Wrong Side of the Bed

I have a very small lawn area in the front of the house. Half of the front yard is lawn, the other is my cottage garden with its tastefully arranged mix of annuals, perennials, and vegetables. The annuals are those that reseed themselves such as basils, dill, Mexican zinnias, rudbeckia, snapdragons, nicotiana, cosmos, and cleome. It's heaven for a cheap gardener like me.

I provide a little pre emergent herbicide on the grass (excuse me - for us Master Gardeners that's turf) to keep the crabgrass from finding a home. This year, a few lemon basil plants thought the grass area with its pre emergent looked like greener pastures and moved out into the lawn. No crabgrass from the pre emergent, but basil found a home.

Now to be fair, this is not the first time plants have jumped out of the garden and ventured out into the lawn. But it is the first time edibles have done so. Every year, some rudbeckia and cleome need to be scolded, bad boys as they are, sowing their wild oats in my grass. Nicotiana and poppies seem to delight in popping up across pavement or in the brick sidewalk cracks. But now the basil? And not just one plant, but four decided to run away from home? They are all grounded.

You have to admit, the basil looks happy and healthy there. Yes, most of their friends remained growing in the garden bed, although most had gone to seed at this time of the year.

Please ignore the wild looking grass and clover in the lawn. I let these basils grow and purposely did not mow the grass, and the hot summer slowed the grass growth down. And, the grass just looks more wild than it really does in person. Enough excuses?

Tale of Two Yards

Starting last fall, a tale of two lawns developed - the front yard and the back yard. The front lawn was relatively attractive, with some patches of coarse 'cowgrass', and a constant battle with crabgrass every summer. The rear yard had its overabundance of exploding bittercress, and some bare areas beneath the star magnolia due to heavy shade and lots of roots.

With the completion of the new cedar deck and an elimination of many overgrown photinia, fall was time to start the rehab of the rear yard. A soaking with Roundup was made to kill off the grass and weeds. After two weeks, I was left with amber waves of grain punctuated with healthy green garlic and weed clusters. The grass died but nothing else. A stronger application of Roundup finally accomplished the goal.

Next, a rototiller was borrowed and work began. They look so easy to use in the tv commercials, slicing through all that soft rich moist soil. After two weeks of clay soil and a third of the yard tilled, I realized the truth about rototillers. Additional work was going to be needed to smooth and refine the soil for my grass seed. The cavalry was called in.

A landscaping company shaved off the skin of dead lawn in the rear yard. I dug up the remaining garlic clumps. I spread manure-humus, gypsum, lime, and peat and planted the seed. I bought rolls of degradable woven grass starter mats to protect the seed planted, to keep it moist and to discourage weed germination. Another idea gone bad. They blew around like billowing sails every time the wind blew, which only happened when it was raining. Chasing these around the yard in the rain was not my idea of starting a new lawn. After stomping on the new seed to retrieve and reposition the starter mats, the seed germinated and winter set in. However, I am pleased with the results thus far even if there are lots of bare spots to fill in, and lots of weed seeds beginning along with the grass. Soon, it will be time to begin edging. It makes a great looking photo though, if taken from the upper bedroom.

While the landscapers were shaving the rear yard, a spur of the moment decision was made to also tackle the front yard, so sod was ordered. The sod was laid after the old lawn was shaved and rolled up. With virtually no work on my part since, the front lawn looks marvelous. That's it - no muss or fuss and no weeds. The front yard sod was affordable, being so much smaller than the back yard. Both were reduced in size from their former - the rear lawn is about 85% as large and will be smaller yet when edging around the perimeter beds is complete; the front about 95%.

For The Record:   • Organic fertilizer (Milorganite) and manure-humus in spring Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: poppies, salvia, corepsis, some hostas, alyssum