Yard Service

For as long as I owned my house, up until I had back surgery, I did my own lawn care. Even when doing it was obviously causing me additional back problems.  After the surgery, I realized I could not do my own lawn for that summer, and engaged a lawn care service: Lee Lawncare. The first couple of  years I used them, they were really great, but then I started having some problems, but the owner and I worked them out.  

I think I could go back to doing some of my own yard care;  I know I can do weed pulling, especially if I sit on the step stool I purchased specifically for that purpose.  I may be able to push a lawn mower, but I have a gas lawn mower, and am not sure about pulling the starter cord.  I have tried some minor weed eating, and holding the weedeater for even 10 minutes debilitates my back and takes me several days to recover.  I can do some trimming of the ivy in the front of the house, but cutting the euonymus shrubs in the back of the house causes more stretching and reaching than I can do comfortably. I can do other cutting and trimming in spurts, but have two problems afterwards:  the soreness of muscles that I am not used to using anymore (which I can deal with) and the lower back pain that concerns me that I have done more than I should have.  If I have plenty of time to recover, I am willing to risk it, but having to get up and go to work the next day is dicey, to say the least. 

So, for now, I am still using a lawn service.  Once I retire, and have days to recover, I may change my mind, get a different lawn mower, and do more of my own yard work.  That is actually appealing to me.

But, today, I was expecting my yard service to show up.  The good thing about Lee Landscape is they understand that I do not need them every week. When I was going through problems with them, I contact several other yard services, and most expected to do a weekly service.  When it is not raining or the weather otherwise does not cooperate, I do not need yard service.  I used to water my grass. Now, I just water my trees.

Well, my neighbor asked me if my yard service was coming today, and I told her I thought they were, but with everyone's yards being overgrown, they may have been delayed. She said she needed someone, so I gave her the name.  

Later, my yard service messaged me that due to the heavy growth in yards, they were delayed, they will show up tomorrow. This is not unusual, and I understand.  I told the yard service about my neighbor, and learned she had contacted them, and they would be doing her yard tomorrow, as well as the yard across the street!  Yeah!  I hope my neighbors will be  happy with the yard service. 

Rain it Did

So we actually did get a measurable amount of rain, and some pea sized hail last night and over night.  Which was good, because tonight, I spent some time outside pulling weeds   I was glad to be able to do so, because it does clean up my yard.  But it was also physically invigorating to do so, which  made me feel better.  And, of course, the sense of accomplishment is always valuable. 

Pre-emergent

My lawn service sprayed pre-emergent on my lawn about 10 days ago.  I think it was too early in the season, because this needs to be watered in after a few days.  Well, I had thought to do that last Monday, a holiday, but it was bitter cold that day and for several days later.  Today, it was in the 70s, so probably too late, I sprayed the pre-emergent in.

It took me longer than I had thought it would, and I had some other things come up that took up time that I was planning to use for this task, but I got it done.

Yard Work

There has been so much rain recently that my yard has really greened up.  And the weeds and volunteer trees have really shot up. The landscapers have been coming weekly, and came today.  Tonight I trimmed the ivy, cut down some volunteer trees, and did some other trimming.  

It is so humid that I was sweating very soon after going outside to work.  There is more I can do, but I am going to work on it Thursday night.  

I Pull Them

I may have written about this before, but today is a new day.  Years ago, I had a neighbor who worried over his yard, and used Roundup http://www.roundup.com/smg/gosite/RUP/home and other chemicals to get rid of the weeds.  He saw me working in the yard one day, and said basically "I don't get it. I use all these chemicals, and my weeds keep coming back.  You don't have weeds."  Well, my yard does have weeds. But, I told him "I pull 'em"  He repeated it back to me, almost as if he did not understand what I was saying.

Well "I pull 'em." is not exactly accurate. I do pull weeds in my yard.  I generally put out a weed and feed in my front yard sometime during the spring, and I did that just this week. Some years, I put out a pre-emergent in the fall, but I have not done that recently.

I can tell the weeds in my front yard are not as healthy as they were.  But I am not sure the application will totally kill them.  Earlier this spring, I spent a long afternoon pulling weeds in the main part of my front yard, and for the most part, the weeds have stayed away.  Because of my health limitations, I am not sure I will be able to get back in the front yard to pull more weeds.  But keeping them cut short helps to control them.

This week, with the rains, the ground has been moist, and I have spent several hours pulling weeds in my back yard. It is amazing to me how much better the yard looks with the weeds gone.  If I use weed and feed in the back yard, I do not use the walking broadcast spreader. I use a hand held broadcast spreader.  I have more control, and I am able to spread the weed and feed without getting into the euonymous, the trees, the vines, the vinca, the iris, and now, the coreopsis that I have planted.

But I have not put out a weed and feed in the back yard. I would rather pull the weeds. 

The problem is water.  We are on water restrictions, and are allowed to water now twice a week, but last summer, once a week  Only on certain days.  Many people in my neighborhood, myself included, have stopped watering, because the cost has skyrocketed.  So, without watering, the grass goes away, and the weeds come in.  I have buffalo grass in the backyard, in spots, and it has been spreading, but since I did not water at all last summer, by the end of the summer, even that dried up. I think this year, I will try to water enough to encourage the buffalo grass to spread throughout my yard: it has spread every year, as the Bermuda grass dries up.

And, if I can get the buffalo grass to spread more, maybe in the fall, or next spring, I will plug the front yard with buffalo grass, water it in, and let it spread. Maybe. 

Well. anyway, as long as the ground is moist enough to pull the weeds easily, I will keep working on that. I sit on a step, have the Off Clip-On Mosquito Repellant device http://www.off.com/en-US/Products/Pages/off-clip-on.aspx#off-clip-on-mosquito-repellent?cid=SEM_B_off%20clip-on_off-us-spr14&sid=SEM_B_289.kw49457eattached to the step, and move around the yard. Yes, we already have mosquitos.

And, after that, I come in, use the electronic pulser on my hip, and sit on the heating pad for the rest of the night. That and a dose of aspirin helps the throbbing in my leg to abate.

And, I feel good about being physically active, and about how much better my yard looks.  Pulling weeds does it for me!

Rain!

It rained Saturday, April 19, 2014.  Some in the afternoon, and later again in the evening.  I put out buckets and caught rain for the rain barrel.  When the afternoon shower was done, I went out and pulled weeds in the front yard:  I had debated all day about putting out fertilizer, and did not. It turns out, I should have.

Pulling weeds informed me the ground was not soaked very deeply.  My rain gauge indicated less than a quarter inch. I think the official totals were a little higher. We need much more rain, and may see some later today or this week.

I am not sure about fertilizing. I let the front yard go to vetch, and I do not need to fertilize vetch.  I think I will fertilize the back yard: I have lots of bare spots which will fill in with feed and rain. Besides, I did not buy weed and feed, so even the vines and trees will benefit from the fertilizer. If it rains. If not, I can always water it in.