ground, but they're still sending up shoots 2 years after. I researched and found that as soon as you cut it down, drill a hole in the trunk area and apply some sort of herbicide. You have to do it immediately though. Probably the same thing you read.

Postby **blackjack68** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:00 pm

Tree of Heaven is the chosen breeding tree for the Spotted Lanternfly. Please dispose of all you find!

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:20 pm

Never heard "tree of heaven" before. Always heard of it as sumac.

If I remember correctly, the roots are rather easy to dig out. 20 trees makes that tough chore.

I've had issues with trees that were cut down and the stumps ground, but they're still sending up shoots 2 years after. I researched and found that as soon as you cut it down, drill a hole in the trunk area and apply some sort of herbicide. You have to do it immediately though. Probably the same thing you read.

I have the herbicide in hand today. Hopefully "immediately" can be a day or two.

I have a tractor, FEL and pallet forks. So I'll have to try pulling it out with a chain or something.

Am doing said thing blackjack but they are EVERYWHERE

Postby **Willie Kool** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:39 pm

High % glyphosate? Careful with that stuff.

I'd try applying herbicide into small holes drilled straight down into the new wood out by the bark, where the tree can maybe still take it to the roots.

If you just pull the main stumps, you'll probably still get a ton of shoots. The entire root system is going to send up new growth now unless the herbicide works. A neighbor had a huge old sassafras taken down a while ago. That summer, their entire yard was covered with sassafras shoots - like over 500 of them. It was insane - but smelled GREAT when they mowed. ToH is supposed to be worse.

Worst case you have to wait for it to send out new growth and then hit it with the herbicide a few times.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:55 pm

I have glyphosate but was planning on using triclopyr on this stuff.

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:15 pm

I must be the only one who has started outdoor projects already

Started renovating a huge chunk of our lawn. Put new seed down. My wife got me 120# from her company who does roadside seeding and hydroseed. It's a turf type tall fescue. They gave it to her for nothing (and it's not expired!) . I'm shocked... If I bought this stuff it'd be $150+ a bag. Perks of the job I guess!

Postby **AuthorTony** » Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:42 pm

Can she get me some?

I'm having a drainage ditch dug through my front yard and will need to regrade and reseed.

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:53 pm

I'm sure Penn dot or one of their customers will get it tacked into their bill anyway.. Haha.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:40 am

I would have started, but we keep getting so much god damn rain that my yard needs time to dry out.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:09 am

We got like 2 straight weeks of dry, the yard was the perfect dampness to run my tractor and landscape rake over it to loosen up the dirt and remove the thatch, and spread the seed.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:33 am

I've thrown some moss killer down, and have picked a contractor to take out some trees/excavate. Now I have to buy a butt-ton of lime after getting a report back saying my lawn desperately needs it. Also have to demo my shed to make room for the new one.

Once the weather is warmer at night, I have to re-stain my deck. Then I'll most likely start building my shed. After that, rent a ditch witch for a french drain and to run water/power to my shed.

Somewhere in there I'll start some vegetable seeds indoors for planting in early May. Luckily my garden is in good shape so just a little tilling and I'm good to go.

I wish I could have started all this earlier, but the rain/frozen ground/cold nights make it tough.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:43 am

I'm second guessing myself on my lawnmower blade. I sharpened it on Saturday, but did see a number of dings (no idea what I hit to do that damage) that couldn't really be smoothed out. I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and spend the $32 on new blades just to be safe.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Sun Apr 07, 2019 7:02 pm

Beautiful day to get some outside stuff done. Got the hummingbird feeders out, finished spring clean up and moved a bunch of edging rocks, a birdbath, and several plants and bushes.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:48 am

Beautiful day to get some outside stuff done. Got the hummingbird feeders out, finished spring clean up and moved a bunch of edging rocks, a birdbath, and several plants and bushes.

Planted potatoes and corn yesterday, as well as killed some weeds. Felt good to be outside most of the day.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:16 am

I finished seeding a number of areas in our backyard where I leveled out some ground and repaired dead grass thanks to overhanging flowers.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:16 pm

Finally got a reasonable quote for a patio, guy is a laid off concrete finisher and doing work on the side, did my buddy's driveway. 6k for walks, and a 30x25 patio with 3 steps. So stoked that he wants to "have it done" by next week.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:53 am

He's not doing all of the work himself, is he? That's a lot of concrete. The crew that did my patio and steps was a 4-person crew.

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:52 am

No he will have two other guys with him. He said he plans on spreading it out into two pours as well because of the size of the patio steps.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:53 am

That's what my guy did. Poured the steps one day, then the patio the next.

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:01 am

He's going to split the patio in half, do steps and half, then other half and front walks.