Use a fertilizer with a surface and subsurface insecticide to kill any chinch bugs or grubs. The time frame to apply this is in late June. I don't know about Missouri but around here the grubs hatch out and fly out as jap beetles right around 4th of July. They have sex and lay their eggs (grubs) in the same place they flew out of. Merit has a 4 month residual but has to be watered in when you use a granular. So wait until before a predicted rainfall to apply this fert around this timeframe. That will take care of your grub problem.

Somewhat yes, but there are skids on the side that limit the depth of tillage from what I can see. It's2-3 bolts to move those on each side unless I'm missing something.

OK. I see.

If you're going to do it twice just pick up your 3 point some and then let it dig deep.

Sedgehammer is amazing, safe to grass and will toast nutsedge.

Hmmmmmmmmm. I've tried it, I'm doing something wrong I guess. I've even add the blue, and the sticky shit every time I've tried. But every year it seem to kill more grass than weed.

I think the grass struggles in that patch anyway because it reflects off a window, but the nutsedge seems to survive.

FML!!!!

I have heard about the bumble bee problem due to so much herbicide being used.

We just returned from an 11 day trip to the east coast and the henbit had gone crazy.

It was really nice to see a few big old fat bumble bees though. Now they can just move on to my fruit trees since I have been working on removing the weeds.

This is why we're doing what we can to help and planting that bee garden a few posts up. Everything we planted is supposedly stuff bees love. And most of our veggie garden is great for bees.

Thanks!

I was doing some planting in my garden this week and dug up a bunch of those darn grubs. They are everywhere! I have the merit ready, and it sounds like I may need to order more.

I am hesitant to put it on my garden though.

I was going to tell you that if one of those plants doesn't work out. I had a landlord plant a plant of alfalfa and it worked pretty decent as an ornamental. You just have to cut it down in the fall or spring. And it will get the pollinators rolling.

Do not put it anywhere near your garden.

Dog kept meandering through the bee garden. So we built a fence.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...969513c043.jpg

kill the dog. take down the fence. someone may have mentioned anti-freeze once or twice.

I was going for razor wire, but she likes the dog more than me.

Is there anyway we can shoot the moon or create a mountain range in central Kansas that will make Johnson County into an arid wasteland like Phx, Las Vegas etc? I don't want grass or to **** with my yard.

Can you just have a rock lawn like we do in the desert?

Gravel the whole yard. My father-in-law wanted to do that, needless to say Mom Smith was not on board but he did manage to get it shady enough nothing would grow.

I hope nothing you plan to eat will be in the middle box. It's going to be hard to reach and tend to.

The Hibiscus are loving this weather. 20+ blooms on this one plant.

http://i.imgur.com/VARU3dz.jpg

It's a bee garden, so flowers only.

Lawn guy came by and put fertilizer down last Sunday. Then it rained. Now the grass is starting to grow and I'm going to have to ****ing mow it soon. I want winter back.

****, I can't read. I like the look of it with the fence actually.

ROFL

We thought it turned out well. Kinda "cute".

Get a chameleon. They love hibiscus. We have slightly different perennial hibiscus varieties in the colder climate but they really do bloom like crazy.

Chameleon's don't do well here. Too hot. I get tons of lizards running around though. Love those things.

I think yellow and whitish varieties grow well in other places. It's too hot for many of those to make it through a summer here. I've lost a few pink Hibiscus plants in the heat of summer, but the red ones grow amazing here and bloom most of the year.

**** YES! I'd be on the OTHER side of the rain shadow. It will be the cornbelt up in this bitch, but you will have to take the Rockies down.

We've sold our house and our dog over the winter was peeing on the lawn. I bought some grass patch stuff at Lowe's but it grows weak, thin grass. Plus the seed grows grass that's a lighter green than our lawn, we have a thick sod that's a darker green. I'm thinking of going to Grass Pad and asking for the right seed (not sure what I would ask for, any ideas?) and some topsoil and patch the yellow spots myself.

thoughts?

Just get a mower trailer and attach it to your fat tire bike.

new to the thread...
 

so i have a really slow work in progress regarding covered gardening. i've had to do most everything by myself, with some assistance when i can't. i have laid out an area of about 25 feet squared with corner posts and lattice. the garden is overgrown at the moment from all the rain we have had, and really i do not expect anything to come from it from here till next spring.

my most recent add on is trying to build a pvc green house roof over one section of the garden.

when i get the clear tarps attached to the pvc, it will be put into place, then lined on the sides with green house panels i saved from the shit greenhouse frame i bought six years ago.

so here are two pics that give you an idea of what i am doing

first is roof sitting on the ground, the next is where it will sit and be fortified once tarps are attached.

any idea's or advice is welcomed. (ignore the smashed shed roof, it's a sore spot for me 8 months after a neighbors tree fell on it ROFL )

Green pvc let enough light through?

It's fall down there now, right?

the 'green house' roof will be a clear reinforced tarp.

how dare you say 'fall', it's autumn here :D (i only say that as everytime i used the term 'fall' everyone looks at you like 'what's that').

about to get our first frost soon and all the ivy's are turning red (beautiful colors i might add) we have a great view of town when the leaves turn.

I see. Cool man. Hope it turns out. I've often thought of putting up a greenhouse but I don't have the labor to pick a lot of veggies.

at one point we bought a greenhouse, without my knowledge it turned out to be flimsier than an aluminum can. at least i wont flinch every time a gust of wind comes thru. i got tired of chasing panels in the neighbors yards :D

LOL.

You know how all the old timey songs talk about the wind swept plains? Yeah. That's my farm.

Wow, looks fantastic! How are your tomatoes doing?

We had our first hibiscus bloom this week after setting them back out.

We now have fresh radishes and Lettuce. Garden is doing great.


Trees have been loving the rain.

Garden has been going nuts for the past month.

Once we get deep into May, it will come crashing down with the heat.

Here was today's haul alone. First time growing green beans. Called Kentucky Wonder. I provided a 4' tomato cage for them to climb and they got to the top in about a month. I realize they need about 7-8' of growing height and was hoping they'd grab the concrete wall behind where they grow, but they aren't doing that. Next year I'll place a 7' trellis behind the tomato cage to extend their growth. Either way, they are fantastically long beans!

http://i.imgur.com/v7kHEpi.jpg

I've got dandelions out the ring tute this year. Any advice on getting rid of them?

If they're new 2-4D and Dicamba (weed-b-gone) will get them. If they overwintered they're tough sons of bitches to kill.

Yeah, make sure and take care of it early while the plants are still actively growing. The weedbgon will take care of them easily if you get on it early. If you wait until later, you'll be dealing with nearly fully grown plants and the weedbgon won't work as well. Also, catch them BEFORE they go to seed - do anything you can to limit the amount of seeds they spread. Keep it under control early for a few years and you'll be set for the future.

In the fall, after first good frost, is ideal time to kill them. Crazy how few people do that that have them in their yard. But for now 24d

ironically, this green house 'top', would serve well as the greenhouse itself. i've attached the tarps today. in a few days, we will lift it off the yard and back into the corner garden posts. the apex will be approximately ten feet high. :D

I realize I could keep things a little neater and maybe better growth with some trimming. But tomato plants grow like weeds here and missing a week feels like missing a month, so I usually do very little pruning and just let the bush go to town. Here's today.

Tons of cherry tomatoes.

http://i.imgur.com/f82vBfd.jpg

And I thought this was an early girl seed when I planted but these are much bigger than any early girl tomatoes I've every grown. Maybe it just helped getting the plant in the ground earlier this year?

http://i.imgur.com/4GlsYaa.jpg

Nice. I love me some tomaterz...

Those are some nice looking tomatoes. We just recently got out from damn near 5 feet of snow. My backyard still had a few inches of ice hanging around up until about 2 weeks ago.

Started painting the house and had to rip out a flower bed, cut it up with the chain saw. Need to add a skirt board to the bottom of the siding, upper right to cover up the dry rot. Replacing the timbers with landscape blocks.



.

War on groundhogs begins today....4 den holes appeared under my equipment shed

Looking good. We had to do that to our Illinois place due to the snow.


How do you know they are groundhogs? Are you just familiar with them or have you seen them? Curious.

I have been seeing little rabbits in various places so the fox should be along soon.

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Honest, will rozol get them?

And I just gave some bunnies under the front porch slab a carbon monoxide long-term dirt nap...

First of the season!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...140bea2887.jpg

Got to be better than store bought.

Got 20 Tomatoes planted in my garden area that I bedded in fall and overseeded to cereal rye as a cover crop. Rye got 6 feet tall and I cut it all down with weedwacker. Tomatoes went in with no tillage...so far, other than the damn deer eating 5 plants..i replaced, it looks like a winner way to reduce labor, grow your own weed mulch and build organic matter because Rye has such a huge root system.

And for giggles Im doing ten plants planted into rotting straw bales....deer got 2 of those as well....Electric fence is now up.

Will harvest first Cabbage today...Potatoes look super....Garden could use a week of dry out time.

Let's keep this party rolling! My pictures from the week. Making Salsa today from the garden. Didn't have picture of the jalapenos but have 30+ on one plant.

Had an extremely strong cane shoot up one of my rose bushes. Once it got to height, it produced 7 roses on one cane. Called a Chicago Peace Rose.

http://i.imgur.com/xUrDNDE.jpg

Potted Vincas, which can tolerate the Phoenix summers.

http://i.imgur.com/2uE4BhD.jpg

Cherry toms, early girl toms, and Sante Fe grande peppers

http://i.imgur.com/55mWh1H.jpg

Sage in full bloom.

http://i.imgur.com/L0tBquA.jpg

5-6' tall Hibiscus loving the weather and being situated next to the palm trees.

http://i.imgur.com/UbG9dkE.jpg

They were tearing up Mom's tards and I bought her one of those $20 solar pest spikes. No gophers so far this spring.

This little beast is done and ready to move. Got talked out of putting it on my 16 acres in the middle of nowhere, so looking at a small lot in our downtown historic district. Looking forward to landscaping a tiny yard.

My latest project:
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Really don't know what I'm doing but that's what makes it fun. I'm not sure how to finish it so I'm looking for ideas.


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What length are you guys mowing your grass at, I just jumped from 3" to 3.5", next week going to 4". The heat will be coming soon, I want to choke out any remaining weeds and let the lawn shade itself as much as possible. As a plus, I love the look of the taller grass after edging.

On a side note, just pulled poison ivy out of a bush wearing gloves, still managed to brush some across my arms. Washed them twice, hope I don't break out, I hate that crap.

I want to see pictures of the bush wearing gloves ,

Looks like a good place for a commode.

This seems to work well for me.

http://8016235491c6828f9cae-6b0d8741.../8629544_1.jpg

Not sure how much sun that spot gets given the fence and the house next door? I like doing something with corner spaces like that though.

Cactus garden. With a fountain. And cool lighting.

That's a blank palate for a cool space.

Honestly I was thinking something similar with succulents or easy to grow summer flowers that aren't picky. Could make a three tier style if he wanted to put a bit more work and dirt in there.

I think it lacks the sun for garden veggies or roses though.

I tried a cover crop once. I couldn't get anything to beat kochia out of the ground. Mone was a train wreck.

If I were you I'd roundup it at pollination. It should lay down for you. Your cover will last longer and it is less work.

TALL. I live in the desert.

I timed it perfect...problem now is garden is so waterlogged....You will love this...I planted 10 plus acres of Native Grass on April 13. Ive had over 16 inches of rain on it. So you can imagine our clay soils water holding ability with all that gong on.

It faces south & gets a lot of afternoon sun. I have an apple tree about 10 feet from it & might start providing some shade in the afternoon in a few years.

It really is a blank canvas & I know you guys generally have some great ideas.


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I hadn't thought of a cactus garden. I thought about a fountain but I'd have to hire someone to run the waterline out to it. The lighting has bumfuzzled me. Could I do solar lighting?



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I already told you to put a commode there so you have someplace outside to take a shit. Get er done!

I thought about two tiers with different types a vegetation in each.


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I'd do some LED lighting. Something that changes color. There's a lot of LED lighting out there that will do that. Program it, control it from a remote.

I love lighting. You can even put lighting in the fountain water. Another thought is a fire pits. Gas with rocks. Cool look. And you can program them to music.

Install a hot tub, drop a bit of dry ice in the fountain, and you've got yourself a grotto.

You could go with some native flowers to mid-mo that do well with facing south. I would suggest cone flowers nearer the fence and spider wort near the front.

Made the little kid's day who lives across the street. The sons (and the older son's friend who is town for the older son's 21st birthday) moved the swing set they grew up using to its next home. Before and after shots. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...da50d8a9d4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...16057d93b3.jpg

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:eek: That's my average annual precip!

Glad it is working out.

Working on it again today if weather cooperates.

I'll post a photo after I work on it.


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Here's photos.

Before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...89d42905f3.jpg
After:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...449ce1fb05.jpg


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Before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b0dd5a11b5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e6bc2ab689.jpg
After:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...418e1fb31d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c8be91c8f7.jpg


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Nice. You've done work.

That is all legit! Looks great.

How did you do the patio space to look like pavers...painted on?



The stones under the stairs looks great. I might consider doing something like that down here. Great work.

Thanks!

Brick mold & used concrete stain. It turned out better than I expected.

The stones were a bigger project but it turned out pretty cool.



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Thanks!


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