Posts Tagged grass

Seeding Winter Rye Grass in Phoenix

Nov 8

I live in Phoenix, Arizona and am planting my winter grass for the year. I am documenting the steps I have taken to help any other do it your self “Lawn Engineers.” The process isn’t that hard, however it does take patients and a little hard work.

As you can see here, my summer bermuda grass is looking like hell because I am killing it off about two weeks before seeding for winter. From my research seeding for winter should be done around the first week of October and probably no later than the third week. If it’s too hot, it will burn, and if it’s too cold at night, it won’t grow properly.

Here is a series of pictures the day I had my lawn seeded (October 13th). I highly recommend paying a service to seed your lawn. I also highly recommend that you have all of your sprinklers in working order before the work is done. If not, your wasting your money.

The lawn service will need to thatch/trim your lawn. It took the crew of three guys about three hours to complete the job. In other words, it would take a do it yourselfer all day. The service runs about $175 (based on lawn size and location). The company I went with is Bims Lawn The owner was knowledgeable, punctual, and an overall good guy. Here are the results:

Water three times a day ( 8am, 12pm, 4pm) for 8 minutes per sprinkler. The ground should always be damp 24/7, but should never be flooded for any long period of time. This watering should be carried out for two weeks. The grass should be fertilized once it has grown in. Here are the results after 1.5 weeks

Here is a spotty part

Here is what it should look like

These are the results as of 3.5 weeks in. Please remember I haven’t even fertilized yet.

This is the seed that was used on my lawn. It is a perennial rye that was over seeded and therefore used no manure to cover it. The idea is that it is more cost effective to over seed than it is to lay manure to insulate. This is a link to the seed used.

My final side note is about using water. My water bill is astronomical in the month of October. It lands somewhere in the $250 range, but is nowhere near that the rest of the winter. The reason I waste this much water is because I am outside daily on it, love to run, and need an extremely soft surface for my bad knees.

Tags: grass, how to, lawn, phoenix, rye, seeding, southwest, winter

Summer Bermuda Grass – Phoenix Arizona Pt II

Aug 6

Posted by byan in lawn | No Comments

So I have started my quest to get rid of the weed I deemed “Weed 1″ in my previous post.

About 2 weeks ago I went to Home Depot and got some advice to try Scotts Turf Builder to treat “Weed #1.” So I purchased a Scotts seed distributer unit ($44) and a bag of the Scotts Turf Builder ($18). I followed the directions for distribution and prior/post lawn care. The results two weeks later were non existent and disappointing to say the least. Not only that, but now the weeds have actually spread. So I wouldn’t recommend using Scotts Turf builder on Bermuda Grass in the summer. Maybe it works in some applications, however in this heat, it seemed pretty weak.

Here is a picture of what my lawn is now starting to look like as the weeds spread.

Tags: allergic, arizon, bermuda, dogs, grass, summer, weeds

My Dog Sam and Her Allergies

Jul 19

Posted by byan in dogs | No Comments

My dog who is a lab is having some awful allergies for the second straight summer . As a result, she has developed a bacterial and fungal infection on her back feet and neck. Along with that, she has developed a limp that seems to be a result of her infected feet. I have had her tested for Valley Fever and additional blood work as a secondary precaution. This has been going on for about a month now. It looked like it was getting better, and now it’s back. So I thought I would blog about what we are using for medication and so on. Currently we are using 6 healing tools. Excessive, seems that way. Expensive, yes. I am not big on medication and I think for a holistic vet, this was a lot of meds. However, I am not sure, that’s why I am sharing our story. Sam seems to be allergic to something in the yard ( Bermuda Grass, Oleanders, pollution in the air), however we can’t pinpoint what it is yet.

I hate to be such a skeptic, but sometimes I think half of this medication is completely unnecessary. It feels like we are treating the results of the problem, not the cause.

So in the meantime we are using…

Virbac – Keto Chlor a medicated shampoo that fights the infection. We are bathing once a week, and it’s done once it’s washed away. The only reason we bathe her once a week is due to this condition

Virbac ResSOOTHE – This is a conditioner that soothes the skin after the bath has been taken. You rub it in the infected area and leave it in while the coat is still damp.

Cephalexin – Oral medication which has been directed to be taken for 42 days. It supposedly treats the bacterial infection. Here is the answer to the bladder question I had.