Anyone into gardening here?

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When is the best time to dump grass seeds on my lawn?
What grass is the greenest & drought resistant?
Sent from my Phone, dont judge the grammar
 
The best time to seed a lawn is in the fall. The second best time to seed a lawn is in the spring at least 6 weeks before the summer heat (preferably 8 ).
As for drought resistance, fine fescues (creeping red fescue and more) are quite green and drought tolerant, but they mostly like a good amount of shade. There are newer varieties of Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue and Perennial Ryegrass that are also a nice green colour and much more drought resistant than in the past and will do well in sunny areas. Plant breeding is always on the move. Check out a grass type called Cutting Edge Grass. I've grown some in trials at the college and it's pretty interesting stuff.
 
There's a sale on Kentucky Bluegrass at Factory direct. Gonna try getting some of those
 
Bump.
Since I started this thread 2 years ago, I moved from a condo to a house, ripped up all the grass at my new place and planted gardens throughout. Now It's time to do a bit of stone pathways and build some proper veggie gardens.
Anyone grow their own veggies here? I had more kale than I knew what to do with last year and am going try growing lots of veggies this year.
 
shanekingsley said:
Bump.
Since I started this thread 2 years ago, I moved from a condo to a house, ripped up all the grass at my new place and planted gardens throughout. Now It's time to do a bit of stone pathways and build some proper veggie gardens.
Anyone grow their own veggies here? I had more kale than I knew what to do with last year and am going try growing lots of veggies this year.
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Shane, you can throw some kale over this way if you have too much this year! I do a garden every year, or more accurately, my dad plants it and I maintain it. We will be planting next weekend. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, zucchinis and lettuce. Here's a pic from last year:
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Do you need to do a soil test before growing veggies to eat?

It wouldn't be so good if you found out you were living on a toxic waste dump, or even something less dramatic.
 
The trouble with planting your own stuff, particularly tomatoes, is that once you have tasted real food you will hate the crap you get the rest of the year. Is ignorance bliss or is it better to have loved and lost than never tasting real food at all?

Right now I'm trying to restore a grub eaten lawn. Bought some nematodes and applied according to directions. The "todes" looked like someone had wiped a dab of mustard onto a small sponge. How long before they eat the grubs?
 
nobbie48 said:
The trouble with planting your own stuff, particularly tomatoes, is that once you have tasted real food you will hate the crap you get the rest of the year.
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Ain't that the truth. Even last years sad tomato crop put factory farm to shame. I take all my fruits and vegetables in powder form now.
 
nobbie48 said:
The trouble with planting your own stuff, particularly tomatoes, is that once you have tasted real food you will hate the crap you get the rest of the year. Is ignorance bliss or is it better to have loved and lost than never tasting real food at all?

Right now I'm trying to restore a grub eaten lawn. Bought some nematodes and applied according to directions. The "todes" looked like someone had wiped a dab of mustard onto a small sponge. How long before they eat the grubs?
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Depends how wet you keep the lawn. Flatworms only breed in moist conditions.
 
So i used to garden a bunch with the mom when i was a kid and young teen. Kinda stopped over the years other than the odd help and the usual lawn maintenance.

Now that i've got my house though...i've got a huge challenge. Mother's day we spent a good 5 hours non stop just ripping out wild (FAKKIN) mint that was EVERYWHERE. And of course removed a **** ton of weeds. The backyard was covered in leaves from last fall...we didnt know we had so many rocks lazily put there to ...i guess reduce maintenance? But yeah, never tore that many roots out in both back and front yard. Im probably going to cover the lawn i tore out (to get to the mint) with cedar mulch and then look at re-seeding in fall.
Oh and the moss... moss everywhere.
I'd like to garden this year, but im most likely going to stick to plants and flowers this year. God i love playing in dirt though, it's soothing.
 
Squirrels love my cherry tomato plants. I plant decoy ones in a back corner with sunflower plants. The sacrificial plants take it for my garden plants.

The three Labradors seem to help chase em away too, but that is only a temporary fix.
 
vrus said:
how do you guys deal with squirrels?
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They haven't been a problem for me. Now the eff'n rabbits are whole different story.... Tried blocking gaps in the fence, owl scarecrow, nothing. Might have to just build a fence around it.
 
Baggsy said:
Do you need to do a soil test before growing veggies to eat?

It wouldn't be so good if you found out you were living on a toxic waste dump, or even something less dramatic.
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Did not to a soil test, however, the property that my subdivision is on was a farm ~20 years ago. Also, I dug 3 feet down, hauled that dirt, and brought in organic dirt. Kids weren't born with 3 eyes or anything, and probably safer than half the stuff from the grocery store.
 
Grubs: may need to reapply nematodes somewhat frequently to keep problem in check - identify the type of grub you have as different ones have different life cycles and therefore have different stages where they are most vulnerable. PM me your email address and I can send you a document I put together for identifying different grubs.

Fall overseeding: grass seeds germinate when outside temps are between 13-22deg. This means you can typically overseed in late summer/early fall and then do another light overseeding in mid-fall. Some years are tougher to plan than others though.

Squirrels: they often stay away from bonemeal, which is why folks often use it to keep their bulbs from being dug up. Capsicum powder or chili powder or sometimes even black pepper might keep any rodent away that sniffs around a lot as they move. This also includes raccoons and skunks who dig up the lawns looking for grubs.

Soil testing: for a veggie garden if I was at all concerned about the soil health, I would do either a soil test (sample to a lab like Guelph Uni) or build raised beds with new soil added. For my veggie gardens, I added new soil, so I knew exactly what I was starting with.

Last year I also grew lots of Swiss Chard and that's also some good stuff. I also started a native plant garden and have about 50 different types so far of stuff all indigenous to the area. Some of it's really nice stuff too.
 
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