bananaS

Here's what happens when confidence and doubt collide... I was just sure .. Yesterday I mow the patch of weeds in the front yard also known as the lawn, but there's a patch of weeds that have been growing in size since this season started and they are just annoying and smell like unwanted guests that look good, they're green, but in the end aren't what I want.. So I scalp mow them.. Scalping is what you do when you set the mower to the lowest level, sort of putting green height if you will, and mow an area that does look a bit like a putting green.. I did the bottom third to half of the area I did two years ago (or three, who knows, I can't remember) and that bottom bit had weeds growing and that entered into my mind with this thought "If this area still has weeds in it then that idea, the idea I'm trying yet again, must not have worked"... A seed of doubt creaked into my mind as I'm wrapping up the second lap of what would be a few more before completion.. And I was sure this was a good idea.. To scalp it, then spray it with grass killer, then till it.. Last time I didn't spray it.. Well I sprayed it this time.. We'll see tomorrow how it looks.. Then as I'm chilling on the deck with a recovery Dew I start to think, but the last idea didn't work, it simply hasn't proven yet to work. That idea was the backyard the week before the forth of July I scalped a small section of not so much weeds but rather spotty grass growth area.. The area was about ten feet by five (give or take) and I set it up and seeded it for a try to do this idea.. With the old drip irrigation idea set I watered pretty much daily for two weeks and while the grass that was there came back bold and strong, the new seeded seemed to flounder.. Even after the incentive plant starter was sprinkled on like the little circle where I burned the tumble weeds earlier this spring came back like crazy but that was in May.. This was late June Early July where the heat is quite ominous and overwhelming.. So with what I deemed a failure in the back yard weighing on me while drinking the recovery Dew, I had a change of heart, a complete overwrite of the idea.. Should the weed/grass killer take on that section, I will try to till it today and then buy some grass and get it on there and get it growing over the next two weeks.. But if it didn't take I will try to get some weed killer crap.. The only trouble with the weeds killer is there doesn't seem to be that much grass out there growing amongst the weeds.. So this is why I did that section a few years back and it's why I did it this way again.. The doubt of course coming in the form of the weeds growing in that section and looking strong and unwilling to yield to a better idea, that of course is to NOT GROW ..  Weeds are so stubborn that way..  Why do I think the weed killer won't work, that shit is killer... Well I've had this jug for three to five years, and at that age it might be fertilizer... Who knows.. And secondly, and more important, I didn't shake well before use.. I forgot to shake it.. I was surprised it worked, the sprayer I mean.. It was in the shed for however long we had it, meaning it has been in the shed through the freeze thaw cycle, and the thaw is the shed at dead heat of summer, think a hundred degrees outside and the heat in that metal building being maybe twenty to thirty degrees warmer.. It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.. Step in there, get hot and sweaty and then come out and feel cooler no matter if it is a hundred degrees out..

Derailed again, but not really.. In the end the idea is to get more grass seed and hope to not have to use it.. I like patch work seeding but this area is fairly large for my liking.. Controlling weeds has never been a problem before but in the past few years it seems the weeds are taking over.. Is that a concern??  It is but I have two things I'm thinking about in this fight.. Why?? And in that short question the questions come up.. Why fight the fight when drought conditions are prominent?? Well we have this underground water thing (?) and it shows at the west end of town with a creek that is dry now, but when the water dries in that water pool thing it shows the water table.. When it dries out we are still a year or maybe two away from being in trouble.. They don't put water restrictions in place yet, but I try to restrict my water usage with a timer.. To me this makes sense on several levels mostly it gets rid of the water the living hell out of one section and not another.. So it all gets the same if that is ten minutes, or twelve or fifteen.. I never water more than fifteen minutes on any section of the grass..  So why, why water parts of the lawn that are struggling to get going this late in the season??  Well, we have company coming in just a few weeks (actually 8 weeks almost to the day and it feels like five days) and it's another reason I want the grass to look good.. I had said I'd rather drink the water than the lawn and will do that if it comes to that any time very soon.. Priorities..

So now it will get hot, and I look today and the "putting green" section from yesterday is short but green looking, shaking the grass killer and it's age has proven the reason the grass still looks alive and fine.. We'll do the "water therapy" (I call it water therapy, where I put the drip irrigation sprinklers in a section and water longer periods, a softer, lighter watering application) and see what happens.. I might still till it but for the next few days we'll try to recover the section and apply weed killer to it.. And watch it flourish.. Or die, either way I'm ready..

Badge Henry