Erik Fossnes

I have a vernal pool 25ft from my house...its quite big but will dry up by July. There is a french drain leading from the vernal pool and around the house to the front corner where there is another pool area way smaller.
My question is regarding the french drain...It has a rope at the outlet that is tight into the ground and tight going into the outlet. Is this a wildlife plug or a cleaning plug? I've searched google and just haven't seen anything. House was built and 20yrs ago and drain installed then. I have no idea...I'm concerned because the inlet has a green grate with holes but half of it is broken and and small debris are going thru.

I put down some scotts turf builder (32-0-4) approximately 3 weeks ago on my lawn and I'm wondering how long I should wait before I can safely start switching over to organic fertilizer?  I'm planning on using a hose sprayer to apply some Mega-Green organic for the first application and then in late summer/early fall apply some of Blue Seals "Safe N Simple Lawn food".

Hi Scott,  I'm not at home so I don't have another picture to show the other side of the house, but this picture shows the steep slopes and the upper flatter sections of the slopes that I have designated as wildflower/tall grass/wildlife area (Taken 2 years ago). Once that takes off, I'll put in a small walk path as you suggested.  The rest of my yard which you can't see, which is either flat or slightly sloped has been designated for organic lawn turf, not tall grasses. I don't have a lot of access to soccer/baseball fields or some other recreational things you would want for a family/child nearby.  So the lawn turf area is bigger for that reason so we can do some of these activities at home and enjoy nature doing its thing at the same time.  Doing what I can to keep things manageable and more natural.

We live in a very hilly part of Southwestern NH..our house sits near the bottom of a steep ridge and the usable yard was small and domed.  We also had very tall beech/birch/maple on woodline that presented a clear and present danger to falling on the house as well as water constantly cominig into the yard and basement.  We pushed back the woodline and created a water drainage trough on the slopes and haven't had any problems since, but the dirt that was moved to make the trough was used in our domed front yard to make a flatter front yard.  If not for doing this extra site work..a few months later, our house would've been destroyed by all the trees that fell in the "Ice Storm" of 2008.  I now have approximately 5 yrs worth of wood to heat my house and I've used a lot of the wood chippings from that storm to lay down in place of bark mulch where the front yard ends and slopes steeply down to prevent erosion.  I didn't do this work to have a great big lawn, that wasn't my goal, but now I have a 17m old son who needed some room to play on. The back half of my cleared property is designated wildflower/wildlife meadows (its a slopy area not at all ideal for any type of lawn).  I want to see bees, deer, turkey and maybe a few rabbit paying a visit every now and again, and be able to enjoy a nice flowery meadow area.  I've planted wildflower and wildlife attractant plants to do this so my family can enjoy it for years to come.  I'm looking to plant a lot of spruce trees in other parts of my property to create cover for other wildlife (rabbit/deer) and be able to have a nice christmas tree when they are big enough.  I love the outdoors and want my son to learn about and cherish this gift the same as I do.   Maybe the lawn is big, but I don't think its too much, considering I still have 4.5 -5 acres of untouched woods to the Northside of my house. (google maps: 42.817661,-71.730386)

I see the white clover all over the yard right now because I haven't mowed in 2-3 weeks, and I think the other clover leaf looking plants about 3-6" tall are the red clover (that's my hunch), but I see other plants that have carrot or parsley type leaves and others that look like smaller/rounder tipped Wild Lupine, but obviously are not.  These weeds are spaced out pretty evenly all across the lawn and growing just slightly faster than the grass at this point, but I have no idea what they are.  I'm hoping in the next month I'll begin to choke alot of it out except the clover.

I am full out planning on putting the kiebosh on the Chemical fertilizer and going the organic route for next year since I didn't want to jump into organic without learning about it first.  If I were to spray some of that Mega Green down in a few more weeks to allow for the Scotts to get digested/diluted would that help me with the soil and health of the lawn over the summer and leading into the Fall?  If yes, what would be a good plan for early or late fall?  I would think that I would want to make the roots grow more and get stronger and deeper for when the lawn goes dormant in Oct/November time frame.  Any thoughts.   My lawn is about 15k sq/ft so spreading out compost isn't something I want to be doing unless it can be done quickly and efficiently.   Thanks Erik

I had a new lawn put down(loam & hyrdoseed) Mid sept of 2009, and the seedlings went dormant early/mid Oct due to colder temps I think.  The lawn looked like 1-1.5" fuzz.  In spring, I figured that it needed a jump start since other lawns were starting to grow and green fast, so I put down a 14k sq/ft bag of Scotts starter fertilizer (20-27-5) on 4/22/10 and saw some greening going on and fair growth over the next 5 weeks.  By the end of May, my grass was still a lighter/brighter green like it wasn't healthy or had enough nutrients, so I put down a 15k sq/ft bag of Scotts all season fertilizer (32-0-4) so I could get the leafs to grow bigger/thicker to start thickening the lawn and eventually suffocate the weeds.  I've only mowed twice so far this year and both times on next to highest wheel setting on my honda self propelled mower so the leaves could soak up the sun.  I have to mow this weekend or it will get too messing with clumping in areas.  I guess I'm looking for a bit of advice with how I should proceed this summer, Latesummer/early fall, and Late fall?  Also, I've come across two liquid organic lawn fertilizers (Fire Belly, Mega Green) that I've read great things about, and was wondering if anyone had anything to say about those products and use as a alternative to spreading compost or "Ringer" type organic fertilizer?  Currently i have short weeds, red/white clover and no crab grass...I don't mind the clover as long as it doesn't take over.  My grass mixture is creeping red and other fescues, perrenial rye, and KBG.  On a side note, I have approx 5k sq/ft of land (flat/sloped) on the skirts of my property that I designated as meadow/wildflower only so I don't have to mow.
Thanks,
Erik