Yard and Garden Journal 4/27/2017; random photos and idle chit chat.

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My sole surviving front yard tulip on Easter Sunday.  Many folks up here have gardens full of tulips that return each spring, some for over a decade or longer.  Other dedicated gardeners simply replant tulip beds every fall.  I am going to give up on tulips for a while; with my lack of tulip talent, they just have not been very agreeable 

The daffodils have proven to be very tenacious.

A store-bought arrangement wedged with bricks to keep it from blowing away.
The first mowing of the front yard was on 4/17/2017, prior to the application of weed-and-feed.
The grass held up very well over the winter months and greened up readily with our frequent waves of nitrogen rich spring thundershowers.

Here is what the front lawn looked like on the day before yesterday, shortly after its second mowing of this season.  It has been maybe about a week since I gave it a light application of weed-and-feed; a little goes a long way.  Our little postage-stamp sized front yard is where I put in the most effort, but honestly it only gets lawn food in the spring and that's it for the entire year; I never believed in the multi-step lawn treatments throughout the year.  Further, this twenty-year-old yard has never had core aeration; I let the worms provide that service, and they do it for free.  How often do I power de-thatch the lawn?  Never.  If an area is showing some need, a little effort with a steel rake takes care of the problem.  How often do I treat for grubs and other malevolent critters?  Never;  our area has a bounty of hungry birds that are usually very happy to oblige, although during hot and dry July and August the birds require that I give the lawn a good soaking before they will put any effort into foraging. 

EDIT:  Nope, I don't bag my clippings.  Both walk-behind power-mowers are mulchers.  Mulching mower or not, I get the best looking results with sharp blades; dull blades tend to brown the top of the  grass.  I keep my blades HIGH, around three and a half inches is as low as I go; long grass gives the lawn deeper roots.  The zero turn riding mower is not a mulcher but it gives a good looking cut as long as the blades are sharp.  HOWEVER, the zero turn is heavy and compacts the soil a bit more than I like, so I usually only use it in areas that I am not too finicky about, such as the back and side yards.  I will use the zero for the front yard if I am overwhelmed with laziness.

My yard is a hobby; if the lawn next-door or across the street is long and ragged with dandelions and other weeds, I suffer no angst whatsoever.  My Eastside next-door neighbor has a lawn that is so beautiful it makes mine look neglected.  If this was some sort of competition, we would lose to several folks in our subdivision. Our only goal is to achieve a certain level of personal happiness; nothing more; nothing less.