Mowin' Em Down

And so begins the Battle of the Weeds: 2013 - I mowed the lawn yesterday, the first lawn mowing of 2013.  There wasn't any fanfare or ceremony to celebrate the occasion, just a couple of yanks on the mower starter cord that was met with stony silence.  Apparently, I managed to end last year's mowing season without a drop of gas to spare in the mower tank.  Not a bad thing, unless all of your gas cans are also empty and you really don't want to make a run to the gas station.  So, what does one do?  He collects up all the gas cans in the shed and tips them upside down in an effort to collect enough in the mower tank to complete the job he started out to do.  And that's what I did.  I have a motley collection of gas cans and the bottom of each can held juuuuuust enough gas that I was able to eventually fill the lawnmower....kind of like how Mel Gibson filled the tank of his bitchin' muscle car in 'Road Warrior' minus the rough trade gay dudes chasing him around and a wolf boy with a razor sharp boomerang. 

While mowing the lawn I was able to appraise and assess the threat posed by insurrectionist weeds, mainly of the crabgrass variety.  Last year's war of attrition left an untold amount of collateral damage that is...unfortunate.  Patches of dead grass are the wages we sometimes reap when waging total war against weeds.  Scattered amongst the dead grass and burned out crabgrass colonies lay plenty of healthy grass blades, but I'm going to have my work cut out for me again this year as I noticed some new species of weeds I had never seen before.  Organic weed & feed isn't going to be enough....

To support the brave partisan grass blades, I put down a decent enough of organic lawn food.  Now, if you've never used organic lawn food please take heed - it reeks something awful...like a wood block used to clean fish and a compromised septic tank.  It's bad.  The lawn food also throws off a decent cloud of dust, so if you are using a broadcast spreader be prepared for the foul smelling dust to get all in your clothes.  Now, the lawn food works great, your grass will grow and be happy...just don't expect a deep green that comes from using Ironite or any product that contains a combo of nitrogen and ammonia.  Personally, I try staying away from Ironite because it will stain your sidewalk and driveway if you aren't careful.  However, nothing works better to give grass a deep green color...

As far as the weeds go, I'm not sure what to do.  I don't like putting non-organic stuff down on the lawn because the kids go out there barefoot in the summer.  The right combo of chemicals and next thing you know one of my kids turns into the Toxic Avenger.  Not good times.  Organic weed & feed is weak sauce as it doesn't really kill weeds as much as it tries to talk them out of growing.  It's completely ineffective.  I may have to hit the lawn with hardcore stuff early on before it warms up and then switch over to organic products later in the summer...or just have the whole lawn ripped up and cement poured to replace it.

I may have finally succeeded in killing my Meyer's lemon tree.  I forgot to bring it inside or under cover last night and there was a had freeze.  That may have been enough to push the poor little guy over the edge.  It was looking pretty sad when I got home from work today.  Yeah, it was sunny and unseasonably warm this afternoon, but a freeze is a freeze and citrus trees don't dig the cold.

Keeping this one short and snappy as I am kind of wiped out.  Had to write reviews last week, a task that always sucks the life out of me.  I hope this post met expectations....