Today is March 30th, 2021, and what a beautiful spring day!! How nice is it? Even scooping Magic, Izzie, and Oz's winter deposits creates wonderful joy.
The sun, green grass, spring aroma, birds, spring sounds, and blue sky create this joyous moment. Truly, there can be no better place to be right now than here in Morgantown, West Virginia.
My calls this month have been questions on "What are those creepy mushrooms growing out of my mulch?" and everyone's perennial favorite, "How soon after you spray can I seed my lawn?"
The quick answers are that those creepy mushrooms are naturally occurring slime molds that aren't hurting anyone. If they bother you, lightly pick the surface with a leaf rake and they will stop, until another shows up a couple feet away.
The other quick answer is, if you must seed, it is better to do so after a couple of rains, and always agitate the soil with a garden weasel first. Also, realize that this area will have crab grass as well as what you plant as a result. Please see the writing in my Wisdom rants on "Seeding on Bare Soil."
Is that enough? If so, I'll see you next month. If you're seeking more, please read on.
You've Been Slimmed . . . By Molds
Obviously, I am not a normal person. I love slime molds. We usually see them in Morgantown on mulch. All it takes is mulch, the right weather, the right conditions, and boom! Slime molds.
Most of what we see here comes under the special category "dog vomit" slime molds. What are we to do if we want our place to look nice but don't want the mold?
In my case, I love the opportunity to take some photos and reflect on what a great job nature does to decompose matter back to humus. After that moment passes, I take a leaf rake and lightly pick the skin off the surface of the mold, allowing air entry. This blows up the natural process, and if weather conditions have changed, it won't be back.
If they haven't, it will pop up in another location. Witness the normal degradation of forest materials. If you have any interest in this topic, just Google slime molds.
To Seed or Not to Seed
We like to go out on a spring day like today and just do stuff, like seeding. If you must do this as part of your spring rites, that's okay. The grass seeds aren't going to grow, though.
Grass grows basally from below the surface of the soil. What really happens is, your existing grass, which is now sleeping, appears out of nowhere, and you think you did something.
If you are hiring me to spray your lawn, you are paying me to make your seeding effort unsuccessful, and here's why.
All seeds germinate the same way. When the conditions are right for that seed, it cracks open and extends a little root fiber, or root hair. The little hair then attaches to something and starts becoming a root.
The spray I use is a liquid crab grass preventative that coats the soil with a barrier (think Pam you spray on a skillet). It is also a root tiller (think forced contracting instead of expanding). This means the little root hair isn't successful at attaching to anything and stays very close to the seed, basically making growth unsuccessful. The spray doesn't care whether it finds a good seed or a weed seed. Neither will be successful.
Changing the Odds
If you take a garden weasel and rough up the area you want to seed, you break my barrier and everything will grow as it should.
I like you to wait at least two rains to make sure the spray is locked in where we want it and not a moving target. Do this and your seed will grow as you wish. Be advised, so will all the weed seeds that would not have grown if the barrier still existed. This is why we get weeds alongside walks where weed eaters act as garden weasels. So, if you must seed due to damage or physical injury, follow the two-rains rule above.
I wrote a large piece on seeding in the Wisdom Unencumbered by Facts section of my website that relates to the most important question: what seed to use when seeding. Please read it before you begin.
And please keep the questions coming. I will be firing up the spray truck soon and seeing you on your lawn!
