Quick Trim for a graduation party in Southborough

It was raining to hard in the morning to go out and do fertilizing and spraying of the broad leaf weeds, so I slept in and went into the shop around 10:30 AM. I went in because, the Permagreen power Spreader needed some maintenance done to it and also because I was out of fertilizer and needed to make a trip up to LESCO in Marlboro to get more.

But when I called Rob, he told me that a property owner in Southborough, was having a graduation party, for their daughter on Saturday and it needed to be trimmed up and weeded to look nice for the occassion. So he was happy that I came in and he called Guillerme and Fabio to come in and help me out.

This property takes a full day with 3 guys to trim and weed. So I explained this to the owner and he just wanted us to work out in the backyard, because that is where they had a tent set up, for the occasion and that was where everyone would be hanging out during the party. Good thing I had some of my CRAVE energy drink, to give me the energy for the afternoon workload. It just keeps me going all afternoon and there is no "crash or jitters" like I would have with coffee.

So we spent about 5 hours "fluffing up" the back beds, by weeding and trimming the bushes and then raking out the mulch so it looked like it was just ut down. Fabio did a little shearing of some bushes and I did the majority of the hand clipping that is required on the other ornamental bushes. The owners were very happy that we came and did a great job for them and they asked that we return as soon as we could to finish the job.

2 days of Fertilizing, at Olin College

Guillerme and I are off to Olin College with a pallet of fertilizer ( 40 Bags ) and 3 gallons of Confront Herbicide, 2 gallons of "Sticker", and 4 bottles of DRIVE. We will not be able to finish the entire college grounds in one day.

The problem we have is that our sources of water to mix the herbicide and sticker with are a good distance from where we are working.

I will be using the Permagreen Ride On spreader which applies herbicide at the same time as I am fertilizing and Guillerme will be using the walk behind commercial spreader to put down the fertilizer on the small, hilly areas that I can not get to with the machine. Guillerme will then have to go over the same areas with a back pack sprayer and spray for broad leaf weeds. After he has done that he will have to use a different back pack sprayer and go along the edges of the walks and pavement and spray the young crabgrass that is just emerging in the hot spots of the lawn. It is better to get them when they are young as the spray is more effective.

We will finish only the upper portion of the college and return tomorrow to finish up the lower portion of the campus.

Planning for a rain day

Today the forecast, is for heavy rain, to be coming in the afternoon so we will be staying on a route that is close to the shop in Holliston. So Guillerme and I went and fertilized to 2 commercial buildings and then two homes in Holliston.

You can see in the pictures what the weather was threatening at the last property. It is a large property and it took 9 bags of fertilizer to complete. We have plastic covers, that we put over the spreaders to keep the rain off of the fertilizer but the problem is when the lawn becomes wet the tires kick the moisture "up" and this gums up the holes the allow the fertilizer to come out of the hopper. We were lucky to finish up this property before it rained.

We returned to the shop and Guillerme went home and I went up to get a pallet of fertilizer from LESCO so that we could be off early in the morning to fertilize and spray at Olin College.

Fertilization Application Number 2

We have been a very cloudy, damp rainy period here in the New England. I can't remember when we saw the sun the last time. These conditions are showing up in the lawns that we are fertilizing. There is a lot of "red thread" and other signs of dampness and lack of nitrogen. The lawns are looking lifeless and are turning a bit yellow.

Good thing we are doing this application now. I have noticed that the majority of lawns are being mowed at a shorter length than is optimum for the health of the lawn. I have discussed this with Rob and he has asked the mowing crew to raise the cut from now on. We have Northern grass here and it is recommended to cut it at 2 1/2 to 3 inches. If it is cut lower it allows weeds to develop in the lawn and the lawn becomes stressed and turns yellow. The longer length of cut will keep the lawn cool, and there will be a reduction in weeds.

I was also informed by John Deere/LESCO, that the broad leaf weed herbicide we were using is now in the "Restrictive Use" category and we will be trying out a new herbicide for broad leaf weed prevention. I will let you know how it works out.

Today I received my order of Diet Cookies, that I have been taking for the past 3 month's and I was excited about that. I had been out of them for about a week and a half. These cookies are great I have one in the morning and one on my ride home from work and by the time I am home I really have no hunger at all. So far I have lost 9 pounds by using them. I am being very pro-active with my health these days.