Newbie from Colorado

GardenForums.com a friendly and growing community of gardeners. We feature a Garden Discussion Forum and Garden Photo Gallery. It's a fun and friendly place to talk with other gardeners, ask questions, share you knowledge, view and post photos and more! Whether you're a master gardener, or brand new to the hobby, you'll find something of interest here.



F

flako

New Member
Hello everyone,

My family and I recently moved into our first home and it is pretty great. We picked a house with a big backyard so that our daughter (4 yearold) could have enough space to play and also to have family & friends over for summer parties.

The house has a front and back yard but it seems that before we took over it was unoccupied for several months (dont really know how many). So now I find that most of the grass has gone brown and weed has started to grow spread and take over on the edges of the yards.

So thats why Im here, I could really use the help to do some damage control. What is the 1st thing I should be doing, besides start watering of course.

Also, am I to late to fertilize, aerate?? We are almost in summer and tempetures here in CO already reached the triple digits.

Im hoping I can get some pictures and post them up for you guys ASAP.

Thanks in advance

Alan
 
Hey Alan!
Welcome to our forum!

I'd start with getting the weeds under control and and leave the grass until the cooler Fall weather. Cut the grass so it is a minimum of 3 inches for the summer. You can apply weed killer, but not the ones with fertilizer!
Water once per week and water deeply. One good soak is better then several light waterings. It encourages the grass roots to grow downwards rather then stay at the surface!
If you have specific questions feel free to ask, we have a number of very knowledgeable members who will be more then eager to help you out!

We love to identify plants too, if you have any!
 
Thanks Ron!

Im sure Ill have plenty of questions once I take a closer look and start working on the yard sometime this week.

I will have to take pictures so that it is better understoon what my questions are. But so far my major concern is the weeds growing on the edges of the yards. If I do just pull all of them out I will have bare soil. So I was wondering if I will have to replant seeds for new grass in order to filll out the spots or will my grass re grow?
 
It is too late to sow seed, but I wouldn't worry too much about that because the existing grass will fill in the bare spots in a couple of weeks.

I'll enjoy seeing your photos, and will give us a better idea of how to answer your questions.

Things you can tell us:
The orientation of the property i.e. does it face south or.....?
Do you have shaded areas that need tending...?
Are there any trees and or shrubs on the property and what kind....?
The type of soil, and if it looks like it has been ammended in the past...?
 
the property is West facing, there is a privacy fence all around the back yard with mid size trees and shurbs all around it that seem to have gon wild. Thats as much as I can remember off the top of my head.

As to the soil I dont quite know yet, although colorado is famous for its clay soil.
 
Alan the first thing is to get rid of the weeds. I'd probably just pull them but that is me. Then start watering and mowing and soon the yard will come back. That is what I've done at my house. Good luck.
 
Since it is still June you can safely reduce the shrubs by one third. Best to do all major pruning by early July!
I'd do the shrubs first then you can tackle the trees by limbing low hanging branchesand removing any deadwood.
Always remove the branches flush with the trunk, if possible! The bark on the trunk will respond and start closing over the cut.

Kya will be the one who could help you out with Colorado clay!!

Generally sand, compost, manure and peat moss is the way to go to ammend your clay.
 
My only suggestion with clay is to get a tiller if at all possible and till in lots of steer manure and compost into your yard. Manure can usually be picked up at feed lots and dairy farms also sheep and goat manure it great. Anything that chews it's cud.
Horse manure NEVER.
 
Grass is pretty hardy and will go dormant to protect it self. Your in the intermountian west along with us. Water the lawn regularly and new grass blades will begin growing in a couple of weeks but will need an inch of water per week. As it gets hotter you'll want to water more frequently about every two to three days.

Do not put any weed control on the lawn until it is green and lush again. Weed control is hard on the roots of the lawn. Weed control dose not work in temps above about 87 degrees so use it on a cooler day.

After the lawn is pumped up you can apply a balanced fertilizer every 6 to 7 weeks. Good luck.
 
Welcome to the forum. :D We have clay too and the sand, compost and manure thing worked great. There's tons of info here. Good luck!
 
Hey there flako and welcome! I also have clay soil and and put in raised beds to help get my gardens up and running. Looking forward to seeing pics of your place.
 
Than you all for your welcome to the site, I have opened a new thread (trying to keep things in order) over at the lawn section of the forum with pictures. Please feel free to stop by and give me some pointers.
 
Welcome flako. Beyond your lawn and hacking back over growth have you thought about what you want from your yard?

When I moved in to my place I added a bunch of low maintenance ornamental landscaping and shade trees. Now I wish I had put things else where and put in fruit trees rather than just flowering trees but I can't justify removing things that have 5 years of nice growth.
 
You know I havent thought much about that. I know that at some point I would like more shade in the South side of the back yard and maybe a fire pit. I already have an apple tree you can see in the pictures, I was hoping that would give me enough shade..... in about 10 years hahahahaha
 
welcome to the group.......lots of good info here......I had clay soil at my house.....lots of amending.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Gardenforums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Back
Top