Killing some, giving life to others

So a few days ago I went around to the bare urine spots and added some more quick seed stuff because it wasn't looking like the first batch was taking well. Especially the spot in the front yard that gets less shade.

It looks like a few seeds have taken sprout but not as much as I had hoped. We'll keep an eye on it though as I still think it has a good chance to fill in. Especially is the weather permits.

Looks like this time of year is weed growing time. The Sandbox/Swing-set area and mailbox flower bed has broken out and so I sprayed this morning after mowing the lawn. We'll see how that works. If it doesn't I may try using a new batch of weed killer, buying a new brand at the store or just digging up the weed.

Also it seems like that yellowish spot in the front yard as improved a little bit. There's been some rain and I've also been running the sprinklers in the front for 10 minutes on off days.

Weed and feed

Since I haven't applied anything since the pre-emergent and since the grass isn't looking as green as I'd like I decided to apply IFA's weed and feed today. The weeds aren't terrible if you don't count the crabgrass which weed and feed doesn't touch anyways but there are some and mostly I want to fertilize. There are little sprouts under the two trees in the front yard which I hope the weed and feed will kill. I made sure to avoid the areas where I applied seed to fix urine spots. I also ran the sprinklers on a 2 minute cycle before hand. I took small handfuls of weed and feed and tried to drop a few pellets directly on some weedy areas.

I realized later that I need to regularly water the spots I'm trying to reseed but I need to delay watering everything else because of the herbicide. I'll have to hand water those for the next few days.

I struggled with whether I wanted to do this or to aerate and over-seed or to reapply a pre-emergent because the wheat looking crabgrass made me feel like that might spread seed and sprout more. I also really hope I can figure out what to do about that yellowish spot in the front yard.

I forgot to mention in my first post that there is a small area in the backyard in the south by the fence that sprouts some bindweed-like weed. It's never sprouted flowers and I've been trying to pick it by hand when I'm out there. I can't tell if it's spreading but it's definitely not dead yet. I should probably pick it more regularly so it doesn't have a chance to get sun.

Also there is a dead baby bird in the front yard. Hopefully a neighborhood cat will take care of it for me.

Section 3

Section 3

Section 2

Section 1

A Startishy of Yardishy

As of today it seems the yard is in worse shape than we found it. Section 2 has filled up with crabgrass. I think one problem is that I applied pre-emergent herbicide too late. I think it needs to be applied in early March where I did it sometime later in April after the seeds had already germinated.

More Milton spots

Milton spots by cherry tree

Section 3 has been the recipient of Milton's special ingredients and has a number of yellow patches. Today I added some quick grass seed mix to those spots. Hopefully they will fill in. I also changed the nozzle for the sprinkler closest to the big window. I used the nozzle three of the Rainbird 3500 sprinkler and the stream looks much more like the others now. The first sprinkler against the south fence is having a little trouble popping up so I may need to replace that one soon.

Patch in front yard that's not as awesome.

Section 1 is the best section. Probably because it has the least foot traffic, urine and feces. I am starting to see that small patch that didn't grow well last year show up again.
I changed the south east sprinkler against the fence. Maybe that will help with it but I don't think it quite reaches that far though. I'll also have to watch as that sprinkler doesn't rotate all the way to the fence.

Mysterious dead patch re-seeded

Also in Section 1 I added the quick seed stuff to that strange dead patch in the north west corner. For the next few weeks I'll have to run the 10 minute cycle everyday so those seeded patches can get the water they need.

I also mowed all three sections today. Didn't seem to leave as much clippings as usual. They may be because Hyrum Froer mowed our lawn last week and his mower may have cut shorter. Either way I probably need to add some fertilizer soon. I probably don't want to add weed and feed as that will probably kill the seeded areas.

Broadleaf weeds have been relatively under control. At least compared to other yards I'm seeing. I've been picking dandylions when I see them as well as other weeds.

I'm starting to see a crabgrass looking weed all over the place and even a little in the front yard. It's not as ugly as the others but it looks like it spreads pretty fast.


Flower beds are ok but I need to find out better what belongs in there and what is weeds. The big pink flowers look like they're just about to bloom.