For many people, the best time to water their lawn is whenever they feel like doing it. I understand, but your lawn doesn’t.  For optimum benefits, wait until all overnight dew has evaporated and before mid-afternoon when the day’s heat is at its strongest—generally between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

Here’s a more thorough explanation from the blog Lawn Care Tips:

“The reason you should wait until after your lawn is dry (no longer damp from the overnight dew) is because there are certain water-borne fungi that require 8 to 10 or more hours of moisture before they will start to flourish. For example, if it began raining at 6 p.m. and stopped at 11 p.m., but then because of cooler night temperatures your lawn remained wet until sunrise at 6 a.m., your lawn will already have been continuously wet for 12 hours. If you were to begin watering your lawn - either manually or via an irrigation system - at 6 a.m., you would be extending the time that your lawn has been continuously wet and thereby increasing the possibility of a fungus problem. It would be much better in this situation to hold off watering until the previous day’s rain or the previous night’s dew has completely evaporated and your lawn has become dry to the touch. Once it has become dry it would take another 8 to 10 or more hours of being continuously wet for any fungi to start flourishing again.

Another important consideration in the watering of your lawn is to have watered the lawn just prior to the time of day that it needs it most. Since mid-afternoon is usually the hottest part of the day, it is best to have finished watering by this time. If you have watered prior to the hottest part of the day then your lawn will be in much better condition to survive the coming heat.”

Photo CC 2.0, cobalt123

If you find grass in your flower bed, vegetable garden, or other undesirable place—a result of rhizomes that spread beneath the surface of the soil—here’s what you need to do:

“One of the easiest ways of preventing the grass in your lawn from finding its way into areas not considered your lawn is to use edging. Basically, edging acts as a barrier to adventurous grass roots and rhizomes. Black plastic edging is commonly available in most lawn and garden shops. The use of this type of edging will go a long way toward keeping grass in bounds.

…Trying to remove grass in these areas by hand may destroy the look of the groundcover or flowerbed. Although I believe that lawn care pesticides should only be used when absolutely necessary, a product on the market called Grass-B-Gon is very well-suited for situations where the removal of grass by hand is impractical. This product will kill only grass plants so it is safe to use around groundcovers, shrubbery and flowers.”

Being a writer, it pains me to read the original title of this article—“5 Ways to You’s Sugar in Garden or Lawn.” However, the tips are interesting, so I’ve decided to post them:

• Get rid of nematodes by cultivating 4pounds of sugar per acre of soil in early spring and or late fall.

• Make a fertilizer for strawberries and rhubarb by combining 6 pounds of dry garden food with 1cup of sugar.

• Trap insects in a gooey mess by sprinkling flour and powdered sugar on plants in the morning before the dew dries.

• Feed hummingbirds with a mix of 2parts sugar and 4parts hot water: replace every other day or so.

• Remove gasoline spots from lawn areas by sprinkling a mix of 7cups of gypsum and 2 cups of sugar over the area and watering frequently.

Photo CC 2.0, Cayusa

We’ll be heading into the fall soon, which means gardeners have some work to do! Erin from Geocities offers ten suggestions, five of them pasted below:

1.   Time to plant your Spring Flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, iris and more so they bloom next spring.

2.   Time to plant all your fall blooming bushes and trees, like crape myrtle and red maple trees to.

3.   Time to dig up all your annual bulbs like crocus, gladiolus and cannas just to name a few. Just store them in basket with lots of holes or in onion bags hanging up. But before you put them in there dust them with medicated powder.

4.   Time to prune your trees and bushes back for the winter make sure and get rid of all the dead and diseased branches to.

5.  Its also time to check your flower beds to see if there mulch is still ok our if a layer is needed.

Photo CC 2.0, chalkie colour circles

Trying to nurture your little one’s green thumb? It’s a of carrot cake with these tips:

• A picture is worth a thousand words. Never tell kids something you could show them.
• Young kids have a very short attention span. Make sure that youhave lots of options available so they can get started immediately and stay busy. Digging holes is one thing that seems to hold endless fascination.
• Instant gratification helps a lot. Plant radishes even if you don't like them-they come up in three or four days.
  </