JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message news:reCOi.141760$Fc.98619@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message newsWcOi.139942$Fc.30459@attbi_s21...
Harry K wrote:
On Oct 7, 5:36 am, Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is so
much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag leaves'
threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after they have been
told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still go on about buying
fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

What do you do when there is a 3 foot layer of leaves?
Assuming you're unable to mow them into oblivion*, you could try a rake.
It's a relatively new invention, so, like when CD players first became
available, you might have to get on a waiting list. No matter what anyone
tells you, you can rake & bag as fast as or faster than with a leaf
blower.

* Yes, there are situations where you can't use the mower to grind up the
leaves.
I will argue that point with you also.

Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the leaves?
I'm listening.


Well. I have a Tank and a Toro commercial so I guess I don't have that
problem either.

wrote in message news:cKNOi.142671$Fc.1233@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message news:reCOi.141760$Fc.98619@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
newsWcOi.139942$Fc.30459@attbi_s21...
Harry K wrote:
On Oct 7, 5:36 am, Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is so
much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag leaves'
threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after they have been
told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still go on about buying
fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

What do you do when there is a 3 foot layer of leaves?
Assuming you're unable to mow them into oblivion*, you could try a
rake. It's a relatively new invention, so, like when CD players first
became available, you might have to get on a waiting list. No matter
what anyone tells you, you can rake & bag as fast as or faster than
with a leaf blower.

* Yes, there are situations where you can't use the mower to grind up
the leaves.
I will argue that point with you also.

Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the
leaves? I'm listening.
Well. I have a Tank and a Toro commercial so I guess I don't have that
problem either.

Right. Some mowers have limits as to what they'll mulch. And then, there's
the infamous confluence of factors that's sometimes unavoidable, like when
my neighbor's sycamore decides to dump all its leaves at 3:00 PM, followed
by rain at 4:00 PM, lasting for the next 3 days, with heavy winds that shlep
even more leaves from the other neighbors' yards. When every square yard
contains 4 bushels of wet leaves, my mower says "Yeah...right".

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message news:cKNOi.142671$Fc.1233@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message news:reCOi.141760$Fc.98619@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
newsWcOi.139942$Fc.30459@attbi_s21...
Harry K wrote:
On Oct 7, 5:36 am, Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is so
much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag leaves'
threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after they have been
told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still go on about buying
fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

What do you do when there is a 3 foot layer of leaves?
Assuming you're unable to mow them into oblivion*, you could try a
rake. It's a relatively new invention, so, like when CD players first
became available, you might have to get on a waiting list. No matter
what anyone tells you, you can rake & bag as fast as or faster than
with a leaf blower.

* Yes, there are situations where you can't use the mower to grind up
the leaves.
I will argue that point with you also.
Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the
leaves? I'm listening.
Well. I have a Tank and a Toro commercial so I guess I don't have that
problem either.

Right. Some mowers have limits as to what they'll mulch. And then, there's
the infamous confluence of factors that's sometimes unavoidable, like when
my neighbor's sycamore decides to dump all its leaves at 3:00 PM, followed
by rain at 4:00 PM, lasting for the next 3 days, with heavy winds that shlep
even more leaves from the other neighbors' yards. When every square yard
contains 4 bushels of wet leaves, my mower says "Yeah...right".


Yeah. You understand.

[flup set to a.h.l.g.]

BR said:

[...]

Seriously, I don't want waist high grass and weeds right up
close to the house, so we just mow the weeds couple times a month three
inches high with a mulching mower. Eventually, the area becomes a lawn,
as the goldenrod doesn't like being cut short, only plants that prefer
being three inches high survive.

And, we all know there are no weeds with a growth habit of under three
inches. *rolls eyes*

Eventually, from /only/ mowing "a couple times a month" the area doesn't
"become a lawn", it becomes a patch of three inch high weeds.

--

Eggs

Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?

Eggs Zachtly expounded:

[flup set to a.h.l.g.]

Followups reset. Why do you keep trying to redirect? There are
people in rec.gardens who are interested as well.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the
leaves? I'm listening.

Yes they're are.

wrote:
[flup set to a.h.l.g.]

BR said:

[...]

Seriously, I don't want waist high grass and weeds right up
close to the house, so we just mow the weeds couple times a month three
inches high with a mulching mower. Eventually, the area becomes a
lawn, as the goldenrod doesn't like being cut short, only plants that
prefer being three inches high survive.

And, we all know there are no weeds with a growth habit of under three
inches. *rolls eyes*

Eventually, from /only/ mowing "a couple times a month" the area doesn't
"become a lawn", it becomes a patch of three inch high weeds.

A lawn is anything that covers the bare soil to a few people in this NG.

BR wrote:
Eventually, the area becomes a lawn

A lawn?

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
wrote in message news:cKNOi.142671$Fc.1233@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
news:reCOi.141760$Fc.98619@attbi_s21... JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
newsWcOi.139942$Fc.30459@attbi_s21...
Harry K wrote:
On Oct 7, 5:36 am, Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is
so much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag
leaves' threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after
they have been told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still
go on about buying fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

What do you do when there is a 3 foot layer of leaves?
Assuming you're unable to mow them into oblivion*, you could try a
rake. It's a relatively new invention, so, like when CD players
first became available, you might have to get on a waiting list. No
matter what anyone tells you, you can rake & bag as fast as or
faster than with a leaf blower.

* Yes, there are situations where you can't use the mower to grind
up the leaves.
I will argue that point with you also.

Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the
leaves? I'm listening.
Well. I have a Tank and a Toro commercial so I guess I don't have that
problem either.

Right. Some mowers have limits as to what they'll mulch. And then,
there's the infamous confluence of factors that's sometimes unavoidable,
like when my neighbor's sycamore decides to dump all its leaves at 3:00
PM, followed by rain at 4:00 PM, lasting for the next 3 days, with heavy
winds that shlep even more leaves from the other neighbors' yards. When
every square yard contains 4 bushels of wet leaves, my mower says
"Yeah...right".


Now my gutter's are full!

On Oct 9, 9:14 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
wrote in messagenews:cKNOi.142671$Fc.1233@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in messagenews:reCOi.141760$Fc.98619@attbi_s21...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
newsWcOi.139942$Fc.30459@attbi_s21...
Harry K wrote:
On Oct 7, 5:36 am, Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is so
much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag leaves'
threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after they have been
told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still go on about buying
fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

What do you do when there is a 3 foot layer of leaves?
Assuming you're unable to mow them into oblivion*, you could try a
rake. It's a relatively new invention, so, like when CD players first
became available, you might have to get on a waiting list. No matter
what anyone tells you, you can rake & bag as fast as or faster than
with a leaf blower.

* Yes, there are situations where you can't use the mower to grind up
the leaves.
I will argue that point with you also.

Argue what? That there are situations where a mower won't handle the
leaves? I'm listening.
Well. I have a Tank and a Toro commercial so I guess I don't have that
problem either.

Right. Some mowers have limits as to what they'll mulch. And then, there's
the infamous confluence of factors that's sometimes unavoidable, like when
my neighbor's sycamore decides to dump all its leaves at 3:00 PM, followed
by rain at 4:00 PM, lasting for the next 3 days, with heavy winds that shlep
even more leaves from the other neighbors' yards. When every square yard
contains 4 bushels of wet leaves, my mower says "Yeah...right".- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yep. Wet leaves won't mow-mulch for crap. I even have a birch tree
that I swear drops green leaves. They don't chop up well either but I
do it.

Harry K

BR wrote:

Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:
To winterize or not to winterize lawn

"Winterize your lawn", the big sign outside the garden store commanded. I've
fed it, watered it, mowed it, raked it and watched a lot of it die away. Now
I'm supposed to winterize it? I hope it's too late. Grass lawns have to be
the stupidest thing we've come up with outside of a thong swimsuits! We
constantly battle dandelions, Queen's lace, thistle, violets, chicory and
clover that thrive naturally, so we can grow grass that must be nursed
through an annual four-step chemical dependency.

Imagine the conversation The Creator might have with St. Francis about this:

"Frank you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on
down there in the Midwest? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle
and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan.
Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with
abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracted butterflies,
honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors
by now. But all I see are these green rectangles."

" It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites.

They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great extent to kill
them and replace them with grass".

" Grass? But its so boring. Its not colorful. It doesn't attract
butterflies, birds and bees, Only grubs and sod worms. Its' temperamental
with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that green grass
growing there?

" Apparently so, Lord, They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green.
They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poising any other plant that
crops up in the lawn".

" The spring rains and cool weather probably make grass grow really fast.
That must make the Suburbanites happy".

" Not exactly, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes
twice a week".

" They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?"

" Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags."

" They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?"

" No, sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away".

" Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And
when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?"

" Yes, sir."

" These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the
rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot
of work."

" You aren't going to believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so
fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can
continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it."

" What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer
stroke of genius,

if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty
an d shade in the summer . In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a
natural blanket

to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they
rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of
life."

" You better sit down, Lord. The suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As
soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and have them
hauled away."

" No! What do they do to protect the shrub and the tree roots in the winter
and keep the soil moist and loose?"

" After throwing away your leaves, they go out and buy something they call
mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in the place of leaves."

" and where do they get this mulch?"

" They cut down trees and grind them up."

"Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. Saint Catherine, you're
in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?"

" Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about.

" Never mind I think I just heard the whole story."

anonymous

this is precious, simply precious...

Good piece! Seriously, I don't want waist high grass and weeds right up
close to the house, so we just mow the weeds couple times a month three
inches high with a mulching mower. Eventually, the area becomes a lawn,
as the goldenrod doesn't like being cut short, only plants that prefer
being three inches high survive.

several of the erosion control meadow strips on the Farm have
evolved over the years into rather nice areas of tall fescue
by only mowing them with a gyro [bushhog] mower set to about
6 or 8 inches cutting height. they get mowed 6 or 8 times a
year. the fescue is allowed each year to grow tall and
produce it's own seed for over or reseeding. the soybean fields
contained within the erosion control meadow strips produce large
amounts of organic nitrogen which finds it's way into the grass
and the annual lime applications of the bean land bleeds over
onto these fescue strips. people have seen these and remarked
how they wish their lawn looked that good. most lawns in
suburbanite land are diminished by the over application of cheap
chemical fertilizers. the people who have figured out composting
are way ahead in the sporting event known as gardening and their
carry over knowledge resulting from their understanding of how
there is life in that compost pile enables them to have the better
healthier lawns through allowing all living things to work in
harmony with one another.

Ann said:

Eggs Zachtly expounded:

[flup set to a.h.l.g.]

Followups reset.

No they weren't. You only partially reset them. So, do you have a double
standard about crossposts? You only want them crossposted to where *you*
frequent?

Why do you keep trying to redirect? There are
people in rec.gardens who are interested as well.

I have no interest in misc.rural [1] and I don't read rec.gardens on a
regular basis, but in the future should both a.h.l.g. and r.g. be in the
crossposted message, *and* my reply is relevant [2] to both groups, tho I
detest crossposts, I'll leave them. Fair enough?

[1]. Which you didn't reset. And, which is apparently where the post I
replied to originated, unless it was a post by a nym-shifter. I've little
time to do that in-depth of a search to know if it was a nym-shifter, tho I
doubt it was.

[2] I replied to only a part of BR's post dealing with "lawn", which I felt
was more relevant to a.h.l.g.

Make sense? =)

--

Eggs

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man
who can't get his pants off.

Eggs Zachtly expounded:

No they weren't. You only partially reset them. So, do you have a double
standard about crossposts? You only want them crossposted to where *you*
frequent?

NO, it was late and I didn't notice the other.

Why do you keep trying to redirect? There are
people in rec.gardens who are interested as well.

I have no interest in misc.rural [1] and I don't read rec.gardens on a
regular basis, but in the future should both a.h.l.g. and r.g. be in the
crossposted message, *and* my reply is relevant [2] to both groups, tho I
detest crossposts, I'll leave them. Fair enough?

Not really.
[1]. Which you didn't reset. And, which is apparently where the post I
replied to originated, unless it was a post by a nym-shifter. I've little
time to do that in-depth of a search to know if it was a nym-shifter, tho I
doubt it was.

Just leave the follups alone and you don't have to keep track of
anything.
[2] I replied to only a part of BR's post dealing with "lawn", which I felt
was more relevant to a.h.l.g.

Make sense? =)

{shrug} Not really. There are many in rec.gardens participating in
this thread, and interested. I only snip when it's a troll post and I
know a post about roses shoudln't go to say, alt.repair.toyota. Other
than that, when a conversation is going in and out of three or four
newsgroups and everyone seems to be participating I leave it alone.
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

On Oct 7, 3:17 pm, Grizzly wrote:
Jim wrote:
Harry K wrote:

Jim wrote:
symplastless wrote:

To winterize or not to winterize lawn
snip
this is precious, simply precious
Yeah. I have seen that several times over the years and there is so
much truth to it. I see that the annual 'what to use to bag leaves'
threads have started over alt.home.repair. Even after they have been
told the simple way is to mow/mulch em, they still go on about buying
fancy equipment to vacuum them up.

Harry K

http://www.milkyspore.com/

I've been trying to move my customers towards organic methods.
triple shred, putting leaves through the shredder three times
produces some dense mulch. with the new and deeper understanding
acquired recently for how many of the selective herbicides and
insecticides as well as improper or incorrect applications of
nitrogen actually have a great negative impact on the environment
as well as the ground water, I've decided it is now time to make
some changes concerning how the suburbanites acquire and obtain
the lawns they desire.

in short, if the chemical bonds with the soil at the molecular
particle level then that chemical is removed from my list of
what is acceptable to use. the list is getting short.

Jim

We cut the grass with a bush hog a couple of times a year whether it
needs it or not. I ain't raking no leaves or riding or pushing a lawn
mower even if you pay me gold standard to do it.. The birds love the
thistles that grow in the back yard. I've found that you don't need
bird feeders to attract them, just let the natural flora grow up and the
birds will flock to it to get the seeds and nectar (humming birds love
phlox and other sweet smelling flowers.. The birds planted mulberry
trees and currant bushes and black raspberries all over the property
around the edges of our woods..They have done more to benefit the
property and myself(I love berry jam) than any stinkin' lawnmower
would.I don't use herbicide or pesticide on anything. It's not nice to
poison plants and animals. I do live on a farm, and don't worry about
what my neighbors think of my lack of grass cutting.. The leaves rot
down and disintegrate by themselves under the trees. The wells out here
in farm country tend to wind up contaminated by the over zealous
application of herbicide and pesticide, and I for one don't want to add
that crap to the water I pull up out of the ground that I have to drink.
Quite a few of the private wells out here are contaminated with Alachor/
the breakdown product of the Herbicide Lasso. It is carcinogenic and
once it is in the groundwater it takes a long time to dissipate..- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi, I'm new to the group, but thought I'd jump in and give my 2 cents
worth. I'm right there with you, Grizzly. In fact, I had to laugh at
my brother-in-law who just moved out here. He thought it was
important to mow and rake all 15 acres of my place. I tried to
explain the bush hog twice a year concept, but he was proud of the
nice looking "lawn." I tried to explain the difference between a
"lawn" and a "pasture," but he didn't get that either. I told him he
was probably the laughing stock of the community. Everyone was
saying, "look at that crazy California city boy out there push mowing
the pasture, raking, and wheelbarrowing it down to the burn pit!"
Now, I drew the line when he tried to make the teenage boys help him
rake in the 100+ degree, 60% humidity Arkansas summer heat wave. If
he wanted to suffer from heat stroke, more power to him. But, the
kids weren't going to rake that up. It could stay where it was.

Eggs Zachtly wrote:
[flup set to a.h.l.g.]

BR said:

[...]

Seriously, I don't want waist high grass and weeds right up
close to the house, so we just mow the weeds couple times a month three
inches high with a mulching mower. Eventually, the area becomes a lawn,
as the goldenrod doesn't like being cut short, only plants that prefer
being three inches high survive.

And, we all know there are no weeds with a growth habit of under three
inches. *rolls eyes*

Eventually, from /only/ mowing "a couple times a month" the area doesn't
"become a lawn", it becomes a patch of three inch high weeds.


OK, so maybe it is just a patch of three inch high weeds, but it looks
OK to me and it is a lot less work than trying to maintain a
stereotypical suburban lawn.

--
Remove the TOS star ship captain to reply privately.