Noblesville Fall 2016 First Frost and First Snow

For posterity, here is my documentation of the first hard frost of the year (November 5, 2016) and the first 'snow' of the year (November 19, 2016).

First frost Fall 2016 was November 5 in Noblesville, Indiana

We had some crazy fall weather (I feel like I say that every year), with temperatures jumping up into the mid 70's and then back down to freezing. In fact, just yesterday I was mowing the lawn shirtless in 74º weather and not 12 hours later we had our first dusting of snow.

It's a tradition to mow the lawn the same day you put up Christmas lights - gotta love the 74° weather too! #suburbs #suburbslife

A video posted by Eric Teske (@ericteske) on Nov 18, 2016 at 12:56pm PST

It will be an interesting winter to see if we have temps in the 50's all December and freaky January heat as well. Last year the crocus came up early (not that I'm complaining).

Crazy temperature swings in a 12 hour period!

Dusting of snow, first snow of the year Fall 2016

My Favorite Dog Pee Spot Patching Product

We just had a large dog move out of our house when our previous room mate left, and now we're patching up all the dead grass pee spots the dog left behind. Fall is a great time to grow new grass, so I'm hoping to have a lot of good grass come in before winter.

The stuff I swear by is the EZ Seed that looks like grass seed mixed with instant coffee. When you add water to it, it expands like a sponge and holds water in all day long so your grass seed has just enough moisture and doesn't dry out. You can't just dump it on top of the grass though you have to prepare the patches by ripping out the dead grass and adding a bit of fresh topsoil to the hole.


I had about 30 pee patches from dog pee all over the yard, and the dead grass came up super easy. There were a few spots where it felt like the brown patch had some good roots in it still, so I let it go and I'm hoping it will come back on its own. Of course all the holes would eventually fill themselves as the grass sends out shoots to the side, but some fresh seed will help it along for sure.

Cleaned the dead patch like cleaning a wound so it's ready for fresh seed

Filled the empty patch with fresh topsoil so the grass seed has nooks and crannies to catch onto

Room mate Zack helping out in the yard

Love this stuff, but it was like $54 for the big bag. A bit pricey but better than the smaller jugs.

Final result, now we wait for a week for the seeds to germinate.

The morning dew is enough to wet the patches in the morning and then usually I got out when I get home from work and give it some more water just to keep it moist overnight.

I also added some topsoil and EZ Seed to the low spot where the pear tree used to be 2 years ago, this is still not naturalized into the rest of the lawn after all this time!

Update: 10 days later...

Maiden Grass That Lived in My Garage for 3 Weeks

My brother wanted to split the tall grasses by his AT&T utility box, and my mother in law wanted some ornamental grasses for her new house, so this is a win-win. I believe these are maiden grass or some kind of Miscanthus. Either way, they get about 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide. My brother's were about 4 years old and the centers were dying out.

What a hassle calling the dig people to mark an AT&T box, we dug all around the box and didn't see a single cable, it must be 3 feet down. Better safe than sorry I guess.

It wouldn't be spring without a trunk full of grass

And there they shall sit for 3 weeks until the weather warms up and we find a free weekend to head up to NW Ohio.

We divided these way back on April 4, and since then we've seen weather in the 70's and it even snowed on April 8th. They weathered in the garage just fine. I kept them a little damp so they wouldn't dry out completely. They only saw the light briefly in the time we had the garage door open to pull the cars in or to grab the watering can. Nevertheless they started sprouting new growth! Very hardy buggers!

I didn't actually get them cleaned up and into buckets until April 22, but as you can see they are doing just fine and they are loving the sunny back patio while they wait for a car trip up north next weekend. 

UPDATE: Here is the final destination for the grass I divided so many weeks ago. We took them up to Chris' parents' house in NW Ohio to hide the irrigation box. I dug a super shallow hole and plopped them in. They didn't get the top soil TLC treatment but I think they will be just fine, these are hardy buggers.

Blooming Boxwood, Edging, and Expired Grass Seed

I'm going to pretend that the low Saturday isn't going to be 27°F and keep doing yard work in denial. Today after work I sprayed some anti-fungal on the wet side yard that usually gets white powder on it, then I put down some (probably expired) patch grass seed that will water in this weekend while I'm in Dayton.

This has got to be the last cold bout until Spring (which technically starts in 3 days).

I'm pretty sure my boxwood is Dwarf English boxwood Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa', and I'm pretty sure it's flowering. This one is only flowering near the top - is that because I trimmed off the buds last Fall? Note to self: Look up best time to trim boxwood to not remove new buds.... or does it even matter?

Finished edging the back island, had to break a few birch tree roots (sad) but they shouldn't have been on the surface like that! Now I just need to mulch and this bed will be refreshed for the year. My crocuses are almost spent and it's only been like a week :(

Look, it's snowing shredded newspaper and 3 year old grass seed! I'll be surprised if any of this grows, but at least it will amend the clay a little bit and if there's a chance some seeds sprout then all the better.

Shenandoah Switchgrass - My $1 MVP

I still can't believe I got this ornamental switchgrass for $1 last July, on sale at Lowe's because it had a fungal infection. I cut it back and it re-grew just fine, and even put out some signature maroon leaves in late summer.

Now, in Spring 2016 it's my first ornamental grass to wake up. It's got the heart of a champion, and I'm sure in no time it will be hiding my electric meter and providing vertical interest in my side yard.

On a side note, I wonder why my Northwind switchgrass is a warm weather grass that doesn't wake up until later in the summer, but this one is already up and running in March!

Shenandoah already awake in March

Vole Trenches in Lawn (Photos)

My neighbor's grass is so long and dead, it's the perfect place for voles to romp around all winter long. Then people like me with healthy lawns are targets for voles to come through and eat a trench through the roots of the delicious grass. They're called vole runs or vole damage, and it's a clear sign they've been busy this winter. Apparently they don't hibernate.

Vole tunnels through the grass, about 2 inches deep and 1-2 inches wide

It looks kinda like a river or ant colony from above, little ditches that spread out through long pathways about 2 inches deep. I thought for a second maybe it was just cracks from the freezing and thawing of the lawn, but now I think it's definitely voles.

Filled in the trenches with topsoil, it took an entire 40 pound bag

Not much I can do right now, I added topsoil to the trenches. My dad says I might have them year round but in the summer you just don't notice because the grass grows so fast, but in the winter you can really tell. He's going to give me an underground ultrasonic wave thing that is supposed to scare them away for a 60 foot radius.

It's not a huge deal. I'm sure the grass will fill in with the new topsoil I added. And if this is the damage they can do over an entire winter, I doubt it gets much worse in the next few weeks while I'm waiting for the grass to start growing again.

Filing this post under #critters for sure!

Frozen Fog Frosted Tips

November has some cool frozen fog, which left my Northwind switchgrass with crystal white frosted tips. I was hoping they would jingle in the breeze, but no such luck. Nevertheless, they look very cool. The stems don't have any frost on them at all, but the dried seeds up top gathered tiny droplets of condensation in the fog that froze into a thin white layer of frost that contrasts with the dry yellow stems.

I was looking forward to seeing the yellow dry grass contrasting against white snow, but we've already had one snowfall and it's already starting to make the grass fall over. I don't think it's going to stay upright all winter - but I don't want to cut it down yet because it looks nice and blocks the storm drain cover.

Silver White Spots on Grass: Powdery Mildew

I've had powdery mildew on plant leaves before, but this is my first time seeing it on grass in my side yard. My west side yard is moist and flat, so it's not surprising that this area got a fungal disease. Powdery mildew looks like white spray paint on the blades of grass, and from an angle almost looks silver. I even noticed my footprints looked silver because it caused the blades to line up on their sides and make the white stand out compared to the grass around my foot prints.

Powdery mildew on grass looks like white powder or spray paint on the blades

Long term solution is to get better air flow or circulation over the area so the grass doesn't stay damp, and make sure to not make it worse by watering too much or watering at night. The fungus should die over the winter (hopefully) so I'm not too worried about it. Ok so this article says it can survive the winter as spores, but the conditions in spring should be a little airier than this wet October we've been having.

Erianthus ravennae 'Hardy Pampas Grass'

My Erianthus ravennae 'Hardy Pampas Grass' is about to bloom! It's growing a tall central stalk that is already about 8 or 9 feet tall. In the photos below for reference the fence is 4 feet tall. Wow!

Erianthus ravennae 'Hardy Pampas Grass' with a tall stalk but not yet blooming

The central stalk has nodes along the way up that look like bamboo, I'm assuming to provide rigid structure to hold this massive stem up so high into the wind. It sways constantly in the breeze. Think of the amount of resources going into producing these 2 tall plumes (there is another smaller one on the way).

I'm in love with the little hairs at each node

A total of 2 fruiting stalks are growing, you can tell because they are much thicker and have a red hue

Update 9-27-2015: The seed plume is blooming on top of the long stalk, slowly opening and drying in the sun. I used my telephoto lens to try to get a detail picture of the top from side view because it's out of reach for an iPhone photo.

Hardy Pampas Grass blooming with it's seed plume opening

Hardy pampas grass in the morning sun

The Lawn Aeration Debacle

I signed up for Fall lawn aeration and over seeding. The afternoon of the aeration service, Chris and I were both scratching our heads because the internet was out. What the heck? What does this flashing blue light mean? No signal? I finally put two and two together and realized the lawn aeration must have cut the cable in the side yard. It was just under the sod, not down very deep at all.

I dug up the old cable and followed it into the yard

The cable pulled up and I saw a frayed end. I found the other end in the middle of an aeration hole. A perfect bulls-eye! What are the odds?

I ripped up the rest of the old cable, it was just under the sod so it was easy to pull up.

Comcast came out and put in a new line, removed the old line, and stuck the plastic cover on.

The cover doesn't go all the way down because the line isn't buried yet. I asked the tech if he could just run the line up under the plastic cylinder and he said no they have contractors that come do that. I asked if I could dig down with a trowel 6 inches real quick and have him run it under and he said no.

I don't want them to spray paint and dig up my whole utility box area, so I'm going to bury the cable myself except for the last bit where the box won't close.

I used a square spade to slice an 8 inch deep trench through the lawn, wiggling it to allow the cable to slide down at least 6 inches or so. Since the ground is mostly clay I tried to form the clay over the top to close it up. I also watered it profusely to flood the trench, hopefully covering the cable with runoff.

I used a row of rocks to mark where the cable runs under the flower bed.

Now I'm just waiting for this contractor to come out and run the cable 6 inches down under the lip of the cylinder. The tech said it would be 2-3 weeks. Sweet. If they come at all - my neighbor's cable isn't even buried, they left it on top of the grass until the thatch grew over it, so it's not even under the sod. Out of sight out of mind right?

I looked at the hookup inside the green Comcast cylinder and the coax cable is locked onto the connection - probably so people don't steal cable or mess with it - but it also means I can't just unhook it real quick to run it under the lip of the box. Sigh.

So who is to blame here? Is Comcast to blame for never burying their cable in the first place leading to me running it under the sod? Am I to blame for running it under the sod and not digging it down further? Is Lawn Pride to blame for puncturing it? Am I to blame for not marking my cable line before they aerated?

Shenandoah Switchgrass Natural Red vs. Fungus Rust

Shenandoah switch grass has a natural maroon red hue to it, which makes it a beautiful ornamental grass. But can you tell the difference between the natural maroon red tint on leaves, and a fungal infection that looks like rust?

I got this Shenandoah on sale for $1 because it was tiny and infected, I cut it all the way back and now it's thriving and free from fungus. It's even beginning the bloom, and develop some nice maroon leaves. Awesome!

Shenandoah switch grass healthy maroon purple leaf color

Rust fungal infection on Shenandoah switch grass

Let's take a look at the before and after from my $1 Shenandoah. This thing is a fighter, and it's getting lots of good growth in before the winter. These two pictures show 1 month difference. I am pretty optimistic about this bargain buy!

Bed Edge with Weed Whacker and Grass Killer

I normally edge my beds with a spade and go all the way around by jumping on the shovel and cutting a 4 inch deep slice all the way around the bed to give it a nice sharp edge and chop off the grass rhizomes trying to spread into the mulch. This takes a long time, and I probably only do it once a year. This new technique I'm using is a great option between more thorough bed edgings because it's quick and still leaves a nice clean result.

Clean bed edge where grass meets river rocks

I turned my weed whacker on its side in the edging configuration, like I'd use on the sidewalk, where the string trimmer is spinning vertically. I whacked all along the edge and actually had to beat back the grass in some places where it was not only growing horizontal over the edge it was actually creeping into the bed slowly. Once I whacked all the way around, I went back and sprayed some weed and grass killer very lightly right along the edge to hopefully kill off any rhizomes and deter the grass from growing into the mulch at least for a little while.

The result was a nice clean edge, albeit with a border of brown from dead grass. You can go back and easily sweep or pull the dead grass away, and it was much easier than digging out rooted grass along the border.


Overall, meh, nice clean look - another option for a quick trim but I probably won't ditch the spade approach altogether. I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this, I consider it "chemical edging" or something like that by adding the spray. Emphasis on the light spray, you don't want a brown ring around your entire bed.