Garden Calendar

 Everything in its season.  Even though I have been waiting to get started working outdoors there are sometimes when I realize that I've forgotten to get something started on time.  So I've taken this opportunity to review some of the key activities that I do, or should do, to manage my landscape over the year.

WINTER

Planning

As the growing season winds down, winter is a good time to reflect on the past season and decide what to do in the coming year.  Every year I sketch out a plan for the vegetable garden so that I can keep track of what I'm planting and when.  I can refer back to these from previous years to keep track of crop rotation.  This way I can ensure that I don't keep planting tomatoes in the same place, for example.

This was my 2024 garden plan.  I made notations about planting dates,
particularly for the corn where I staggered planting dates over 6 weeks.

Seed Starting 

If you are planning on growing plants from seed, particularly native species, many of these require a pretreatment in order to germinate.  In many cases this is accomplished by storing the seed under moist, but not wet, conditions in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 days.  This is referred to as cold-moist stratification.  It is meant to simulated conditions that a seed would experience in the wild. Prairie Moon Nursery has a Germination Guide for all of the seeds that they sell.  

Winter sowing is another method that is gaining popularity.  This is essentially direct sowing of the seed in a potting mix early in winter and leaving these containers outside to experience near natural conditions and break dormancy. Some advantages of this method are that the seed is already in soil so that they will begin growing when they are ready and you don't need to mess with grow lights and temperatures after you sow your moist-stratified seed.  See this post on Winter sowing I did a while back.

Direct sowing in the garden is also an option but I've had poor luck with this since it requires a perfectly prepared seed bed and protection of predators (birds) to get a good level of germination success.

Big Projects

If you are thinking of having work done winter is that time to get with landscape professionals.  They will have more time to work with you on designing and planning your work than if you wait until the spring.

Invasive Species Management

Winter is also a good time to eliminate many invasive species from your landscape.  In my previous blog post I listed some of the invasive species that could be addressed in the colder months.  These are mostly woody vines and shrubs.  I've been making progress against garlic mustard and Japanese honeysuckle by doing spot treatments with glyphosate in late winter, when temperatures are above 40°F.

Soil Tests

Winter is a very good time for doing soil tests as long as the soils are workable and you can take a proper sample.  By getting the results back before planting season begins you can make any adjustments well ahead of when plants go in the ground.  Winter is a particularly good time for applying lime, if needed.  Melting snow and wet weather help the lime to slowly infiltrate and do it job neutralizing excess acidity and increasing calcium levels. It may take 2 months for an application of lime to be effective.  See this link to the University of Delaware's soil testing lab.  

SPRING

Invasives  

In spring, when the forsythias are starting to bloom, is an optimal time to treat lawns with preemergent herbicides to control crabgrass, but more importantly to me, Japanese stiltgrass.  The blooming forsythias are a sign that the soil has warmed enough (55°F) that warm season grasses, like stiltgrass and crabgrass are breaking dormancy.  I have been doing this pre-emergent treatment for x years and have nearly eliminated stiltgrass from my turf, and reduced the amount of seed flowing into the surrounding woods.  I use a degree-day tracker, like the one from Michigan State, to optimize the timing of the treatment.

Forsythia and pussy willow (Salix discolor)
blooming at the beginning of April 2023

March into early April presents a window of opportunity for treating lesser celindine, Ficaria verna.  April is also when garlic mustard is putting on a growth spurt and producing flowering stems.  This is a very good time to pull these plants as long as the soil is loose enough to allow removal a most of the roots.  (If plants are actually in bloom the flowering parts need to be disposed of, otherwise even though they have been uprooted, they may still go to seed.)  

Ticks

Another early spring activity on our wooded property is to put out 'tick tubes'.  These are tubes with cotton balls treated with 5-7% permethrin, by weight.  The idea is that white-footed mice collet these for use in their nests.  The permethrin will kill any tick larvae present on the mice, thus reducing the spread of Lyme disease.  I mark each location with a landscape marking flag so that I can check if any cotton was taken from that spot.  I repeat the placement of tubes in late September hoping that the mice will take them into their nests over the winter.  I make my own tubes, but they are also commercially available.

Pruning

Late-winter to early spring is the time to start pruning summer flowering shrubs and plants that bloom on new wood.  For me this is mostly smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens and cultivars). Spring blooming plants, like Azaleas, hollies, and big-leaf hydrangeas, should not be pruned until after they bloom, otherwise you will be removing flowering buds.  Fruit bearing trees are usually pruned in the spring, however each species has it's own particular timing to get improved fruit yields.  Apples, for instance are best pruned in late winter, in part to minimize infection of the cuts.  Any broken, structurally compromised or diseased limbs should always be removed as soon as possible.

Berry bushes like blueberries and blackberries really benefit from early season pruning.  To get improved fruits from wild blackberry I cut side branches back to 5-8 living buds in early March.  Last year I did a post of some of the wild brambles I have here.  

The four arrows indicate locations for pruning cuts on this wild blackberry. 
You can see that now, at the end of February, leaf buds are already swelling.

Garden Clean-up

As we are learning more and more about how we can help nature flourish in our gardens the advise is that whenever possible delay cleaning up the garden debris from last season.  Many pollinators and beneficial insects are overwintering in the fallen plant materials.  I will refer you to two links for more information on the hows and whys of delayed clean up: Izel Plant Blog and Penn State Extension.  In short if you can wait until early May, you will be doing a lot to help native bees and other pollinators.  Exceptions to delayed clean-up include plant diseases that overwinter in the leaf litter and insect infestations.

No Mow May 

No Mow May was started in England as a push to provide early season pollinators with flowers that are common in English lawns.  Blindly adhering to a no-mow-May program in a country with so many diverse climates and types of lawns as the US is often inappropriate.  To be useful, the lawn or property in question needs to have a population of plants with early blooming flowers that the pollinator population likes.   Depending on the climate the appropriate time for suspending mowing could be as early as February or into the later part of May.  If you have a monoculture of Kentucky blue grass there is little benefit to pollinators in skipping a month of mowing, there is just nothing of benefit there for them.  If you have a diverse ‘lawn’ containing native weeds like violets, self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), fleabanes (Erigeron sp.), spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) and the like, then allowing those to come into bloom would have a positive effect.  If you really need to mow, take the effort to mow around the blooming plants until they are done.  Lawns can also be interplanted with spring bulbs.  While not native, very early bulbs like Crocus, Chionodoxa and Scilla can add interest to an early spring lawn.  These bulbs have usually completed their growth and blooming cycle by the time the need for mowing kicks in.

I have been allowing this patch of Philadelphia fleabane
to develop without mowing.  It reaches peak bloom
in mid-May.  I usually mow it down in early June
after it sets some seed. When not in bloom plants survive
as low-growing rosettes.  

My recent experience with letting the lawn grow out late April through May was an increase in ticks. We are surround by trees and woodland edge habitat which makes the tick problem worse due to the higher humidity environments.  From what I've read ticks will not survive under low humidity conditions, so an open dry lawn should not be as much of a problem.  This year I will maintain the edge habitats at a lower level and try to avoid the lawn flowers.

While there is the oft repeated advice to never cut more than one third of the length of the grass blade at a time, I rarely let that force me to cut the lawn before I’m ready.  I can’t say that I have ever noticed a problem by occasionally letting the lawn get too long between cuts.  In those cases when I do, the biggest problem is the long clippings left on top.  A mulching mower can help deal with that.  All these problems are magnified on the ‘perfect’ lawn, where any imperfection becomes blaringly obvious.  In a diverse, multispecies lawn imperfections blend into the mosaic of plant colors and textures.

Plant the garden

If you are starting vegetable plants from seed you'll want to get them stared about 6 weeks before planting time.  Read the individual seed packets for more precise instructions.  Spring ripening crops like lettuce, spinach and peas can go in early.  Summer crops like tomatoes and cucumbers go in no earlier than Mother's Day, but I often wait until late May for tomatoes, especially when it's a cold, damp spring.

Spring and Fall are the best times for planting perennials, shrubs and trees.  Cooler temperatures and normally moister conditions help plants settle in before the stress of summer heat kicks in.  Fall may be a bit better for trees since they will have longer for the roots to get established.

Even before planting in the garden soil, you can plant in containers.  The soil in these warms faster in the spring and you can get a head start whether it be vegetables or flowers.  I often plant seeds for spring crops like lettuce, Swiss chard and spinach in early April in pots on our deck that has a good Southern exposure.  

Cutting back

Often referred to as the Chelsea chop  wholesale pruning of many perennials is from mid-to late-spring.  The name was coined from the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK which occurs in mid-spring each year.  When timed properly this leads to more compact, bushier plants with more blooms.  Cutting perennials back generally delays blooming by a couple of weeks, and gives shorter bushier plants.  By cutting half of a mass of plants back at one time and the rest a couple of weeks later you can effectively increase the blooming time for that mass by a few weeks.  You can also enhance the height differences in a mass back staggering the timing of the cuts or cutting some shorter than others.  You should finish the cutting operations by the end of June at the latest to give plants a chance to reach maturity  before the bloom season comes to an end.

The arrows indicate the two levels to which I cut back these masses of
goldenrods and asters.  This will also reduce plants flopping onto the pool deck.

 SUMMER

Pruning

Spring blooming shrubs can be pruned after they have dropped their flowers. Surprisingly Rhododendrons can take severe rejuvenation pruning and bounce back after a year or two.  So if you have overgrown rhodies blocking views in front of a window you can cut them back to a few feet tall and they will put out new shoot along the remaining stems.  Pruning can be done as need though the summer, but that chore should be wrapped up by the end of August to allow any new growth to harden off before cold weather sets in.  

Maintain New Plantings

Any newly installed plants will need extra care, particularly water, their first year in the ground.  Water as needed.  If you have established plantings, particularly native species, in the right locations these can be allowed to go dormant when conditions are harsh.  They will bounce back when temperatures moderate and or rainfall returns.  The same can be said of a lawn.  An established lawn with cool season grasses will want to go dormant in the heat of summer, this is natural.  It will bounce back.  As the saying goes: "Never teach a pig to sing, it's a waste of your time and it annoys the pig" (Robert Heinlein).

Control Invasive Species

Removal of invasive plants either manually or with judicious use of herbicide can continue through the summer.  If you are pulling invasive plants be aware of any seed that are present or developing and bag these so as not to spread the seed to other areas.

Deadheading

If you want to get more blooms from annuals or perennials, deadheading spent blooms is the future.  This guide from Garden Gate Magazine has a list of 50 perennials and whether and how to deadhead.  Deadheading will reduce the amount of seed produced in the garden, so if providing food for wildlife is important you may want to refrain from deadheading, particularly toward the end of summer.  Also leaving some seed heads in place can add interesting structure in the garden through the winter months.

Enjoy

Summer, particularly August, is when the landscape is peaking and there is actually less work to do.  Enjoy it!

Coastal Maine Botanical Garden

FALL

Planting

Fall is another good time to do new plantings.  Weather is cooling and there is normally more rain.  Mid-fall is usually a better time for planting trees, as there is less heat stress and root growth will continue as long as soil temperatures are in the the 40's.  

Invasive Plants

Continue to remove invasive species, but as before, be aware of any seeds that are present.  Fall is a particularly good time to do herbicide treatments on invasive trees like Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima.  At this time sap is flowing down to the roots and  techniques like 'hack and squirt'  are very effective at concentrating a small amount of herbicide where it will do the most 'good'.

Deer protection

Here in the Mid-Atlantic the end of October brings on deer rutting season.  While deer are always browsing on plants, rutting season  is extremely destructive to healthy,1-4 year-old trees and shrubs.  Male deer rub there antlers on the trunks of young trees to remove velvet from their horns, stripping bark and flattening trees in the process.  They also will get very aggressive in mating season and seem to destroy plants as a way of showing dominance.  Welded wire fencing, plastic tubing and tree wraps are all helpful tools to reduce damage.  These some of these measures should be removed in spring if they cause the tree trunk to overheat or restrict growth. Fencing, cages and repellent sprays are useful for discouraging feeding.  

Here I have a 4" drain pipe spiraled around a sweet bay magnolia. 
Deer had severely rubbed the bark as high as the arrow. 
This was 5 years ago and the tree has recovered.

Here I have used plastic fencing to protect the bark from rubbing.

Ticks, Act 2

As the weather cools white-footed mice collect material for their winter nests.  This is a time that I put out a second batch of tick tubes.  Since I've marked each one with a colored marking flag I can check to see if any cotton remains from earlier in the year.  If there is still cotton, it indicates that no mice gathered material from that location.  In that case I will find another spot nearby that looks like better mouse habitat.  

Lawn care/Clean-up

If you feel the need for fertilizing your lawn, fall is the best time for a single application of a slow release fertilizer.  The nutrients are delivered slowly and are taken up and stored in the roots preparing the grass for regrowth in the spring.  Rather that using fertilizer I prefer to mow any fallen leaves into the lawn using a mulching mower.   Another option for fallen leaves is to move them into the garden or other area where they can serve as habitat for overwintering insects.  See the information links under Spring clean-up, above.  There are many reasons for putting off fall clean-ups; however, exceptions to delayed clean-up include plant diseases that overwinter in the leaf litter and insect infestations.

Review

Review what worked and what didn't.  Write down some notes where you can find them again.  You might think you'll remember, but there's a good chance you won't.

Stilt Grass: Discovery

I write a lot about dealing with Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum.  I do really feel like I am making progress, but the  work is very tedious and the rewards are often delayed.  One way that I've been getting more immediate gratification is to watch for new plants discovered under the (hopefully decreasing) cover of stiltgrass.  Sometimes I'm finding new plants, but also finding increasing numbers of desirable species is a huge boost.  

Two new species for me this year are downy agrimony, Agrimonia pubescens, and whitegrass, Leersia virginica.  The agrimony was growing on the shady edge of a woodland that had been treated with a preemergent herbicide for a couple of years followed by some maintenance pulling of the stiltgrass.  The wands of bright yellow flowers made me think of a short goldenrod, but seeing the distinctly divided leaves led me to focus on some species of Agrimony. The form and small size of the seed pods, shape of the stipule and the hairiness of the stem confirmed the identity as downy agrimony, Agrimonia pubescens.  I hope to see more of this in the coming years. (I will skip using the preemergent in this area next spring.)  I found the Minnesota Wildflowers site to be very useful in identifying this species.  What was very useful was that it had photos of the same plant parts for each species.   

Downy agrimony blooming in August
at the edge of the woods.

Agrimony can be spotted by their distinctive divided leaves and
sharply toothed leaflets.  If I had just seen the three terminal leaflets,
I would have thought of some weedy potentillas, like mock strawberry.

The stipules of downy agrimony are a key feature of the
species, sharply lobed and distinctly divided.

The whitegrass almost got pulled, as on first seeing it I thought it was a tall mass of stiltgrass growing in the middle of the woodland.  As I got closer I could see that the leaves lacked the silvery mid-rib of stiltgrass and the leaves were narrower.  Also the flowers were small and white, not the buff color that I typically see with stiltgrass.  While I did not key out this grass I am pretty sure that it is actually whitegrass and a welcome addition to the woods.  If this catches hold though I will need to be more careful not to pull it as I am ripping out handfuls of stiltgrass growing nearby. 

The white flowers of whitegrass are pointed out here. 
Also note the long slender leaves.  This perennial grass
 is more strongly rooted than the annual Japanese stiltgrass. 

Here I'm holding some stiltgrass (Microstegium)
 next to the native whitegrass.  Note the broader
leaves and silvery center vein of the stiltgrass.

Some other plants that I am seeing more of this year include the native annual sweet everlasting, Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, growing on a sunny edge of a mown pathway, more and larger masses of panicled tick-trefoil, Desmodium paniculatum, and more instances of what I believe are wood ferns, probably Dryopteris intermedia.

Panicled tick-trefoil tends to grow well in the midst
of meadow grasses.  This puts if at risk of being pulled out
when going after stiltgrass.  It is saved by its plentiful
purple flowers. Shown in the inset are its trifoliate leaves

I think this is intermediate woodfern, Dryopteris intermedia. 
I usually like to see what the sori look like to do an ID,
but this plant didn't have any. In general I'm seeing an increase
in ferns, this may be as much due to cutting back the wineberry
in the spring reducing as it is pulling out the stiltgrass.

Of course not every new thing is good.  I also found my first instance of wavyleaf basketgrass, Oplishmenus undulatifolius.  While I was not happy to see this, it good that I did and could rip it out immediately before this very invasive grass could get a foothold.  According to the SEEK app sightings of this grass are uncommon this far west in Maryland.  To report this I downloaded the MAEDN app, an app for reporting sightings of invasive species in the Mid-Atlantic region.  This app can be used for all types of invasive species including the spotted lantern fly.

At first I though that this looked like a variant of deer
tongue grass, with crinkled leaves, but on a second
look the way that the leaves were attached and the growth habit
were very different.  The 'SEEK' app quickly ID'ed this as
wavyleaf basketgrass, a recent and very serious invasive species
in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Patrolling the woods for stiltgrass also is an opportunity to identify and remove seedlings of other invasives that were hidden under the stiltgrass like burning bush, bush honeysuckle, barberry and autumn olive.

Getting Ready for Stiltgrass 2021

My battle against Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, is a nearly year round effort.  To help me focus my efforts I’ve prepared the following table to remind me of where I will get the most for each hour of work in each season.

Japanese Stiltgrass Control

Season	Actions	Pros	Cons	Comments
Late Winter Early Spring	Pre-emergent treatment	Effective in lawns and smoother (even) surfaces with access to soil surface.  Allows lawns and perennials to get a head start.	Will affect all germinating seeds for several months.  Uneven coverage on rough surfaces.  Application needs to be at the right time.	Takes at least 2 years to knock down seed bank to see significant progress.  More time to complete elimination, if ever.
Late spring-Summer	Herbicide	Grass selective herbicide leaves broad leaf plants and some sedges intact. Try products containing Fluazifop-p-butyl	Difficult to control collateral damage, especially with non-selective herbicides	Targeted application and use of selective materials may limit side effects.
Late spring-Summer	Pulling	Non-toxic and selective.  Opens space for other species.	Labor intensive; left over stilt grass will expand to fill gaps.	If removal is not complete this will need to be repeated at the end of summer
Late summer/Early fall	Cutting/ pulling/ burning	All methods to reduce the amount of seed	Need to complete actions before seed begins to ripen.	Copious amounts of seed being produced, need to be thorough and avoid spreading any ripened seed.

 Because Japanese stiltgrass is an annual there are two points of vulnerability based on its life cycle.  As an annual all plants start new from seed each spring.  If you can disrupt germination you can make a significant dent in how much stiltgrass you will have to deal with.  This is where I have found preemergent herbicides to be very useful.  Products labeled for control of crabgrass have proven effective.  The other weak spot is seed production in early fall.  More on that below.

On the left you can see the effect of a single treatment with
a preemergent crabgrass herbicide.  The right side is thick with
bright green Japanese stiltgrass.  Photo taken in early July.

Springtime

An important part of using a preemergent is getting it applied at the proper time, neither too early or too late in the spring.  There are tools on the internet that track growing degree days, such as GDD Tracker 4.0.  The idea is that plants will develop at a rate controlled by how much heat they receive over time.  For germination, the soil temperature is particularly important.  It is important to realize with a preemergent it is critical to have the material well distributed on the soil prior to the onset of germination.  That’s why I like a really like the calculator, it builds in the time when you should actually apply the product.  Another way to time the application is to watch for when forsythia are in bloom.  In my limited experience just before peak bloom is a good time to do the preemergent application.

I have found that preemergent use on the lawn is very effective.  There was a significant reduction in stiltgrass in the lawn after treatment for two consecutive years.  Also the red fescue that I overseeded is really starting to knit together.  I should do a test this year to see if I can skip treating a portion of the lawn for a year without a resurgence of stiltgrass?  Maybe for a small area.  I'd hate to lose the progress I've made so far.

I have also experimented with preemergent treatments in a meadow area.  Here the ground is much coarser and there is a lot of debris on the ground.  It is very difficult to get an even application of the granular herbicide.  I have seen a decrease in the amount of stiltgrass seedlings in areas where the preemergent was applied.  But there are also patches where the stiltgrass still comes in densely.  I assume that these are due to uneven application.    

Another concern I have with this meadow area is that the preemergent treatments will inhibit the germination of other desirable plants.  The meadow area I have is dominated by wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), wild blackberry, smartweed and a variety of sedges.  In addition there are the usual invasives: Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose.  Besides reducing the amount of Japanese stiltgrass I have also noticed a significant reduction in the amount of bull thistle, Cirsium vulgare, a non-native species.  (Of course having a thick layer of JSG will also inhibit or kill anything that is not well established, so one needs to balance the effects of the herbicide with not doing anything.)  Last spring I transplanted in a number of black- and brown-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta and R. triloba) and some wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) in the gaps that opened up.  It is particularly important for the ‘Susans’ that they be allowed to reseed.  For this year (2021) I will not do the preemergent treatment in the areas with these reseeding perennials.  Instead I will focus on some areas that have not been treated before.

Last year I did experiment with surface burning of stiltgrass seedlings.  While it did provide some temporary control, more seedlings appeared a week or two later.  For me burning with a torch is a maintenance activity and it’s easier than bending over to pick out seedlings.  Spring fire does not work as a one-time treatment in my hands.

Mid-Season

I have been reading more about grass specific herbicides and how they would fit into a plan for eliminating Japanese stiltgrass.  I can see using them as a tool in maintaining a perennial bed or in a well defined, designed landscape.  For me I don’t expect to be using them because most of my landscape is more like managed wildlands.  I generally welcome any native species that pops up annual, perennial, shrub or grass.  So I don't want to run the risk of killing something new and unexpected.

This patch of unmown grass has benefited from both regular pulling
of stiltgrass and a single treatment with a preemergent. 
As I've opened spaces I've planted in natives such as switch grass
and wild bergamot (taller plants to the back right).  The yellow flowers
are wingstem and goldenrods that have come in naturally.

Most of my mid-season activity is focused on pulling and back-filling with desirable, native species.  This year I will be moving many of my excess plants from the vegetable garden, Rudbeckias and Monarda, as well as some overgrown New England asters and goldenrods into spots where I will have weeded out the stiltgrass.  Native species that are competing well against stiltgrass include golden ragwort, mayapple, wild bergamot and grasses and sedges such as river oats, deertongue grass, Virginia wild oats, and rosey and sallow sedges (Carex rosea and C. lurida).

 

This patch of golden ragwort, seen here in mid-April, started from a
single clump planted 2 years earlier.  This species is very effective
at excluding both Japanese stiltgrass and garlic mustard.

6 years ago I seeded in Virginia wild rye.  It is particularly evident
in unmown, shady areas around trees.  This cool season grass gets
started early in the season, well before stiltgrass, and grows 2-4 feet tall.

If pulling is not complete, the remaining stiltgrass will refill newly created voids.  One thing I learned last year was that it can put down roots anywhere a node comes in contact with the soil.  I will try to limit my efforts on mid-season pulling and burning to when I have something to fill back into the open space or where there are new natives trying to get established.  I will store up my energy for late summer when there is less time for the stiltgrass to regenerate and have enough energy to produce flowers and seeds.

Late Summer and Fall

This is a time when you can make a significant dent in the amount of seed that is produced for next year with the least effort.  Pulling stiltgrass that is 3+ feet tall in late summer will remove a huge amount of potential seed.  It’s also easier on the back than pulling shorter plants.  Timing is important.  It should be done early enough that any seed present on the plants will not be able to mature and late enough that and remaining fragments of plants won’t have time to recover and put up additional flowers.  Here in the mid-Atlantic August is about the right time for that. 

If you find yourself pulling stiltgrass later in the season after seeds have started to form you will need to be more careful about disposing the pulled grass.  You don’t want to risk spreading any seed around.  While I knew that stiltgrass has flowers hidden within the stem, I had not realized until last year that there may be flower stalks buried in nearly every leaf node of a healthy stiltgrass stem.  That is a lot of potential seed!

By my index finger you can see one of the flower spikes
 that was hidden within the stem.  These are able to
self pollinate and produce seed without ever opening up.

Cutting or mowing close to ground level is most effective at this time, too.  Burning with a torch at ground level (when safe and where allowed) is also effective.  I’m not certain, but there is a possibility that some cuttings or unburned stem parts may reroot if they contact the soil under favorable conditions.  I will often rake up the cuttings and put them in a separate pile where they can decompose without mixing in with other materials.

In years past I have spent a lot of time in the late summer and early fall raking stiltgrass out of the lawn.  This was probably of little use since much of the stiltgrass had probably developed seed by then.  Last year I combined raking with overseeding with cool season turf grasses.  The hope was that the cool season grasses would germinate quickly and fill in the gaps left from the stiltgrass.  That should work, in theory, but I can't comment on the results.

So the plans are in place and it's almost time to get started!