Better Homes & Gardens
Smart mowing in the fall leads to a healthy lawn in spring. Send too tall turf into winter, and voles, moles, and other rodents may take up residence in the thick, inviting grassy coverage. Cut your lawn too short at the end of the growing season, and winter damage is more likely. Both timely mowing and mowing height are important factors in fall lawn care. Whether your lawn goes dormant in winter or merely slows its growth, these late-fall mowing strategies will lead to a welcoming green lawn in spring. More
I let the illegal immigrants I pay under the table handle all of that stuff.
Illegal invaders have to have some under the table work or they’ll start breaking into homes.
The author made the mistake of assuming the lawn is grass and not weeds.
I’m thinking of letting my lawn grow out and harvest it as hay. Local farmers get three cuttings per season!
Jethro
This years been a killer year for weeds in lawns in NorCal. Every ones complaining about it. We’re starting the fall crab grass routine next week end.
I grew up where people were very proud of their lawn.
Hey Moe!
Knyuck knyuck knyuck…
My “lawn” is 1-1/4 minus here in Phoenix.
@Brad
The crab grass, stiltgrass, nimblewill, oxalis, spurge and chickweed went nuts in my lawn this year.
The crabgrass preventer didn’t work this spring and the spray weed killer didn’t do a thing on any weeds.
I think they sold a bunch of worthless weed preventers this year to kiss up to the enviromentalweenies.
Same here in N. AZ, Ferd
You know who really cares about lawns? Kamala cares about lawns.
She believes in the people in the middle class putting their “roots” down and taking pride in their well-kept lawns. I mean, where do you think she harvest the best parts of her word salads, from middle class lawns of course. Certainly not coconut trees. Why you’d have to have fallen out of coconut tree on your head to believe that.
Not what she’s proposed any policy to enhance the lawns of all Americans. But I imagine if there is a group that can be pandered to without giving away any specifics, her team will come up with something to bring joy before election day.
Jethro: Yup. Roundup has been neutered to the point of uselessness.
“The crabgrass preventer didn’t work this spring and the spray weed killer didn’t do a thing on any weeds.”
Same here. I keep telling the wife I think the Crabgrass preventer actually helped it grow. WTF? On top of that we picked up a red clover that laughs at everything you spray on it.
Some of my neighbors are having local farmers harvest their tall grass for hay. They get their acreage mowed and the farmer gets hay for his cattle.
Lawn care is much simpler once you learn to appreciate the beauty of sedge.
Round Up has a new formula. It’s useless. If you’re trying to spot kill some weeds try pouring boiling hot water on them. That kills everything.
@Brad
But my entire lawn would be dead…
Pave it and paint it green.
Another good word of advice is to let your mower run out of gas (even when you do there will still be a fair amount of fuel in the carburetor float bowl) and go purchase a 1 qt (more if you have more than one mower/etc.)of ethenol
free canned fuel and put that in your tank and run for 10 minutes.
It should start right up next season. You should be able to find the fuel in any auto part store or most big box retailers. It’s pricey but I repair/replace carburetors daily on small engine equipment and 7 or 8 bucks is a lot cheaper than me. Trust me, it works.
Lots of people tell us they use rec fuel but when we test it we usually find ethenol in it on the machines we work on. Not always though so take that advice as you wish.
^^^^^run out of gas when ready to put up for season. Probably a important point I left out.
Put it away yesterday after cutting the lawn. You can still get real Roundup at the co op. It is like 55% glyphosate. Get it from a rancher by the gallon if you need it. They have it delivered by the tank truck. Maybe look for FarmWorks FW Grass and Weed Killer, it kills shit dead it is 55% glyphosate. The stuff they sell consumer application is worse than useless. Might have to cut once more this year. I have a Honda HR 194 that I bought new ~1984 or so. I shut the fuel off and run it dry after every usage. I turn on the fuel, only clear gas, none of that ethanol goes anywhere near my small engines, and it starts up about eight inches into the first pull. I had a bobcat too when I had more lawn, that was a great mower too. I believe I paid $1,200 for it. It’s got a real transmission in it, not belts like the ones they sell at big box stores. It stays running in neutral when I dump the bag.
If it wasn’t for weeds I wouldn’t have a lawn.
I had a California Trimmer when I got married, I think they are out of business, it was an effort in futility trying to maintain a lawn under those conditions. I gave it to a friend rather than have it destroyed. Sometimes I wish I had it now, but keeping up a lawn like a putting green is a lot of effort. The Honda does a good job for a rotary mower.
I buy 18 gal of gas about every year in three Evenrude steel marine tanks. I put Stabil (a little less than recommended) and a little Mystery oil in the empty tanks and fill them up. Runs the generator (testing) snowblower, rider, push mowers, power washer, etc. Never had an issue. Even had an old Homelite trimmer that sat for about three years after I got a deal on a new one. Just for kicks I tried starting it and it came alive on two pulls. I usually try to drain the bowls at the end of the season, but but not always…
I used to rebuild antique motors, mostly drained when stored, but there have been exceptions that started up after a few cranks. Anyway, I been doing this fuel reatment for about 45 years and swear by it.
“If you’re trying to spot kill some weeds try pouring boiling hot water on them. That kills everything.”
No lies detected.
Understand the “everything” may include some tree roots you didn’t want to kill and beneficial life in that area.
Boiling water was one of the “natural” methods tried for fire ants back in the late 80s in Texas.
Negatives:
#1 – it sterilized the ground of all living things. Some of those things – you may not want to die. Like other plants’ roots and worms.
#2 but maybe should be #1, Handling boiling water from the stove to the location may mean a hospital/doctor trip and permanent scarring, if not a super infection from the lack of skin for a while. If it’s your child or grandchild getting splashed…
My advice? Skip boiling water as a way to deal with things in your yard. There are better, safer things to do.
Back in the late 80s, when we were new at dealing with fire ants in Texas, someone invented a steam machine that would inject steam into the mounds. Since it had no chemicals involved, the inventor/manufacturer thought the EPA had no say in the matter. Way safer than transporting a pot of boiling water.
au contraire.
Anything used to kill pests – and weeds also fall under pest control – must pass EPA regs.
It costs millions of dollars to get EPA approval. That killed the fire ant killing steam machine.
You can do whatever you want for yourself – meaning non-professionally. If you want to boil water and kill things on your property – go ahead. But don’t be surprised if you find out you harmed yourself and/or your landscape in the mean time.
Dead sterile spots in your lawn and on parts of your trees and bushes isn’t better than just dead weeds and fire ants while everything else stays healthy.
BTW – I’ve tried to find Rec gas, but can’t find any in my area, so I just use pump gas and treat it. Hasn’t affected the pressure carbs that are usually troublesome due to the membrane pumps.
We have a small lawn but it be mighty. Geoff C. tends to it and it’s a thing of beauty this year. Nary a weed in sight and lush. We have an itty bitty Sun Joe electric mower and Worx line trimmer (love that thing). Mowing is the one thing I didn’t like to do as a kid; too much lawn!
I can’t even stand on grass without taking an IV drip of Claritin first.
^^ … and I thot I had vicious allergies!
My back yard is all torn up right now as my son is putting the finishing touches on building a new deck off the back of my house. So, the lawn will have to wait till Spring before I replant some new sod and start over. The new deck looks fantastic, my son is quite the handyman, I’m not which is why he tore down the old deck and is building a new one.
I cut it as low as I can so as to put more time inbetween cuts.