May 3, 2009
The blizzard of last Sunday, of course, was completely gone the next day – but that didn’t stop me from sneering out the kitchen window all scrunchy- faced in complete disdain over our weather. Here’s a photo taken today of the same snowy backyard scene posted on my blog a week ago. Look how marvelously lush and green our grass is! Yes! Great! Uh, yeah, except what’s with those yellow patches in the lawn? The yellow looks a bit like patches of sunshine, no? HECK NO!! It’s raining in this picture. The yellow patches are … yellow patches! Well, I’m not going to stress over it. We have yet another fascinating yard/garden mystery to solve! Or not. What’s a few yellow spots? Fungus? Dog pee damage? Different grass? Okay, so it turns out – like most every thing else in life – you have to apply yourself diligently, WORK at it, to achieve a half-way-decent-looking lawn.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
May 3, 2009
Here’s a closer look in the back yard at our center garden after that blizzard a week ago. Check out the tulips! The poor things about froze to death. The spindly tree in the center is our infamous flowering (not) crab tree – not to be confused with the aforementioned crabgrass still proliferating throughout the garden underneath all that snow. I bought a hoe to dig it out, but haven’t actually used it yet.
Next we have the picture of that same back garden taken today- one week later! Check out those hardy tulips now! There are some grape hyacinths poking up in there too. The ground covers are taking off. The flowering crab tree, is, uh, sprouting leaves. I will surely take pictures of it when it blooms, if indeed this tree we planted last fall is a flowering crab.
Notice the perky patches of yellow grass along our fence … Oh, and there’s our dog, Rudy, in the picture – the furry adorable little culprit, my husband suspects, likely responsible for the yellow patches. Awwww! Yellow pee-pee spots from our precious little poodle? Naw! I’m betting it’s … fungus! I’ll just run this photo, along with a yellow grass sample, to one of the local greenhouses to confirm my suspicion – return home with the perfect anti-fungal treatment for the grass, and leave a note for my hubby: “Darling, I was right. The dog is innocent. The anti-fungal treatment for the yard that goes in your sprayer is in the trunk of my car.” How much work can it be, armed with the latest chemicals, to rid our lawn of those yellow spots? Well, I can just hear my husband’s response: “Just replace the whole lawn with rocks.” – (This vision being freshly inspired by our recent trip to Phoenix, where most yards are filled with rocks and local species of cacti, requiring no upkeep whatsoever.)
May 3, 2009
And here we have the mess around our large tree by the deck (surrounded by yellow patches, you can see). I think it would be nice to achieve some kind of finished look here- frame the edges of the dirt with cement bricks or something – which should be easy enough – you see them in yards everywhere. I’ve measured the area – it’s about a square yard. I am picturing those cement bricks made just for this purpose, framing the area with a smooth, rounded cement border (with no grass bursting out through loose seams!). Or not. Could just dig that dandelion out, for starters. And then, just continue imagining what the area around the tree could look like, for the next five years, like I’ve been doing for the past five years. By then we will likely have moved into a condo.
Tags: Gardening, yellow grass
The Decompression of a Boomer 
May 6, 2009 at 11:58 am |
Hi, good post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for blogging. I will certainly be subscribing to your posts. Keep up great writing