Horticulture Hotline 06/11/18
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Knowing the square footage of your grass areas and bed areas
are key to applying any fertilizer or control product correctly. Whenever we
sell a bag of fertilizer at Possum’s we are going to ask, “how big is your
yard?” You have to know if you need one bag or more than one bag. Some of our
bags might be able to treat your yard twice. That is nice to know because that
cuts the price per application in half, and also lets you know you still have product
waiting in the garage for your next application. With the nice weather we are
having, now is a great time to get out there and measure the yard.
I can remember several times hearing different variations of
this same answer to my question while at the counter at Possum’s. “How many
square feet is your yard?” Rough answer,” well, last year I put out that bag
that covers 5000 square feet and it was perfect for my yard, so I must have
5000 square feet.” Sorry, wrong answer.
Based on a pound of nitrogen, we sell 50 pound bags that
cover as much as 23,000 square feet and as little as 1000 square feet.
Unfortunately, the bag does not know the size of our yards or how fast we walk.
In the old days, yards were mostly square or rectangular,
and they were easy to measure. Now most yards have curvy bed lines that sweep
across the landscape, making them more difficult to measure. If you can break
the yard up into little squares or rectangles, and measure the length and the
width then you can get your square footage. Length multiplied by width will
give you your square footage. Add up all the squares and rectangles that you
measured the square feet of, and you will come up with the square footage of
your yard.
If this sounds like total “Greek or Geek” to you, ask a
landscaper, a realtor, a landscape
architect, someone that works with floors or carpets, an engineer, a
construction worker, someone who pours driveways, or anyone else that regularly
needs to measure the square footage of something to help you. Your plat map
from when you purchased your house might help as well.
Now, there are even websites that you can log onto and they
will tell you the square footage of your yard. Of course, I like to do it the
old fashion way – length times width.
I know this measuring seems like a pain, but most of us stay
in a house for several years or decades. A little pain spread over several
years of having very useful information is worth it.
Once you measure the yard, put the measurements in about 5
to 10 locations throughout your house, your car (so you have it with you when
you go to buy product) and the garage, so you do not lose them. I have learned
over the years that I put information like that in one “special place” so I do
not lose the information. I then forget where that “special place” is!
Yes, this rain has been perfect for mosquitoes! Yesterday, I
was helping my mom with her hand pump up sprayer, so my hands were full. The
mosquitoes knew it and launched a full attack. Buzzing around the ears where I
could not see them and on the arms where I could see them but my hands were
full so I could not swat them! It was already lightly raining, so I will launch
my counter attack at a later time. First, I will attack their breeding sites (making
sure there is no standing water), then I will go after them directly.
Japanese beetles are still eating their favorite plants and
trees.
EcoVia (NOP Compliant) or Cyonara will work great on both of
these insects and many more insects.
