#1 tool from the kitchen for your yard

[LwnmwnMan2]

The next time the wife (or yourself) runs to Wal-Mart, Target, Williams and Sonoma, wherever you get your kitchen utensils, pick up a cheap meat thermometer. Shouldn't have to pay more than $5-10, unless you really ARE at Williams and Sonoma.

One with a standard dial on it is all you need to perform one of the basics in lawn care.

With this meat thermometer, before you head out to work in the morning, you can run around the yard in a couple / 3 different areas and check the soil temps in your own yard and know precisely when to spread crabgrass preventer or whether or not you're wasting your time seeding.

NEW grassy plants (grass, crabgrass) will not start to grow or germinate until the ground temp has reached 53-55 degrees for 3 mornings in a row.

Yes, it will turn green, it may get some larger blades on the plant, but all out mid spring to late summer growth will not start yet. ESTABLISHED roots already have some nutrients in them to allow the early spring changeover.

With the meat thermometer, you'll have the ability to check different areas of your yard.

For those that have a service performing your work, you may notice that they come by fairly early. Chances are they're checking areas along blacktop (driveways, curblines) or along south facing walls which collect heat and transfer it to the ground.

You'll notice if you have areas like this, that they'll warm up quicker than other areas.

If your yard is shaded, even with trees without leaves this time of year, you'll have a cooler yard than the neighbor without trees, or large open areas.

You'll have a better opportunity to micro manage different areas of your property, and don't have to rely on general websites or people like me trying to tell you what's going on without actually seeing the property, let alone even being on the property.

[jeffreyd]

seeds do not germinate well until ground temp is 65 for 3 days at 8 am each day measured at 4 inches below the surface.

Reference:

Richard L. Duble, Turfgrass Specialist, Texas Cooperative , Bermuda grass, http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/bermuda.html

"In warm frost-free climates bermudagrass remains green throughout the year, but growth is significantly reduced at the onset of cool nights. The species makes the best growth where average daily temperatures are above 75°F. Optimum daytime temperature for bermudagrass is between 95° and 100°F.

Soil temperature, as influenced by air temperature, is also important to the growth and development of bermudagrass turf. Soil temperatures above 65°F are required for significant growth of rhizomes, roots and stolons. Optimum soil temperature for root growth is around 80°F."

[LwnmwnMan2]

Right... Bermuda grass.

We don't have Bermuda here in MN.

[lindy rig]

Thanks for the tip LwnmwnMan... and thanks for putting up with a bunch of fisherman trying to figure out their lawn!

[jeffreyd]

and crabgrass is a weed anywhere else. why do they not plant bermuda? i think when i was a kid in nebraska, my dad always called it a weed? cant remember.