So, there I sat, head in my hands, staring at that damned computer screen. I was becoming hypnotized by the blinking cursor. Write something; write something, it seemed to prompt me. But, I did not know what to write about. Only Devine intervention was going to help me.
There I sat, for how long, I do not know. “Write something,” I cursed to myself.
A tap on my shoulder made me scream like a girl as I jumped from my bench or fell off of it, some how landing on my feet in my best karate stance. Wait I think my hands were high above my shoulders, in surrender.
No! In my mind I was ready to defend myself against the intruder of my blank thoughts?
“Whoa, there Jackie!” This intruder warned me in his best John Wayne voice. “I did not mean to startle you, but I have been in the store for a few minutes and when I saw you staring at the computer thought that you might have fallen asleep.”
“I was not asleep and my name is Gregory, not Jackie.”
“With those quick moves you just made, I confused you with Jackie Chan.”
Well? I did take karate for two years; maybe it was my reflexes that took over. The scream was not a girly scream; it was a battle cry intended to startle my assailant. My chest swelled with pride, I stood up more erect. My voice came out manlier. “How can I help you?”
“I had a sprinkler system installed a few months ago and now my lawn is full of weeds. Wherever the trenching was done for the pipes I have all kinds of weeds. And the worst of it is that I also have nut grass and I never had any before. I think that the irrigator brought some soil in that may have been contaminated.”
He may have laughed at me earlier, but now it was my turn. “I have never heard of an irrigator bringing dirt to a jobsite. If anything he removed two or three wheelbarrows worth, but he had no reason to bring any in.”
“Well, how then did I get all the weeds?”
“Do you remember that dust storm we had in the early spring? It could be that some of the seeds were just waiting for the proper conditions to germinate. Since the soil was exposed to sunlight the weeds finally got warm enough or they finally came in contact with the soil. Now that you are watering with your new system all the conditions have become optimal for seed germination.”
“What about the nut grass, where did it come from?”
“Nut grass can lay dormant for years, until we do something to disturb it, such as trenching the lawn or turning a bed when we add organic matter. The nut grass can move closer to surface where conditions are perfect for it to wake up and become an eyesore and a nuisance.”
“I have been organic for as long as you have been selling natural products, what can I do to control weeds without contaminating my soil?”
“As you know most of your weeds have germinated in bare soils. The lawn that was not disturbed and remains thick and healthy does not have weeds. We have been playing with our vinegar products by adding molasses and citrus oil to it. We have found that this combination of products works very efficiently against most vegetation. What I would like for you to do is to spray the trenches with the vinegar combination. Wait until the hottest part of the day.”
“What about the 20 % vinegar, will that be more efficient?”
“You may know that we got a large fine from the EPA for selling 20 % Vinegar and recommending it to kill weeds. The EPA fears that the higher concentrations of acid can change the Ph of the soil and prohibit the growth of natural vegetation causing erosion.”
“We found that when 20 % and even 10% Vinegar may kill the top of the plant before it had time to translocate to the root system. Within a few days the weeds treated with higher concentrations may reemerge but desirable plants may not. In part because of the changed Ph? A great possibility.
“How can I encourage the grass to fill in?”
“Cheat a little. First of all you must remember that the topsoil may have been backfilled to the bottom of the trench. That means that the good rich soil that you work to obtain for the last 20 years may now be resting at the bottom of the trench. I would get some cotton bur compost or any rich organic matter and apply a thin layer over the trenches. If I had the money I would place a layer over the entire lawn. Once you have applied compost in the areas where it was needed seed it or if you are impatient sod it.”
“Will the grass fill in quickly?”
“It depends on how much effort you put into correcting the soil conditions and how smartly you learn to use your new irrigation system. Do not make the mistake of watering more frequently. Do not hesitate to use a hose to water a small section that needs additional watering instead of turning the sprinkler system on to water everything. When your compost disappears add more compost. If you need to add more seed to crowd out weeds do so.”
All this time my customer seemed to be listening intently. Every once in a while he would actually take notes, writing down some of the very informative information that I was so kindly bestowing onto him.
“What can I do to stop seeds from germinating again?”
“Be careful now. Remember that I just asked you to apply more Bermuda seed if you need to fill in sparse or bare areas. It may take two to three weeks for seed to germinate and winter weeds may start germinating in mid September early October. You need to time the application of seed with the application of Corn Gluten Meal. Corn Gluten Meal should be applied between September 15th and October 30th for suppression of winter weeds.”
“What if some seeds germinate as the new grass is spreading?”
“If there is bare soil around the weed hit it with the Vinegar combination we talked about earlier. If you have to, bend your knees slowly until they are gently but firmly placed on the ground. Once you are near the weed grab it by the thickest part of the stalk and pull!”
“That seems like a lot of work!”
“The more you do the better the results. You can be a passive gardener and wait for the lawn to improve or get worse.”
“I know, I know! I will do what I have to do.”
“There are still some things that you can do. Once the seed or sod has taken, mow more often. Take advantage of the fall’s cooler temperatures to get the grass established before the first freeze. I know that the grass will begin to grow aggressively between September and mid October, that gives you almost six weeks to get your lawn back into good health.”
“What about my nut grass? How will I control that?”
“How large of an area do you have? Can you count the individual plants or are there so many that it seems like an impossible task?”
He took a moment, closing his eyes you could tell he was mentally assessing his lawn. Or I had kept him too long and he was nodding off.
“I have one area where I can count the number of weeds and another where I have so many it almost looks like a ground cover.”
“Nut grass is a very hard weed to control. If you pull the weed and break the nut then you have propagated a thousand more.”
His face turned colors, was he embarrassed or mad at himself. I guessed he was mad and anticipated his next thoughts. “Most people think that they can pull nut grass and control it easily. Truth is 99% of the time you make things worst. If I were you…”
I hesitated as I looked around the store, was anyone else listening. NO! It was towards the end of August and no one else was in the store. What was I thinking?
“If I were you I would get some Round Up, in a bucket make a solution at the recommended rate. Put on a pair of rubber gloves and then a pair of cotton gloves or an old sock. Dip your gloved hand into the bucket and then squeeze out the excess moisture. Grab the nut grass as near to the ground as possible without touching the soil and pull upwards. This will ensure that you wet the backside of the leaves. In about two or three days you will see that the nut grass is turning yellow or if you are lucky it may have died. I do not recommend pulling the dead foliage, just let it fall off.”
My customer looked at me astonished that I would recommend a chemical as powerful as Round Up. “I though that you were all organic?”
I led him around the store to the shelf where we have Round Up on display. “We do landscape jobs where the customer may spend 500, 5,000 or 50,000 dollars. If we are going to prepare beds and then plant thousands of dollars on beautifying our customers’ lawns we will use Round Up. If a customer has nut grass we will use Round Up. I believe that Round Up is not as toxic as some people claim it to be. It deactivates as soon as it comes in to contact with the soil and we have planted two days after application and done bed preparation without loosing a plant, and better yet without the customer calling us back to complain about weed growth.”
“There is nothing that says that you have to wait before applying organic fertilizers.” I added. “The extra nitrogen will help produce more blades; the phosphorus will establish more roots. You can use Green Sense at a rate of 5 pounds per thousand square feet every two weeks for the rest of the growing season.”
By now my customer had enough information and made a few purchases. Before leaving he recommended that I set the monitoring system to alert me when the doors open. I took his advice. I would hate to hurt someone by piercing their eardrums with my girly scream.
Other Things to Do
We are still expecting as many as two more generations of webworms this year. We have been applying BTk, otherwise known as Dipel or Thuricide, at some of our customer’s lawns about every 15 to twenty days to keep the populations down. As the moth eggs hatch in to caterpillars and the hungry pest start to eat the leaves they become sick and die before causing too much of an eyesore and a mess.
A few weeks ago I was called over to a customer’s house. We had recently fertilized his landscape with Green Sense All Purpose Fertilizer and he was upset because he thought that our product was staining his cool-crete decking around the pool. He asked me to meet him at his house as soon as possible. I arrived at his house around 7:00 am the next morning so that we could walk the lawn. I immediately noticed that his six Sweetgums were infested with webworms and tore open one of the webbings to show him the pellets inside. He did not ask me to power wash his decking or table.
Chinch Bugs are starting to show up in many lawns. Chinch Bugs normally start in areas near concrete where they suck the juices from the grasses. Because of the heat from the concrete and the lack of fluids the grass seems to suffer as if it were brown patch. The insect will move into the lawn causing the effected areas to grow. For some reason Chinch bugs do not like shady areas and will stay away from under the canopy of trees.
Remember: Brown patch does not stop in the shade. This may be one way of distinguishing the two problems.
Chinch Bugs can be found by pushing a coffee can that has both ends removed into the soil and filling it with water. Some people add soap to the water to kill the bugs and let them float to the top.
Brown Patch: Every September brown patch reappears. Make sure that you water early morning rather then late afternoon to prevent foliage from staying wet throughout the night. Aeration will help by allowing the moisture to get below surface level.
Apply potassium bicarbonate or corn meal to treat Brown Patch.
Corn Gluten Meal: Is applied as a pre-emergent and should go out between September 15th and October 30th.
If you are going to apply Fescue as a supplement to your St. Augustine or as a turf in shady areas to help increase turf thickness DO NOT apply CGM in those areas.
Fescue: We maintain several older lawns with well-established trees that provide so much shade that grass will not grow. Even though St. Augustine and Fescue are not all that similar they do blend in well enough to fool the unsuspecting visitor or neighbor. The grass will look good from a distance of less then 20 feet. You will have fewer weeds in the area since the turf will be thick enough to crowd out weeds.
Fall Is for Planting
Most of the plants that we bring in are winter hardy and will do much better next year if they are planted early fall. The roots will establish quickly allowing the plants to take next year’s summer in stride.
If you know you need to redo some areas of your landscape but do not know what plants to use call Carol Feldman Design or Sally Sutton can help.
To contact Carol directly call her at 972-980-1730.
The Garland Chapter of The Texas Native Plant Society meets at Rohde’s on the 3rd Sunday of almost every month. I do send out reminders the week before.
One Final Note
It seems that every year one or two nurseries close down in our area. I was very sorry to hear that Garrison Gardens in Plano will be closing down their store. I could not believe that one of the oldest nurseries in North Texas and definitely one of the best decided to close their doors.
The day I heard about this I left work early and went to visit. As I walked the property I felt sad, how long will I be able to last, was my only thought.
I went into the office and had to wait a while to talk to a manager. He was on the phone answering a customers question about a diseased plant.
When he got off the phone I asked him, who would answer their questions when you close?
He looked at me blankly; his shoulders went up in resignation. We talked for a while about the future of independent garden centers. To my surprise he said something that happens to us at Rohde’s all the time.
“Thirty percent of the calls that we get are questions about disease and care for plants. We tell the caller what they need and remind them that we have the product in stock, and they do not come.” His facial expression changes to almost a frown. “We know the answers which we give out freely in hopes that they come to us, but they do not. Instead they go to a box store. Now, who are they going to call?”
It is my understanding that it is the health of Mr. Garrison that has made his wife decide to close the nursery. I hope that he is not too ill and that his wife will be able to enjoy the extra time with him and care for him properly.
The good news is that their sons will continue in the business as a landscape design and construction company. I have seen work that they do and have been impressed with their efforts.
Garrison Gardens landscaped my neighbor’s yard and instead of going with a totally different concept they tied in to mine with similar rockwork and perennials. The good news is that we live on a creek lot and have tried staying with a natural setting. Garrison Gardens design complemented our work.
I was told that Garrison might reopen the store in the fall for winter color sales. It sure would be nice if enough customers came in and made them reconsider and permanently reopen.