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oh yes rain
Apr. 14th, 2019 07:00 amMy life is now ruled by anxiety over how regularly H2O lands on the lawn of a house I don't live in. It will continue to be such, until either the grass seeds sprout, or I give up on the current application of grass seed. Sprout, little seeds, sprout! Why must it take so long for seed to sprout?
I was mislead on the subject of watering the lawn after overseeding by an offhand comment in a This Old House segment on You Tube on the subject of dethatching. The "expert" explained all about dethatching, then said to the homeowner "Now that you have dethatched, it's a perfect time to spread some seed... Now if it doesn't rain for two days, water your new seed." I thought, great! I can make sure the lawn gets wet every 2 to 3 days. Especially when Vic has school vacation, and our schedule is pretty flexible. But everything I've read since then on lawn care insists on watering new seed at least daily, if not 2 to 3 times per day. Opinions on just how often vary, but, thinking it over, it makes sense that how long it takes for the seed to dry out will vary a lot depending on all the factors-- the temperature, how sunny the weather is, how shaded the ground is, the slope and drainage, the contact between the seed and the ground, how much it rains if it does rain, the type of seed and whether it's treated.
Argh. Things I could've done better and might regret:
1) Should've gotten seed that's treated with a coating to retain moisture.
2) Should've worked the seed into the ground a bit with the rake.
Of course, this would've driven up the cost in both money and time per square foot. If there are areas of the lawn that are still not green enough 4 to 6 weeks from now, I will go after specifically those spots with the treated seed and the rake. Hopefully that will be just selected trouble spots and not the entire lawn again. Trying this again, with the whole lawn, when the weather is warmer (and thus evaporating water off faster) and there isn't school vacation... let it not come to that.
Happily, it did rain there the night after we spread seed. My informant from the Suburbs of Despair described things as "quite soggy" and didn't think I would have to water again any time soon. But, yesterday was quite warm and sunny, and no more rain was forecast for about the next 36 hours, and I was reading these things that said to water the grass seed every few hours. So I wanted to go there and water yesterday evening, just in case. Vic, however, had a headache and did not want to go anywhere. I could not decide what to do-- try to twist Vic's arm about going? Leave Vic, and drive all the way out there by myself, in miserable traffic, just to water ground that was probably already wet?
I called my mother to discuss my quandary and indecision. Mom has experience with suburban living and lawn frustrations, and was concerned about the grass seed if it wasn't watered at the end of such a sunny day, but sympathetic about Vic's headache. Much to my surprise, Mom volunteered to water the grass. At first I was aghast. Making my elderly mother do my yardwork! I felt really bad about this idea. Mom, however, was insistent. Apparently she has been making progress in physical therapy and was sure she felt up to it. OK, so it has been almost a year since the surgery, and doesn't want to be treated like an invalid any more, and I do want to encourage her to get exercise. It's just a mental adjustment, after a year of using the handicapped parking whenever we go anywhere in Mom's car, and Mom saying that she's too disabled to take the train into Boston, and her grumping about the fact that there's no elevator in my new condo, to contemplate her going out into the yard and dragging the hose all around.
Mom had a great time watering, though. She got to meet Sarah and the little kid, and evaluate the exterior of the house for curb appeal and give me a lot of advice on that front. So, that worked out. Apparently the lawn did in fact need watering in areas with full sun.
This evening I must go to the house and water again. It's forecast to probably rain again tonight, but not certain enough and not early enough. Monday's forecast is for rain, yay! Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm not seeing rain in the forecast. Vic has a dentist appointment on Tuesday, and a therapy appointment on Wednesday. But, between these appointments, I think we can go spend the night at my mom's, and be fairly local to the house and I can do a bunch of watering.
Then, the forecast is currently showing rain on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! Wow! W00t! It will be fantastic if it actually works out that way. Very usefully-timed rain, indeed.
I was mislead on the subject of watering the lawn after overseeding by an offhand comment in a This Old House segment on You Tube on the subject of dethatching. The "expert" explained all about dethatching, then said to the homeowner "Now that you have dethatched, it's a perfect time to spread some seed... Now if it doesn't rain for two days, water your new seed." I thought, great! I can make sure the lawn gets wet every 2 to 3 days. Especially when Vic has school vacation, and our schedule is pretty flexible. But everything I've read since then on lawn care insists on watering new seed at least daily, if not 2 to 3 times per day. Opinions on just how often vary, but, thinking it over, it makes sense that how long it takes for the seed to dry out will vary a lot depending on all the factors-- the temperature, how sunny the weather is, how shaded the ground is, the slope and drainage, the contact between the seed and the ground, how much it rains if it does rain, the type of seed and whether it's treated.
Argh. Things I could've done better and might regret:
1) Should've gotten seed that's treated with a coating to retain moisture.
2) Should've worked the seed into the ground a bit with the rake.
Of course, this would've driven up the cost in both money and time per square foot. If there are areas of the lawn that are still not green enough 4 to 6 weeks from now, I will go after specifically those spots with the treated seed and the rake. Hopefully that will be just selected trouble spots and not the entire lawn again. Trying this again, with the whole lawn, when the weather is warmer (and thus evaporating water off faster) and there isn't school vacation... let it not come to that.
Happily, it did rain there the night after we spread seed. My informant from the Suburbs of Despair described things as "quite soggy" and didn't think I would have to water again any time soon. But, yesterday was quite warm and sunny, and no more rain was forecast for about the next 36 hours, and I was reading these things that said to water the grass seed every few hours. So I wanted to go there and water yesterday evening, just in case. Vic, however, had a headache and did not want to go anywhere. I could not decide what to do-- try to twist Vic's arm about going? Leave Vic, and drive all the way out there by myself, in miserable traffic, just to water ground that was probably already wet?
I called my mother to discuss my quandary and indecision. Mom has experience with suburban living and lawn frustrations, and was concerned about the grass seed if it wasn't watered at the end of such a sunny day, but sympathetic about Vic's headache. Much to my surprise, Mom volunteered to water the grass. At first I was aghast. Making my elderly mother do my yardwork! I felt really bad about this idea. Mom, however, was insistent. Apparently she has been making progress in physical therapy and was sure she felt up to it. OK, so it has been almost a year since the surgery, and doesn't want to be treated like an invalid any more, and I do want to encourage her to get exercise. It's just a mental adjustment, after a year of using the handicapped parking whenever we go anywhere in Mom's car, and Mom saying that she's too disabled to take the train into Boston, and her grumping about the fact that there's no elevator in my new condo, to contemplate her going out into the yard and dragging the hose all around.
Mom had a great time watering, though. She got to meet Sarah and the little kid, and evaluate the exterior of the house for curb appeal and give me a lot of advice on that front. So, that worked out. Apparently the lawn did in fact need watering in areas with full sun.
This evening I must go to the house and water again. It's forecast to probably rain again tonight, but not certain enough and not early enough. Monday's forecast is for rain, yay! Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm not seeing rain in the forecast. Vic has a dentist appointment on Tuesday, and a therapy appointment on Wednesday. But, between these appointments, I think we can go spend the night at my mom's, and be fairly local to the house and I can do a bunch of watering.
Then, the forecast is currently showing rain on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! Wow! W00t! It will be fantastic if it actually works out that way. Very usefully-timed rain, indeed.
