Lawn care ?

[DeeVeeEight]

OK - No politics here, just a straight question.

I now live on a 1/2 acre and most of it is grass, clover and of course, some weeds. It has been excessively hot and some of the ground cover is getting dry and turning brown. Here's the question - Do I fight it and throw water at it (water = money) or let it go?

 

[DWncchs]

I started collecting the water runoff from my house and garage when my girlfriends garden watering started running up the water bill. Now I use the collected water to water the garden , yard , wash the car and flush the toilets.

 

[DeeVeeEight]

How are you collecting and distributing the water? A friend of mine has a "rain barrel" set up.

 

[mrvette]

Up in Maryland I had a ~60' lot width, and so a 10' drive and a concrete back yard, line to line, + a 3 car go to hell killer garage with 3 doors across, 1/4 acre lot....wish there was a way to move that sucker 850 miles south to here....

Neighbor here dug up his entire front lawn, terraced it off and planted/mulched/graded/stoned/bordered the thing, best looking front lawn in the hood now....wife and I have 'potatoe' vines around a smaller fountain on recirc in front plus various plants, that's all her dept, the back yard is a huge mess of weeds all fenced in for dawg control, and lined with larger bushes....I have minimal gutters on the house, mainly for garage and front door area...roof run off goes to bushes around house mainly for erosion....

Prev owners here had a water/air HVAC system with a well and 1/2 horse pump to the heat exchanger....a very efficient system I may add, it's only a 'shallow well' at some 30' depth their irrigation system that used the water after the HVAC was done with it, was all dug up in various projects about the house, and so the pump is now just on a relay controlled by 3 switches around the house for convenience

I HATE YARD WORK....and being as most lawnmowers are the rotory type with a pull cord that will tear your heart/lungs/back out pulling that pos...

here is a little olde tyme trick of mine....I take the recoil starter cords and pulleys off as necessary....drill a 2" hole top/center on the motor housing....

that allows me to take a 3/8 extension with the socket female cut off to fit into a 1/2" electric drill I have.....on the male end is welded a socket to fit the nut on that mower fly weight/balancer......I use the drill to start the mowers.....

GOD, I"m lazy.....:cussing::bounce::bounce::smash:

 

[mrvette]

How are you collecting and distributing the water? A friend of mine has a "rain barrel" set up.

I have changed the front gutter downspouts over to that slick 4" PVC pipe, the thin wall stuff, it looks a bit funky, but never needs cleaning, the heavy rains we get run slick as hell down the drive, OR into one of them corrugated black drain pipes into the ground of the front garden....

I thought of collecting the one running off the drive, but have no way to distribute the water where/when needed, and 4" of rain in a few hours has been known to happen, fill any decent barrel in a second.....so I stuck on that one....

:surrender:

 

[SmokinBBC]

OK - No politics here, just a straight question.

I now live on a 1/2 acre and most of it is grass, clover and of course, some weeds. It has been excessively hot and some of the ground cover is getting dry and turning brown. Here's the question - Do I fight it and throw water at it (water = money) or let it go?

Have the same problem here. Grass is looking a little bad. I gave up on watering years ago since it didn't seam to help unless I was out there every couple of days or so with the old fashioned hose and sprinker. So for me it is plugging and seeding in the fall on my 3/4 acre.

My neighbor has an inground system....his lawn looks great. I don't know what his bill is like.

 

[saudivette]

It'll live if you can keep the water up to it. Water it every day in the early morning and late evening. It would only need a few minutes each time though.

Collecting and using your "grey" water is a great idea, just so long as there's no harsh chemicals in there, like bleach from the washing water etc...

 

[elevatordude]

Water in the am not late in the day it was cause moss and mold to grow and if you water just a little you will get shallow roots leaving them to burn easier.
I have a well so the cost in minimal but your grass will come back so long as you don't have shallow roots.

 

[mrvette]

Water in the am not late in the day it was cause moss and mold to grow and if you water just a little you will get shallow roots leaving them to burn easier.
I have a well so the cost in minimal but your grass will come back so long as you don't have shallow roots.

That's the weirdest damn thing in the world...here we are with ground water in Florida, that can pop concrete/gunnite inground pools outta the ground if pumped dry....and so we have plants/trees/shrubs with shallow roots on the surface...making mowing and any yard work a bitch....where ground water up north is much deeper, .....and no surface roots...

WTF,


:gurney:

 

[DeeVeeEight]

Up in Maryland I had a ~60' lot width, and so a 10' drive and a concrete back yard, line to line, + a 3 car go to hell killer garage with 3 doors across, 1/4 acre lot....wish there was a way to move that sucker 850 miles south to here....

Neighbor here dug up his entire front lawn, terraced it off and planted/mulched/graded/stoned/bordered the thing, best looking front lawn in the hood now....wife and I have 'potatoe' vines around a smaller fountain on recirc in front plus various plants, that's all her dept, the back yard is a huge mess of weeds all fenced in for dawg control, and lined with larger bushes....I have minimal gutters on the house, mainly for garage and front door area...roof run off goes to bushes around house mainly for erosion....

Prev owners here had a water/air HVAC system with a well and 1/2 horse pump to the heat exchanger....a very efficient system I may add, it's only a 'shallow well' at some 30' depth their irrigation system that used the water after the HVAC was done with it, was all dug up in various projects about the house, and so the pump is now just on a relay controlled by 3 switches around the house for convenience

I HATE YARD WORK....and being as most lawnmowers are the rotory type with a pull cord that will tear your heart/lungs/back out pulling that pos...

here is a little olde tyme trick of mine....I take the recoil starter cords and pulleys off as necessary....drill a 2" hole top/center on the motor housing....

that allows me to take a 3/8 extension with the socket female cut off to fit into a 1/2" electric drill I have.....on the male end is welded a socket to fit the nut on that mower fly weight/balancer......I use the drill to start the mowers.....

GOD, I"m lazy.....:cussing::bounce::bounce::smash:

Damn, Gene,

I suppose that there is a tiny bit of something in here related to my question. Let's see, there's a 3 car garage, a neighbors terraced yard, rain gutters, weeds, a water/air/HVAC system, a pump with 3 relay switches and finally something about how to modify your pull start lawn mower.

I guess the tangent about the 30' shallow well was the important part. :drink:

Oh - you hate yard work and are NOT lazy - you have too many projects to call you lazy. Shit - while we are off on tangents - why don't you toss in some info about the clamper?:devil:

 

[DeeVeeEight]

Thanks to all for your replies.....

 

[010752]

Check your elevation or the height of your water table. Almost all properties around here have sprinkler systems and there are a lot of shallow water wells. They only require a 20' sandpoint and a centrifical pump. Might be worth it.
Had a tennant that refused to run the system, large back yard was almost all sand. Set the timer to water 1 hour/every other day, starting at 5 am (less wind) and now 3 months later the whole yard is almost full again. Costs about 15 bucks a month. When done I will set it back to about half hour run time twice a week like the code says.
Comparable city water costs would be around 100 bucks a month additional.

 

[MYBAD79]

here in central FL we are now down to two days a week on which we can water the lawn, mandatory water restrictions because people would just run the sprinklers every day.
you can get a separate meter so you don't have to pay waste water for the water that you use to water the lawn, check with your county...

replacing grass is a major pita.... not expensive (like $1.30 for a piece 1x2 foot) but a lot of work and time that can be better spent in the garage

 

[mrvette]

here in central FL we are now down to two days a week on which we can water the lawn, mandatory water restrictions because people would just run the sprinklers every day.
you can get a separate meter so you don't have to pay waste water for the water that you use to water the lawn, check with your county...

replacing grass is a major pita.... not expensive (like $1.30 for a piece 1x2 foot) but a lot of work and time that can be better spent in the garage

Guy across the street has replaced his entire lawn 3x since I been here, at like 3 grand per shot....guy just up hill did his twice....but he installed himself with family/friends helping...

this stuff is a money waster....only damn grass worth growing is the type I would sell.....

 

[010752]

Ya it'a a lot of work to prep etc. Did the front lawn at that place. Instant beauty. 115 bucks for a pallet of 500sqft.
We are on 2 days a week too, but if you resod you have up to 60 days to play.

And here's a great example of the gov deskjockeys making rules.
The code says I can water 2 days a week, just not between 10am and 4pm, and they suggest 15 minutes per zone.
So you can legally, on those days, water from midnite to 10am and then again from 4pm until 11:59pm.

 

[MYBAD79]

the pallet is about $150-$200 delivered..... not too bad on the wallet but still a lot of work. I replaced about 200sqf this year.... that was bad enough :lol:

once the lawn is thick and healthy it does not need lots of water. If you have thin patches and exposed soil the sun will dry it out in no time... then grass dies and weeds take over....

Here in FL we also have grubs, cinch bugs and other pest ... and raccoons who dig up your yard trying to get to the grubs....

How about pouring concrete and paint it green or just use green outdoor carpet instead of grass..... :2nd::2nd:

 

[mrvette]

the pallet is about $150-$200 delivered..... not too bad on the wallet but still a lot of work. I replaced about 200sqf this year.... that was bad enough :lol:

once the lawn is thick and healthy it does not need lots of water. If you have thin patches and exposed soil the sun will dry it out in no time... then grass dies and weeds take over....

Here in FL we also have grubs, cinch bugs and other pest ... and raccoons who dig up your yard trying to get to the grubs....

How about pouring concrete and paint it green or just use green outdoor carpet instead of grass..... :2nd::2nd:

Very old joke made the rounds about some guy gold plating his lawnmower and doing just that with the lawn, putting it on a stand in the middle of the concrete.....:clap: I seriously wish I had done the nasty with my back yard...but I do have a narrow 2 car garage, miss my go to hell garage out back though :rose:

 

[saudivette]

Water in the am not late in the day it was cause moss and mold to grow...

I never heard of that before mate, but as they say, you learn something new every day. Hehe, we certainly don't have a problem with mold where I'm living now but even at home, I'd not heard that before and I always used to water my lawn in the evenings. My place is in Queensland, sort of sub tropical place. Different climates maybe?

 

[vette]

Up in Maryland I had a ~60' lot width, and so a 10' drive and a concrete back yard, line to line, + a 3 car go to hell killer garage with 3 doors across, 1/4 acre lot....wish there was a way to move that sucker 850 miles south to here....

Neighbor here dug up his entire front lawn, terraced it off and planted/mulched/graded/stoned/bordered the thing, best looking front lawn in the hood now....wife and I have 'potatoe' vines around a smaller fountain on recirc in front plus various plants, that's all her dept, the back yard is a huge mess of weeds all fenced in for dawg control, and lined with larger bushes....I have minimal gutters on the house, mainly for garage and front door area...roof run off goes to bushes around house mainly for erosion....

Prev owners here had a water/air HVAC system with a well and 1/2 horse pump to the heat exchanger....a very efficient system I may add, it's only a 'shallow well' at some 30' depth their irrigation system that used the water after the HVAC was done with it, was all dug up in various projects about the house, and so the pump is now just on a relay controlled by 3 switches around the house for convenience

I HATE YARD WORK....and being as most lawnmowers are the rotory type with a pull cord that will tear your heart/lungs/back out pulling that pos...

here is a little olde tyme trick of mine....I take the recoil starter cords and pulleys off as necessary....drill a 2" hole top/center on the motor housing....

that allows me to take a 3/8 extension with the socket female cut off to fit into a 1/2" electric drill I have.....on the male end is welded a socket to fit the nut on that mower fly weight/balancer......I use the drill to start the mowers.....

GOD, I"m lazy.....:cussing::bounce::bounce::smash:

Damn, Gene,

I suppose that there is a tiny bit of something in here related to my question. Let's see, there's a 3 car garage, a neighbors terraced yard, rain gutters, weeds, a water/air/HVAC system, a pump with 3 relay switches and finally something about how to modify your pull start lawn mower.

I guess the tangent about the 30' shallow well was the important part. :drink:

Oh - you hate yard work and are NOT lazy - you have too many projects to call you lazy. Shit - while we are off on tangents - why don't you toss in some info about the clamper?:devil:

LoL Gene is always a good read:amused:

 

[mrvette]

Up in Maryland I had a ~60' lot width, and so a 10' drive and a concrete back yard, line to line, + a 3 car go to hell killer garage with 3 doors across, 1/4 acre lot....wish there was a way to move that sucker 850 miles south to here....

Neighbor here dug up his entire front lawn, terraced it off and planted/mulched/graded/stoned/bordered the thing, best looking front lawn in the hood now....wife and I have 'potatoe' vines around a smaller fountain on recirc in front plus various plants, that's all her dept, the back yard is a huge mess of weeds all fenced in for dawg control, and lined with larger bushes....I have minimal gutters on the house, mainly for garage and front door area...roof run off goes to bushes around house mainly for erosion....

Prev owners here had a water/air HVAC system with a well and 1/2 horse pump to the heat exchanger....a very efficient system I may add, it's only a 'shallow well' at some 30' depth their irrigation system that used the water after the HVAC was done with it, was all dug up in various projects about the house, and so the pump is now just on a relay controlled by 3 switches around the house for convenience

I HATE YARD WORK....and being as most lawnmowers are the rotory type with a pull cord that will tear your heart/lungs/back out pulling that pos...

here is a little olde tyme trick of mine....I take the recoil starter cords and pulleys off as necessary....drill a 2" hole top/center on the motor housing....

that allows me to take a 3/8 extension with the socket female cut off to fit into a 1/2" electric drill I have.....on the male end is welded a socket to fit the nut on that mower fly weight/balancer......I use the drill to start the mowers.....

GOD, I"m lazy.....:cussing::bounce::bounce::smash:

Damn, Gene,

I suppose that there is a tiny bit of something in here related to my question. Let's see, there's a 3 car garage, a neighbors terraced yard, rain gutters, weeds, a water/air/HVAC system, a pump with 3 relay switches and finally something about how to modify your pull start lawn mower.

I guess the tangent about the 30' shallow well was the important part. :drink:

Oh - you hate yard work and are NOT lazy - you have too many projects to call you lazy. Shit - while we are off on tangents - why don't you toss in some info about the clamper?:devil:

LoL Gene is always a good read:amused:

:devil::flash::goodnight: