How to grow a lawn if there is an existing wild grass lawn?

Q. I have a lawn that has been growing wild with just wild grass and random weeds i guess. Now I want to put down a new lawn but I want to start from seed instead of sod. The ground is really hard so tilling it might be impossible I would like to know how to go about making a new lawn. I know i have to kill the old grass but I'm not sure if I need to make a new bed for the grass to grow and add new soil to the entire lawn. Please help me. Your help is appreciated.

A. Planting Grass Seed: Step-by-Step Instructions:
http://www.tigerfdn.com/planting-grass-seed-step-by-step-instructions-part-1

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What garden plants benefit from leftover coffee & grounds?

Q. We drink a lot of fresh ground coffee everyday & have lots of leftover coffee and the grounds. We compost them usually but I've heard somewhere leftover coffee is beneficial to certain plants. Any ideas? Thanks, Julie

A. BY adding coffee grounds/coffee to the soil, you are adding some acid. Tomatoes, azaleas, geraniums, mandevillas, bougainvilleas, etc for outside plants. There are also a lot of inside plants that love coffee...spider (AKA airplane) plant, the plant that some folks call a philodendron, etc...

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Are the patio gazebos for sale sturdy to stand up to leaving out all year round?

Q. I am looking to buy an outside shade structure. They have them at big lots and Lowes for around $200- $300. They have netting to keep the bugs out and provide SHADE! But are they sturdy? Just want to make sure I won't have to disassemble every time the wind blows. Any feedback is helpful. Thanks!

A. Depends on what brand you get. I just put two of them together for a client and I wouldn't trust them to stand up to a good strong wind. Even if they were anchored down I think they'd get torn apart by the wind if the canopy were on them. Without the canopy there is little wind resistance so they might stay together then.

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What garden crops grow well in shaded areas?

Q. I have a shaded area next to my garage that is suitable for garden but it is shaded most of the day. What might grow here?

A. If it's shaded most of the day but gets a little bit of the morning sun peas will do good. I got a real good crop with bush peas under those conditions.

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What garden pond plants are best for zone 5?

Q. I have about a 350 gallon pond with a waterfall. The pond is lined.

What plants can be used with a lined pond given there is no soil at bottom to plant anything in?

A. In a lined pond, put your plants in a pot or leave them in the pot they came in. Make sure the top of the pot is about 1" below the water surface. Tropicals like lotus or tropical water lilies will not do well where you live, but there are many aquatic plants that will. Hardy water lilies will be wonderful and make it through your wicked winter. Here's an article I wrote about more hardy pond plants:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1444302/flowering_hardy_pond_plants.html?cat=32

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I have a wrought iron patio set with 4 chairs & a table.There is rust on our patio cement,how do I prevent it?

Q. I understand after time rust will form on the patio cement underneath because it is wrought iron, but what can I do to prevent rust forming on our cement? I don't like the idea of artificial grass, etc....
the patio itself isn't rusted, but the issue is this. after time when it rains the rain drips off the wrought iron causing rust on my cement. how di prevent this.

A. First, you need to sand the rust off the metal. Then you need to paint the bottom of the table and chairs with an outdoor paint made for metal.

Home Depot or Lowe's may haves small pieces of plastic that attach to the legs of the chairs and table for a more long term solution.

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lawn mower problems turns off when I start cutting the grass?

Q. I have a Toro lawn mower(self propelled). it starts and will stay on. but once i start cutting the grass it'll turn off. but if i go slowly when cutting the grass it'll go for a while.

A. There is a kill wire that may be shorting

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Has anyone used an electric lawn mower? Is it difficult to mow with the cord getting in the way? Our lawn is?

Q. about 2000 square feet. My dad gave us one, but my husband thinks it will be to hard to maneuver around the cord and wants to go buy a gas powered one.

A. Electric powered ones are a pain in the butt. Your also limited to how far your cord is. Its definatly worth buying a gas one. You can get them for like 100$ at like home depot. Hope I helped.

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What garden crops grow well in shaded areas?

Q. I have a shaded area next to my garage that is suitable for garden but it is shaded most of the day. What might grow here?

A. If it's shaded most of the day but gets a little bit of the morning sun peas will do good. I got a real good crop with bush peas under those conditions.

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Has anyone used an electric lawn mower? Is it difficult to mow with the cord getting in the way? Our lawn is?

Q. about 2000 square feet. My dad gave us one, but my husband thinks it will be to hard to maneuver around the cord and wants to go buy a gas powered one.

A. Electric powered ones are a pain in the butt. Your also limited to how far your cord is. Its definatly worth buying a gas one. You can get them for like 100$ at like home depot. Hope I helped.

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What garden stores sell a variety of different seeds?

Q. I live in west Houston in the Memorial area, and I was wondering if anyone from around my area knows of any good garden stores or anything like that that would have a lot of seeds. In particular I'm looking for Hawaiian baby woodrose seeds. Does anyone know where, other than the internet of course, I can find them?

A. Garden centers will all have a bigger selection of seeds come january - that's the beginning of "seed season". You could try calling around and see who might have them - and if they don't, ask if they could order some for you. A garden center worth its salt will be willing to accommodate a customer.

But if you don't find them locally, I'm not sure why you would be opposed to ordering through the internet. It's a great way to find some of the more obscure seeds and plants.

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What garden pond plants are best for zone 5?

Q. I have about a 350 gallon pond with a waterfall. The pond is lined.

What plants can be used with a lined pond given there is no soil at bottom to plant anything in?

A. In a lined pond, put your plants in a pot or leave them in the pot they came in. Make sure the top of the pot is about 1" below the water surface. Tropicals like lotus or tropical water lilies will not do well where you live, but there are many aquatic plants that will. Hardy water lilies will be wonderful and make it through your wicked winter. Here's an article I wrote about more hardy pond plants:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1444302/flowering_hardy_pond_plants.html?cat=32

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(garden) How do you grow tomatoes upside down?

Q. We got the paint buckets and carved the holes, but what is next? Looking for first hand personal experience not links or cut and paste! Thanks!

A. when they grow the stems come out of the bottom roots go up.

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How to grow a lawn if there is an existing wild grass lawn?

Q. I have a lawn that has been growing wild with just wild grass and random weeds i guess. Now I want to put down a new lawn but I want to start from seed instead of sod. The ground is really hard so tilling it might be impossible I would like to know how to go about making a new lawn. I know i have to kill the old grass but I'm not sure if I need to make a new bed for the grass to grow and add new soil to the entire lawn. Please help me. Your help is appreciated.

A. Planting Grass Seed: Step-by-Step Instructions:
http://www.tigerfdn.com/planting-grass-seed-step-by-step-instructions-part-1

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How much should lawn care cost for a small lawn front and back yard in Virgina?

Q. I have a town house and I have a small front yard and small back yard. I just want to get it cleaned up. The front yard kind of looks like clay due to the water sitting from the gutter drainage. The back yard is not that bad but my neighbors tree that hangs over, kills my grass. I would like to convert front yard into more of a rock flower bed and Maybe get the grass pulled. I just want to make sure I get a good price!

A. Hi,If you go onto this site give details and get someone to come and give you a quote it may help...good luck
http://www.servicemagic.com/sem/category.Lawn-Garden-Care.12047.html?m=myellow&entry_point_id=12767825

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What garden vegetables can take horrendous weather conditions?

Q. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 104 degrees here in West Texas with a 35 mile an hour wind.
There are supposed to be days of triple digits, starting today.

I'm wondering, after seeing my neighbor's corn dry up last year in this kind of weather, what kinds of vegetables adore this stuff?
I've been growing plants in big pots and hiding them on the porch for shade.

What heat, wind, and sun-loving vegetables should I plan to grow if I live here?

A. Sounds like typical NDak summer weather only we get a little hotter and definitely a lot windier.
I adopt a two pronged approach.
One is benign neglect (xeriscape) with native plants and there domesticated cousins.
The other is all out war on Mother Nature with every trick I can muster, like drip irrigation.
My most aggressive technique is a high fenced area around my picnic table and grill that is cooled with misting nozzles I borrowed from some of our farm spray rigs. Under the right conditions of high heat and low humidity it can lower the temps 15 degrees.
Last August we had a couple days of triple digits with 50+ mph winds and single digit humidity that resulted in damage similar to a hard freeze.
Some of the plants that do well here are sunflowers, flax, coreopsis, hollyhocks, heritage roses, most herbs and ornamental grasses.

RScott

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How much should lawn care cost for a small lawn front and back yard in Virgina?

Q. I have a town house and I have a small front yard and small back yard. I just want to get it cleaned up. The front yard kind of looks like clay due to the water sitting from the gutter drainage. The back yard is not that bad but my neighbors tree that hangs over, kills my grass. I would like to convert front yard into more of a rock flower bed and Maybe get the grass pulled. I just want to make sure I get a good price!

A. Hi,If you go onto this site give details and get someone to come and give you a quote it may help...good luck
http://www.servicemagic.com/sem/category.Lawn-Garden-Care.12047.html?m=myellow&entry_point_id=12767825

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What garden herbs grow best in terribly hot weather?

Q. I live on the dry side of Texas, and I'd like to start a perennial herb garden.
Which herbs can take the heat best? It's hard to find areas around my house that have medium shade; it's either total shade or blazing sun in summer.
We can get weeks of 90-plus degrees.

A. While I have lived in New Mexico and Arizona for many years I always lived at higher elevations where the temps were moderate. We would always got a few weeks of over a hundred but not the months on end of Phoenix or Albuquerque.

I had good luck always with rosemary and sage, mints and chives. A well planned herb garden does not have to take up a lot of space and can be shaded with a small arbor and shade cloth that blocks forty percent of the sun or less. And don't top water them in the heat of the day. Some herbs like to be on the dry side and some require a moist soil so I'd try about anything and look up each one you plan to try for specifics of their requirements. It's all on line me thinks.

Namaste'

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What garden vegetables can take horrendous weather conditions?

Q. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 104 degrees here in West Texas with a 35 mile an hour wind.
There are supposed to be days of triple digits, starting today.

I'm wondering, after seeing my neighbor's corn dry up last year in this kind of weather, what kinds of vegetables adore this stuff?
I've been growing plants in big pots and hiding them on the porch for shade.

What heat, wind, and sun-loving vegetables should I plan to grow if I live here?

A. Sounds like typical NDak summer weather only we get a little hotter and definitely a lot windier.
I adopt a two pronged approach.
One is benign neglect (xeriscape) with native plants and there domesticated cousins.
The other is all out war on Mother Nature with every trick I can muster, like drip irrigation.
My most aggressive technique is a high fenced area around my picnic table and grill that is cooled with misting nozzles I borrowed from some of our farm spray rigs. Under the right conditions of high heat and low humidity it can lower the temps 15 degrees.
Last August we had a couple days of triple digits with 50+ mph winds and single digit humidity that resulted in damage similar to a hard freeze.
Some of the plants that do well here are sunflowers, flax, coreopsis, hollyhocks, heritage roses, most herbs and ornamental grasses.

RScott

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How to grow a lawn if there is an existing wild grass lawn?

Q. I have a lawn that has been growing wild with just wild grass and random weeds i guess. Now I want to put down a new lawn but I want to start from seed instead of sod. The ground is really hard so tilling it might be impossible I would like to know how to go about making a new lawn. I know i have to kill the old grass but I'm not sure if I need to make a new bed for the grass to grow and add new soil to the entire lawn. Please help me. Your help is appreciated.

A. Planting Grass Seed: Step-by-Step Instructions:
http://www.tigerfdn.com/planting-grass-seed-step-by-step-instructions-part-1

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My French patio doors are in good condition. I would like to replace only the grids. Is that possible?

Q. I have the 12-pane grid and I would like no grid actually-just a trim around the glass. I can't seem to find any replacement grids. Do they exist?

A. It would be a shame to replace the grids, good french doors are expensive and you would end up with blah doors. Perhaps you can find a carpenter willing to replace them for you.

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(garden) How do you grow tomatoes upside down?

Q. We got the paint buckets and carved the holes, but what is next? Looking for first hand personal experience not links or cut and paste! Thanks!

A. when they grow the stems come out of the bottom roots go up.

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What gardening/lawn product would work best?

Q. Ny bf's backyard is mostly a patio. with a small shed & a little pond. We are planning to go back there and fix it up but, weeds and grass are between the "spaces" on the deck. He's afraid if we clean it all up it will just all grow back, but I'm sure there is some kind of spray or something we could place out there to prevent that. Any suggestions?

A. If you want it gone for good you can get a heavy duty concentrate of roundup that you add water too to make it as strong as you want. It works great and doesn,t bother what is close by.

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What gardening/lawn product would work best?

Q. Ny bf's backyard is mostly a patio. with a small shed & a little pond. We are planning to go back there and fix it up but, weeds and grass are between the "spaces" on the deck. He's afraid if we clean it all up it will just all grow back, but I'm sure there is some kind of spray or something we could place out there to prevent that. Any suggestions?

A. if you are spraying in the deck round up will work and its leaf ingested and won't make the soil infertile. if you want to spray anything on the lawn, any weed b gone concentrate will work. Don't by the stuff that is pre mixed because it is too diluted. Get the stuff that you have to mix yourself and put a little extra in, it won't kill the grass but will take care of the weeds.

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When pouring a concrete patio, how important is it to lay sand on the soil underneath the concrete?

Q. My installer poured a new patio for me. He leveled the ground, meshed re-bar throughout, and then poured the concrete. I live in midwest where it can get quite cold. Will this hurt anything? Shouldn't he have put a layer of sand or pebble underneath? Can you lay concrete on compacted dry soil?

A. The sand or fine gravel is intended to keep the slab from cracking during the freeze thaw process. You see water expands when frozen which could push up from underneath and crack your expensive investment, the sand or gravel provides drainage so no freezing water is sitting under the concrete. Of course this would be less important in areas that never or rarely freeze, but if your investing a lot of time and expense in somthing it is better to do it right.

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What garden vegetables can take horrendous weather conditions?

Q. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 104 degrees here in West Texas with a 35 mile an hour wind.
There are supposed to be days of triple digits, starting today.

I'm wondering, after seeing my neighbor's corn dry up last year in this kind of weather, what kinds of vegetables adore this stuff?
I've been growing plants in big pots and hiding them on the porch for shade.

What heat, wind, and sun-loving vegetables should I plan to grow if I live here?

A. Sounds like typical NDak summer weather only we get a little hotter and definitely a lot windier.
I adopt a two pronged approach.
One is benign neglect (xeriscape) with native plants and there domesticated cousins.
The other is all out war on Mother Nature with every trick I can muster, like drip irrigation.
My most aggressive technique is a high fenced area around my picnic table and grill that is cooled with misting nozzles I borrowed from some of our farm spray rigs. Under the right conditions of high heat and low humidity it can lower the temps 15 degrees.
Last August we had a couple days of triple digits with 50+ mph winds and single digit humidity that resulted in damage similar to a hard freeze.
Some of the plants that do well here are sunflowers, flax, coreopsis, hollyhocks, heritage roses, most herbs and ornamental grasses.

RScott

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What garden vegitables make the best cash crop?

Q. I wanted to grow something I could sell/trade at the farmers market. What garden crop has the best prices and yield with the lowest amount of effort?

A. Garlic onions, and even tomatoes are becoming profitable again.Asparugus is outrageous if you can figure out a way for a large yeild

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How to store lawn clippings over a long time?

Q. I have an interesting idea, but it would require storing grass over at least a 3 week period. It cant ferment or rot or decompose, it has to remain pretty much the same, but it can be dried.
A large amount, as cheaply as possible.

A. The only way you could store lawn clippings for a few weeks without them starting to decompose, is to thoroughly dry them out, then store in hessian bags - loosely packed - so that air can circulate freely.

Lawn clippings decompose very quickly, so air circulation even with dry clippings is important. Without it, they will start to decompose.

If you do store your clippings for any length of time, make sure you do it away from your house. They generate (aside from smell) an enormous amount of heat as they break down and can actually combust (catch fire).

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how do you build patio steps on top of a concrete patio?

Q. I know how to make concrete steps for a patio but how do I attach the new steps ontop of the already existing concreate patio? Thanks.

A. Drill some holes into the patio and put short lengths of re-bar into them. Then build your concrete forms around them. When you pour the new steps they will be anchored to the patio.

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What garden vegetables will grow well in partial sunlight?

Q. I can't dig up the lawn and the only other open space is partially shaded by douglas fir trees, just guessing I'd say it gets about 50% of the sunlight of wide open spaces, I need some vegetables which will still produce a crop even if it takes a bit longer, in partial sunlight.

A. I've heard that these veggies do well in partial shade:

*Spinach
*Lettuce
*Collards
*Peas
*Beans
*Broccoli
*Cauliflower
*Swiss Chard
*Cabbage
- Remember leafy veggies are generally more tolerant of shady areas.

Some semi-shade tolerant plants:

*Carrots
*Radishes
*Beets
*Potatoes
*Turnips
-About 1/2 day sunlight is enough for these..

Plants that would probably do "less" well in shade:

*Peppers
*Tomatoes
*Melons
*Squash

Good luck in your gardening! =)

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What kind of patio furniture is the best for the value?

Q. Don't know if I should spend a lot and hope it lasts for many years or spend less and replace it every 2-3 years.

A. The plastic adirondack style lawn chairs seem to hold up well. We've just used soapy water to clean them every year. Add outdoor cushions & you have very comfortable seating!

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What garden crops grow well in shaded areas?

Q. I have a shaded area next to my garage that is suitable for garden but it is shaded most of the day. What might grow here?

A. If it's shaded most of the day but gets a little bit of the morning sun peas will do good. I got a real good crop with bush peas under those conditions.

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how do you build patio steps on top of a concrete patio?

Q. I know how to make concrete steps for a patio but how do I attach the new steps ontop of the already existing concreate patio? Thanks.

A. Drill some holes into the patio and put short lengths of re-bar into them. Then build your concrete forms around them. When you pour the new steps they will be anchored to the patio.

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