Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lawn

Does Shakeaway cat repellent also repel dogs?

ishotjr — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:49:27 -0800

Will Shakeaway cat repellent have the unwanted effect of repelling my dog, too? My neighbors (one of whom owns the house I rent) feed two stray cats, including an unaltered male (they have tried to trap him to have him fixed, but haven't been able to, so that's not relevant to this discussion)The neighbor who feeds the cats has big dogs (one is part wolf, even) that spend most of their time in their fenced yard, so the cats don't hang out there. Instead, they hang out in my yard. The tomcat sprays on the bushes, and they both poop in our yard.

The problem is that I have a little indoor dog and a dog door that I would like for him to use. I would really like for my dog to be able to go out and use the bathroom at his own discretion between his nightly walks/when I'm not home. However, he started finding cat poop and rolling around in it, which is baaad news. He can no longer go in the yard unattended. When I take him out and supervise him, he takes forever to pee, because he is obsessed with trying to find the cats in the bushes (who are never there when he comes outside) and sniffing where the tomcat has sprayed.

Talking to the neighbor about dealing with the cats is not an option. She's a nice old lady who loves those cats and I don't want to bother her about it since it's really just a convenience issue for me.

However, I do want to use some Shakeaway, which is dried predator (coyote) urine, to keep the cats from wanting to hang out in my yard (they don't spend most of their time there, so it's not like their habitat or anything).

After that unnecessarily long introduction, I basically just want to know whether the Shakeaway would also end up repelling my dog. The website doesn't list dogs as one of the "pests" that it repels, but before I cover my yard in coyote pee, I'd like to make sure that my dog will not be afraid to go out there, and also whether my dog will decide he needs to roll around in it. This would defeat my purpose of having a dog that can go outside alone without coming in smelling horrible and needing a bath.

What would happen to my lawn if I just didn't rake the leaves?

Flunkie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:15:35 -0800

What would happen to my lawn if I just didn't rake the leaves? I don't particularly care if my lawn is covered in leaves. But will it actually damage my (normal grass) lawn if I just leave them there until they blow away or disintegrate or whatever? Come Spring, will I have a barren patch of dirt where there used to be grass?

Paving and astroturfing is too expensive

codswallop — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:48:16 -0800

The greens at Casa de Codswallop are crap. Can someone give me some yard advice? I'm a noob with lawns and it shows. One problem is that I don't really care; I just want them to be utterly unremarkable. I want a cheap, low maintenance solution that'll keep our house from dragging down nearby property values.

Our yard is mostly thin-bladed grass with sporadic clumps of darker (and faster growing) thick-bladed grass. We have a lot of dandelions in summer but those, at least, I kept in check by decapitating them with a golf putter-style whacker once a week or so.

It's now mid-October. Daily highs are mid-50s, nighttime lows around 40 and it rains at least a little almost everyday.

Is it too late or wet to spread some sort of weed and feed so the lawn looks better this spring? Any other ideas? I'm not really interested in covering everything with gravel or bark chips. Too pricy.

I also want to edge the lawn by the driveway and sidewalks so it looks a lot tidier. Any tips on that?

Turn Off That Loud Music!

czechmate — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:55:11 -0800

I have a problem with hearing bass music vibrating through my windows and walls into my home. It literally echos through my every vein and makes me feel insane. Is this a sign of age? Is something wrong with me? We live in a neighbourhood where the houses are fairly close together, and primarily Hispanic. The neighbours (and when I say neighbours, I mean anywhere within 7 houses around us) like to hold parties from time to time or they just play their music loud while doing whatever it is that they do.
My problem is the bass that I can hear through the walls of my house. The music may not be that loud, but I can still hear the "thump thump" and it really sends me into a cloudy, high-blood pressure induced grumpy mood. I can feel the thump thump going through every single vein... and I feel like a pacing tiger. I can't think, I can't do a single thing because my entire mind is obsessed with this thump thump. I literally "shut down'.

I don't think I'm so much looking for a solution on how to get rid of the thump thump (i.e. headphones, just leave and go shopping, call the cops, etc...) but I am wondering if this is a normal reaction.

Is it just a sign of age? Am I next going to yell at kids to get off my lawn? Or is something wrong with me in relation to that particular sound? I know it's an odd question, but none of my friends (or husband) seem to mind the noise.. I can hear it even when it's low and it affects me.

This only started happening to me about 3 years ago. I used to live in apartments and I don't remember ever *really* being bothered by other noises. Headphones isn't an option to "fix" it. I have a 4yr old. Thanks.

Damn moles, get off my lawn!

Artw — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:28:14 -0800

We've been getting molehills in our front garden lately, and we want them to go away. Which anti-mole technology is best for us? Factors:
* Our garden is about 500 square ft. Only part of it is lawn, the rest being flowerbeds and some planters with vegetables. No sign of moles outside of the lawn so far though. The soil has recently been aerated, which seems to have started our mole problems.
* We have a cat, he catches them occasioanly, but as far as we know does not eat them. Anything which might harm the cat is out.
* Those neat looking plunger traps that skewer have been vetoed as too cruel. Anything that actually harms the moles directly is probably out. Boo.
* So we're probably looking at repellent sprays or some kind of audio device, which of those work best? Any particular brands that are more effective?
* The solar molechasers looks sort of interesting, but it is frequently overcast here, are they going to do anything?
* I kind of like the idea of the windmill mole chasers, but are they going to work with only moderate wind?

I want grass without the fuss

reenum — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:31:31 -0800

I'm thinking of replacing my lawn with artificial grass or some other thing that doesn't require constant upkeep. I'd like to hear your experiences with such horticultural matters. I hate mowing my lawn. Always have and always will.

So, I'm thinking of having Astroturf or some other artificial grass installed. I've also been researching ground covering, which appears to be the growing of ivy or some other plant that will cover the sod, but not require mowing.

Has anyone here replaced their grass lawn with either of these alternatives. Anything I need to watch out for? How often do I need to replace artificial grass or ground covering?

All opinions and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Email me about my lawn!

underwater — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:27:22 -0800

Can I get notification of amount of rainfall? I am an absent-minded gardener and I would like to get email notification when the rainfall for my area has been below a certain amount so I know when to water my lawn.

I know I can look it up manually on a regular basis, either online or with a raingauge, but I know I'll forget without an email. (No suggestions for improving my memory or using a calendar, please)

I'm concerned about wasting water or watering too much, so that's why I don't just schedule it for every Sat or whatever.

Are there any services (preferably free) that would email me to let me know that I should water my lawn? I live in north Texas, BTW.

Help me fertilize for the first time

gocubbies — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:28:56 -0800

I just bought a brand new house in mid-May. I've never owned a home before and I'm new to yard keeping. The entire yard was sodded in May. Recently my builder mentioned following Scott's four step process. I'm located in the midwest. Can you explain what Scott's four step process is? Can you also point me to a link (preferably on Lowes.com) for exactly which fertilizer I should buy to use this week? Any other tips to help a newbie? Thank you!!

Strange clumps

The Burge — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:13:54 -0800

I live south of Denver CO. In my backyard there are these strange clumps/lumps of dirt. What are they? A first I thought it was from the lawn aeration. But I skipped that this year. Upon further inspection they look like little volcanoes. There is definitely consistency to each little nodule. So the same thing is causing them all. I couldn't find any bugs in the little piles and you can't really see them . That is the real problem. When you walk on the lawn, you randomly step on them and it hurt. They feel like rocks but you can destroy them with your fingers or toes. Anyone see anything like this before?

How can I care for my volunteer plants?

Gortuk — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:08:27 -0800

How do I care for and encourage my volunteer plants? Early last summer while mowing the lawn, I noticed an unusual seedling and on a whim, mowed around it instead of over. It turned out to be lemon balm, a fantastic lemony mint plant which tastes great in potato salad!

Cut to this year, and already the lemon balm plant is two feet across with big tasty leaves that go great in potato salad. My lawn also came with a wild strawberry patch that seems to be spreading very slowly.

Both of these plants (I assume) were accidents, volunteer plants that just happened to take root in my lawn. I'm not obsessive about having 'the perfect lawn', and I'd just as soon have a backyard full of productive, edible things that I don't have to mow. Other than clearing out any dandelions that try to take over, how can I encourage these plants to grow as big and wide as possible? Should I be fertilizing and/or watering them or just leave them to grow naturally? (I have read that I should NOT fertilize the strawberries during their fruiting phase - but most info online seems to treat these delicious plants as weeds that should be hammered with pesticides!).

And are there other volunteer plants that I should watch out for - or can I fake it by throwing some basil or mint seeds on the ground and letting nature take its course? I do have a small herb plot and some pots, but the lemon balm is putting to shame anything I've ever tried to grow on purpose.

(This is in Kitchener, ON, hardiness zone 5A).

You cats get off my lawn!

Ziggy500 — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:40:12 -0800

How to stop all this crap appearing on my lawn? Hi, I hope the always helpful and ingenious hivemind could help me with this.

I am having problems with rubbish appearing on my lawn overnight.

There is a skip quite nearby, and it seems that cats or urban foxes get into it, and then come to party on the lawn outside my flat at night. In the morning I am left with plastic bags, food packaging, food and grosser stuff (e.g. used condoms) littered all over the grass. How can I stop this from happening?

I don't own the land, so can't put up a fence.

Bonus points for suggestions which don't involve spending money.

Thanks a lot, all.

Cordless Yard Trimmer Options

mccarty.tim — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:18:52 -0800

YardFilter: My mom wants a new weed whacker/trimmer, preferably electric cordless. Are there any good models out there? My mom is a woman in her early 50's, and she's in decent shape, but she doesn't like the noise, weight, smell, or environmental damage of a gas-powered weed whacker. She used a Black and Decker corded Grass Hog for a while, but when it died, she wanted to switch to a cordless option for convenience. We tried this Cordless Black and Decker, but we were pretty disappointed. It had a very short battery life, around 10 minutes, and weak power. It may have been the batteries it came with, though, so if anyone has found replacements to work better, that would be good to know. I think I remember reading there were lithium ion batteries available for it, and I wonder if those would have held a charge for a longer amount of time.

Are there any good cordless weed whackers that can handle the occasional big weed and generally handle grass in the corners? Are there any models that can also run from a cord when the battery runs out or you want more force? Specific model numbers would be appreciated. Easy loading of line is also a big plus. Our budget is probably somewhere between $80 and $350.

A lightweight, easy to use gas trimmer is also a possibility, if there is one that works well. It's entirely possible cordless isn't an option for our yard, which is fairly big (not sure of the acreage, maybe a half?).

Lawn mold identification

Kevin S — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:37:59 -0800

What kind of lawn mold do I have? Can anyone identify what type of lawn mold I am dealing with to better guide remediation? The lawn is located in the northeast (albany ny area); neighbors have a similar problem. Here are snapshots.

Presumably the mold is on this list, but I can't tell which one.

Thanks

Hard as a rock, now with more rocks.

Sophie1 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:24:42 -0800

I have a fairly large yard (1440 sq. ft.) in the Los Angeles area that is like a giant rocky slab of concrete mixed with a bit of 25 year old construction debris. I would like to have a beautiful yard in which I enjoy myself. I've read this thread already but it is mostly focused on veggie planting. I'm not planting veggies as I already have 72 sq. ft. of raised beds elsewhere.

I'd like to plant a relatively low water garden and a small plot of lawn (maybe 200 sq. ft or so). Currently there is a barely alive mix of weeds and bermuda grass.

1st issue: There is no way in hell that a rototiller is going to cut into that soil.

2nd issue: When we bought the house the sprinkler system was broken and it hasn't been fixed yet so we need to do that too.

I wouldn't mind doing the "lasagna gardening" method if that would work with a lawn but it seems from what I've read that it needs to be worked too often to have lawn on top.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Help me dry out... my lawn

LyzzyBee — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:54:09 -0800

How can a water logged lawn be improved? The lawn is always wet - even in a good summer due to living on a high water table. Is it possible to significantly decrease the amount of water in the lawn? In the UK. I am posting for a friend - so if there are more questions to ask eg aspect of the lawn, soil type, please let me know and I'll find out!

Significance of rice and limes on one's lawn

easy_being_green — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:46:45 -0800

I went for a walk this morning and saw two small piles of white rice with red sauce or dye on top encircled by lime slices on both corners of my neighbor's lawn. What was this for?

the green, green grass of home.

thinkingwoman — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:10:55 -0800

newbie looking for a sturdy, dog-friendly groundcover for our back yard! our dogs have reduced our back yard to bare dirt, so we have a nice opportunity (trying to think positively, here) to choose our groundcover.

grass normally grows quite happily in our soil (it's all over everyone else's yards, and picks up right at our fenceline), so replanting grass or laying sod is an option. if we do that, does anyone know how long we'd have to keep our dogs off it for it to properly take root?

alternatively, i've been thinking about sowing mint or thyme (or a mixture of both). our dogs will surely nibble here and there--are these safe plants for them? would we have to keep the dogs off this for very long?

any other ideas would be most appreciated. we are in middle tennessee, get lots of sun, and have been in a drought for a few years now. looks are of secondary importance; mostly we need something to prevent erosion, as we're on a slope, and keep the dogs from becoming utterly filthy whenever they go outside.

What do they use to cut grass in China?

niles — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:50:11 -0800

AnswerAnOngoingFamilyArgument-Filter: My sister says one of her highschool history teachers mentioned in class a month or two ago that in China, people use scissors to cut their lawns instead of lawn mowers. Obviously, this is pretty crazy (right?), but my sister says that's what he said. Is there anything reasonable along these lines that could have been what he really said?

Lawn leaf removal best practices

profwhat — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:02:26 -0800

What is the easiest way to get leaves off of my lawn? (Short of paying someone to do it). Leaf blowers? Ergonomic rakes? Lawn mowers?

Mulching Mower vs. Autumn Leaves

14580 — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:40:52 -0800

Will mulching our leaves with our mower help or harm our lawn? We have a huge amount of leaves of that fall or blow into our yard and we own a good mulching mower. Our soil also has a very high clay content, which seems to be why we have a lot of bare spots in our lawn that that look and feel like concrete after even short dry spells.

I was wondering if I can get rid of some or all of our leaves by mulching them with our mower, and in the process also improve our soil by adding organic material to it. Keep in mind that we have a LOT of leaves so I'm wondering if I can overdo it.

I spend at least 20 hours every year raking/blowing leaves. The chore has become worse since our town told us we can't compost them anymore because the pile was too close to our property line. That means I have to bag them and put them out with the trash, which bothers me for ecological reasons.

If it helps, we're in western NY and we don't exactly have a thick lush lawn. A couple of big Labrador retrievers beat it up and we have a lot of moss this year because of unusually wet weather.

My neighbors have poisoned the grass in my yard!

lester — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:08:38 -0800

My neighbors have poisoned the grass in my yard! Background: I live in suburban Chicago, and have a house with a lawn. The backyard is fenced in with a 4' chain link fence which belongs to me. Because of the way the chain links are, it's really hard to cut the grass closely along the fence, so there's a few blades that wouldn't get cut.

Last week, I noticed that the grass along the fence line is dying. Not just a little bit, but about 6" on my neighbors side and almost a foot on my side of the fence. I've lived here for five years, and never noticed this before. Based on the way it looks, it really looks like my neighbors sprayed some kind of chemical that killed the grass.

My neighbors are retired, and work on their lawn constantly, so it is a 'pristine' lawn. I, on the other hand, do the minimum in mowing, and refuse to use chemicals, so my lawn has a fair share of weeds. My neighbors, in the past, have complained to me about the condition of the yard, and I have been very responsive.

So, my question is in two parts: Do I have the right to be pissed off about this? And what should I do about it?

Attack of the killer lawn

barc0001 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:44:43 -0800

I need advice on how to discourage grass growth without killing it outright. Any thoughts? I have a section of my yard with very agressive lawn growth. It's a small strip in the back where apparently there is an underground spring flow path. The land has soil on it, and then about 4 or 5 feet down is bedrock, so this spring "flows" along the soil and bedrock and makes the back 10 feet or so of my yard a perpetually moist growing factory. As a result, the rest of the yard has about 3" of grass height right now, and the back bit is pushing 7". I was away this last week, so that 7" growth is from the last 14 days or so. Is there any way to "discourage" the lawn from such aggressive growth or otherwise slow it down? I don't necessarily want to kill it (though I probably wouldn't shed any tears if that came to pass accidentally), just get it more in line with the rest of the grass.

How do I fix my yard?

Echidna882003 — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:15:08 -0800

How to remove and prepare our yard/lawn. Is a "sod cutter" overkill, what about a mattock? Once the crabgrass is gone, what next? I have a lot of questions ;) Our backyard is roughly 30' x 30' and in fairly bad shape. It's entirely crabgrass and the ground is very uneven, twisted ankle uneven. There are lots of rocks and debris just under the surface in some places.
I'd like to start over but I don't know how. I've seen gas powered "sod cutters", but they seem to be used for a more tame (i.e. flat) situation? How about hand tools? Is a "mattock" (it sounds so D&D to me) the right tool?
After the crabgrass is gone, do I "rototill" the ground, rake out the ugly stuff and then re-sod? I want the ground cover to be fairly durable, is there something other than grass I could use as a ground cover? Are there more durable kinds of grass? We're in Northern California and want to do this ASAP, is it the wrong time of year?
Am I in over my head? Have I asked to many questions? Help?

Welcome to the desert, please leave your lawn at the door

davejay — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:53:11 -0800

Converting to a drought-friendly lawn, should we use chemicals or not? In Los Angeles, converting front and back lawns to drought-friendly landscaping after letting the grass die all winter/spring.

One gardener wants to use RoundUp as part of the prep, but the other (somewhat cheaper) advised it was not necessary, and finally agreed to do RoundUp "where necessary" (their words.)

So we were set to go with the cheaper gardener, when a minor accident with the sprinkler system let the ground get watered for four days in the amount we used to water it. Two weeks later the front lawn (full sun) is still dead, but the back lawn (much shade) has sprung to vibrant life.

Looking for advice as to whether RoundUp is necessary or not, ideally based on personal experience in Southern California (San Fernando Valley), and also whether you've experienced any issues with animals or kids interacting badly with RoundUp after re-planting is completed (they'll have no access while everything's torn up.)

Thanks!

Grass or weed?

walla — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:57:29 -0800

Why can't I have a weed lawn? I like walking on my lawn and playing with my dogs on it. I like the anti-erosion benefits of grass, and that it keeps us from tracking dirt into the house. But I like most green things, and I see little reason to invest the resources and energy a grass lawn requires if there are other options. I've read a bit - some of it on AskMe - about alternative lawns. I've considered mint, creeping thyme, chamomile, etc., but none of them has seemed quite right.

While tending my lawn this week, someone suggested I pull the clover and plaintain weeds that had taken over some parts of it. I thought, why should I pull them? They're green, they're hardy, they do what my lawn does on their own without the hassle. As long as I contain it, are there any reasons I shouldn't have a weed lawn? Has anyone tried this, on purpose or by accident?