Diary of our house

May 05, 2008	Here are Nick's bike settings.
March 24, 2007	Did a little spring cleaning in the yard today. Temperatures have been consistently above 65 F. Here's what we did: Removed all growing weeds by hand. Thanks to Monica for taking care of the difficult Crabgrass in the beds. Raked the entire yard and bagged all the leaves. 40 lbs. of corn gluton for weed control. Using my AccuGreen 3000 drop spreader I used a setting of 16. This applied the perfect amount in one pass. 40 lbs. of Gardenville 7-2-2 organic fertilizer (same as the Ladybug product) using a setting of 10 on the drop spreader. It was a little light. Next time try a setting of 11 using one pass. 6 lbs. of Over-and-Out season-long ant killer on the lawn. I followed the directions on the bad and used a setting of 3 on the drop spreader. This was perfect. For the landscaping I applied about 3 lbs. using my hand spreader with a setting of 3 and this too was perfect. Watered it all in. The next 4 days it rained so everything got watered deeply into the ground. Now everything is very happy.
January 01, 2007	As traditional, I put down the pregerminant today (weather was sunny and 55 deg F). I used corn gluten again and thank goodness I did: Paula ate a handful when I wasn't looking. I used a setting of 14 on my Speedygreen 3000 spreader and it applied a little less than the right amount with one pass. Next time I should try to slightly higher setting like 16. I put the remaining 25 lbs in the garden to keep those weed-free too (even though they still have 8 in. of mulch). I also spread more around the fence to keep the weeds away in the transition areas. I noticed that some cold-weather weeds are already growing. Since this winter has been so mild, I expect the warm-weather weeds to come as early as late January. I also trimmed the canna lilies down to the ground and raked up the Red Oak leaves. It only took one lawn bag to hold everything.
December 25, 2006	Today Nick's allergies went crazy. The pollen count shows that cedar pollen is at its peak at 11.5 (out of 12). Zirtec-D doesn't seem to make any difference in alleviating the symptoms. The weather the last 3 days has been rain and highs around 45F. Today is very windy.
January 03, 2006	Cedar pollen is bether Danny and I. Count is very high.
November 28, 2005	Resealed arbor with Superdeck 1910. Used the air sprayer and it took about 3 hours. I didn't cover the walls or the windows (but did put a sheet over the door). Went great. Took 2 full gallons to cover evrything. Dried within a few hours.
November 19, 2005	Red oak started changing colors today.
November 13, 2005	Put down 7-2-2 fertilizer today and watered it in. Used spreader setting of 14 to get 15 lbs./1000 ft. but I think I ended up putting about twice that because I needed 2 bags (2x40 lbs.). Next time, maybe try spreader setting of 10 and buy only one bag. Also, this is a bi-annual treatment. So next fertilizer should be late spring. I got brown patch along the side yard and in the front. I have been watering 1/2" every 4 days and it is unseasonably warm (78 deg in mid-Nov). The sure sign is that the St. Augustine grass blades seem to curl up like little brown needles. Here is a closeup of the boundary of damage and healthy grass. Brown patch doesn't kill the runners of the grass, only the above-ground blades. So it'll be okay in the spring. I've turned off my irrigation system except for the landscape beds so the fungus doesn't grow. To kill the fungus I applied corn meal over the entire yard and went extra heavy on the affected areas. So I did not do my normal glotton treatment this fall because glutton is equivalent to 9-0-0 fertilizer. So applying it along with 7-2-2 would be 16-2-2 and this is way too much nitro. I do need to apply the glutton as soon as things start to get warm in the spring. That's assuming things actually get cold this winter. With the huricanes, things have been very warm. I put some of the corn glutton in the landscape beds to keep the winter weeds down. But I usually don't have trouble with those, so I went light.
September 02, 2005	Saw a praying mantis in the backyard. I got a picture of it.
June 15, 2005	Something has started bothering my allergies. It's not ragweed. Symptoms are sneezing and runny nose. Airconditioning helps. Alex seems to have similar symptoms. But maybe he is getting a cold. Kinda weird for him to get a cold right now and not Danny or anyone else.
May 06, 2005	We got the carpets in the house steam cleaned today. The company that did the job is Steamer's Carpet and Air Duct Care 990-7272. They did a great job, he carpet looks like new, but they were 40 minutes late to the appointment.
April 10, 2005	Second mowing of the year; caught clippings to try to control weeds. Also put down fertilizer today: Ladybug 8-2-4. I used a setting of 8 (see April 4, 2004 entry). This was perfect. I estimate my yard to be 2,400 sq ft (installed new beds) and a setting of 8 put down 15.5 lbs.
March 26, 2005	First mowing of the 2005 year.
March 22, 2005	Installed front flower beds. Moved front tree to back yard. Sodded parts of front and back yard.
March 13, 2005	Red oak in back yard started blooming.
February 06, 2005	Removed the gray weathered look of the deck today. First used Duckback Wood Brightener diluted 3 parts water to 1 part product. Then sprayed onto deck using my pump-up garden sprayer. I then let it sit for about 45 minutes and it stayed wet on its own becuase it was a misty day and the temp was around 63 F. Then I scrubbed it down with a stiff broom (I don't know why) and then power-washed it. All in all it took me 2 hours. Before and after It is hard to tell the difference before and after with the glare on the first picture. But the deck is a bright as it was when it was new. I did the same thing with the deck furniture and it too turned out great. Before and after
December 04, 2004	Drained the sprinkler system. Used ~50 psi which seemed to work. Drained all zones including the misters, drip zones, and spare spicket. I left the air compressor adaptor on the double backflow preventer when I closed up the box. I also turned off the water pressure at the double backflow preventer instead of the master sprinkler valve.
December 02, 2004	Got a McDonald Dougles Christmas tree at Lowe's. It sheds like crazy.
October 31, 2004	Had tricker treaters starting around 6:00 p.m. We had 3 bags of candy and it was enough (we could have gotten by with just 2 normal bags). Tricker treaters stopped around 7:30.
October 28, 2004	Pollen count is near zero despite warm, humid weather.
October 09, 2004	Ragweed pollen is near 500 particles (per cubic inch). But Zirtec-D is working well at keeping symptoms down.
	Applied corn gluton on entire yard. I purchased it at the Gardenville Center on RR 620 (cost was $29.99 per bag of 50 lbs). I used a spreader setting of 14 on my Acugreen 3000, which applied 15 lbs per 1,000 sq feet as I wanted. I watered in part of it in, but this was a mistake as it made a bigger mess. Now the yard is slightly yellow and smells like a barn. Planted three new Agapanthas (the big variety) to replace the three that drowned. I purchased these at Red Barn - and they gave me a 1 year warranty.
September 28, 2004	Allergies are starting to bother me.
September 26, 2004	Applied Ladybug 8-2-4 ($27.99 at Red Barn). Used a setting on my Acugreen 3000 of 8 and made two perpindicular passes. I wanted to apply 6 lbs per 1,000 square feet, but that setting put down about 2x that amount. So the correct setting for 6 lbs / 1000 sq feet is somewhere between 5 3/4 and 8. I think next time I should try a setting of 7.0. I plugged my weap holes this morning with mesh cloth I bought at JoAnne's Fabrics. Before doing so, I puffed Boric Acid into each hole.
September 14, 2004	Ragweed is in full bloom. But there is little pollen in the air.
September 06, 2004	Got some advice today from Red Barn that the reason the Agapanthas died is that they got too much water. Recalling in June that we got 24" of rain, plus I was running the in-ground sprinkler every other day; I'm not surprised they drown.
	Started sneezing today after walking outside. I can see the ragweed growing, but it has not started to bloom yet.
August 16, 2004	Started allergy medicine (Zirtec-D).
July 07, 2004	Got new sprinkler system controller. The old one (a Toro 12-zone) busted after a storm. Since that was my second one, I got concerned that it had grounding issues. So I got a different brand after getting my money back from Home Depot (the Toro was still under warranty). This new timer is a bit easier to operate and has better grounding. It is a more generic brand called Watermaster.
June 08, 2004	Completed main flower bed around the deck in the backyard. Applied generous amounts of Medina Plus.
May 15, 2004	Steve from across the street gave me about 200 sq feet of St. Augustine sod that I put in the back where the hybrid bermuda never has grown (too much shade). I didn't kill the bermuda but just put the sod on top of it. I watered it thoroughly with the sprinkler system and applied Medina Plus soil activator (6 oz per gallon dilution). I also applied Nematodes today (after dark). I had 7 million and released them using the dial-mixer after I resusitated them in 1 gal of cool water. The package said that 7 million should cover 2,000 sq ft - so I had to spread them a little thin to cover my 2,900 sq ft. I put the dial-mixer on the most course setting (8 oz per gal) and did my best to make the gallon mixture go over the entire yard. I focussed on the open area in the back where the mounds always seem to start. Then I watered the nematodes in with a quick rinse of the sprinkler system.
May 09, 2004	Got landscape plan from Dean Lackey, dlackeyirr@hotmail.com, 736-8435. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by it (how I would actually build it).
April 11, 2004	It's Easter Sunday and we got about 2 days worth of rain and a cold front. We actually had to run the heater last night.
April 04, 2004	Looks like the drop spreader settings are not linear. So a setting of 11-1/2 would be too much. I estimate a setting of around 8 would drop the correct amount (6 lbs. per 1,000 sq feet). I put Medina Plus on the front yard and around the new oak tree. I put down about 4 oz per gallon.
April 03, 2004	First mowing of the year today. I caught the clippings in the back yard to help keep the weeds in check. I had to rake the leaves first. The Live Oak pollen pods are still not dropping. Tested sprinkler system and everything worked great. I also applied an organic fertilizer made by Ladybug (8-2-4). I bought it at Red Barn for $27.99 (35 lb bag). It called for application of 6 lbs of fertilizer per 1,000 sq ft. My yard is about 3,000 sq ft. I used my Scott's Acugreen 3000 on a setting of 5-3/4 and made 2 perpendicular passes. I estimate that this put down fertilizer at about 3 lb per 1,000 sq ft, or about 1/2 the recommended amount. So next time, I should use a setting of 11-1/2 and still make my 2 perpindicular passes. The Ladybug bag recommended a feeding after the first mowing, and again in late October, which is after the last mowing. Corn gluton is most effective when applied in early October and February. Any earlier or later and the weed seeds will already be germinated. I finished painting the shed and requested the final inspection.
March 27, 2004	Something in the air is bothering Nick's allergies. Air conditioning helps.
	Put cabinets in garage.
March 26, 2004	Had shed built. Passed layout and framing inspection.
March 25, 2004	Red oak started blooming.
March 12, 2004	Had red oak installed.