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I feel far too suburban now...
May. 22nd, 2015 08:08 amExciting news this week: I picked up a couple of new lawn sprinklers.
Worrisome news of the week: *Last* week I realized I might need to water my lawn, in Western Washington, IN MAY.
You may know the Seattle version of the old rhyme, "April Showers Bring May Showers, but in the dreary rain, there still bloom flowers."
Or the Pacific Northwest rule of thumb, "keep your rain gear handy until a week after the Fourth of July." Because it's usually so common you might need it any day.
Climate change, or just an annual oddity? I don't know.
This year, though... I have crab grass. And I learned late last year that most ordinary grass can out-compete crab grass, if the soil is rich in nutrients (I fed it twice over the winter) and there's plenty of water, and you keep the grass about 3 inches high, to shade the crabgrass and give the regular grass even more of an advantage.
Wow... encourage the desiderata (even if it does have a habit of being turned into poetry), and it will grow and overcome the unwanted? Sounds like a plan.
"But how will I mow? There are so few sunny days in the spring!" Well, *that* hasn't been a problem!
("Um, John, doesn't the gentle exercise of a manual lawnmower risk exhausting you?" "Oh, thank you for asking, hypothetical reader! Yes, it does - so I only mow a single section a night, which also makes the watering less of a pain, since I only water the section I mowed (or if I'm having a bad time, the section I mowed yesterday.) My lawn has three well defined sections.")
Anyway. Cool sprinklers - there's one that generates a spattery jet with adjustable length in a circle, or portion of a circle. I realized that's perfect for my lawn section with the tree on it. I set it halfway to the property line between my house and my neighbors, and have it run a half circle - the stream hits the tree, sure, but it sprays on either side of the tree. Since water isn't solid, missing a tiny wedge-are where the trunk blocks the spray shouldn't hurt - that grass is in the shade 90% of the time anyway. The other one is this one . Supposedly, it sprays in a circle, but you can adjust the distance at many points in the circle, to handle irregular shapes. Really geeky. It's going to either be the most frustrating (and therefore useless) tool ever, or kind of fun.
Worrisome news of the week: *Last* week I realized I might need to water my lawn, in Western Washington, IN MAY.
You may know the Seattle version of the old rhyme, "April Showers Bring May Showers, but in the dreary rain, there still bloom flowers."
Or the Pacific Northwest rule of thumb, "keep your rain gear handy until a week after the Fourth of July." Because it's usually so common you might need it any day.
Climate change, or just an annual oddity? I don't know.
This year, though... I have crab grass. And I learned late last year that most ordinary grass can out-compete crab grass, if the soil is rich in nutrients (I fed it twice over the winter) and there's plenty of water, and you keep the grass about 3 inches high, to shade the crabgrass and give the regular grass even more of an advantage.
Wow... encourage the desiderata (even if it does have a habit of being turned into poetry), and it will grow and overcome the unwanted? Sounds like a plan.
"But how will I mow? There are so few sunny days in the spring!" Well, *that* hasn't been a problem!
("Um, John, doesn't the gentle exercise of a manual lawnmower risk exhausting you?" "Oh, thank you for asking, hypothetical reader! Yes, it does - so I only mow a single section a night, which also makes the watering less of a pain, since I only water the section I mowed (or if I'm having a bad time, the section I mowed yesterday.) My lawn has three well defined sections.")
Anyway. Cool sprinklers - there's one that generates a spattery jet with adjustable length in a circle, or portion of a circle. I realized that's perfect for my lawn section with the tree on it. I set it halfway to the property line between my house and my neighbors, and have it run a half circle - the stream hits the tree, sure, but it sprays on either side of the tree. Since water isn't solid, missing a tiny wedge-are where the trunk blocks the spray shouldn't hurt - that grass is in the shade 90% of the time anyway. The other one is this one . Supposedly, it sprays in a circle, but you can adjust the distance at many points in the circle, to handle irregular shapes. Really geeky. It's going to either be the most frustrating (and therefore useless) tool ever, or kind of fun.
