Lawn Aerator

So you admit to being a morphing peice of s*it troll. Got it, glad that you finally can admit for all to see POS

You conveniently deleted where I said when it DRIES... you are a douchebag, an imbecile, and very dishonest.

Grass roots don't really grow much below 2" anyways. Just look at rolls of sod. They certainly don't come 2" thick (with soil).

Lawns need almost daily watering when the daily high temp reaches 80 unless except on overcast days - then maybe you can go 4 days without water.

Forget aerating. Have a yard of black earth / top-soil delivered and rake it evenly all over, and throw in some grass seed while you're at it. THAT is by far the most accepted way to deal with poor sub-soil conditions without completely replacing the top 4" of soil.

And then you need to water.

But you haven't said anything about your ability to irrigate this patch of grass. What municipal water restrictions are you under currently - now and for the next few months?

On 7/20/2014 4:41 PM, Guv Bob wrote [in part]:

While it used to be quite common to plant ice plant on a slope, the recommendation today is very much against that. During a rain, ice plant takes up much water and becomes quite heavy. The roots tend to be shallow and not very extensive. The result is that the ice plant will often pull loose, slide down the hill, and take part of the hill with it.

I am very sensitive about proper planting of slopes since the hill in my back yard has slipped twice. The second time, the repair cost almost four times what I paid for my house; my grandchildren will make the last payment on the federal disaster loan. No, there is no such thing as insurance against a slope failing; and the repairs are never guaranteed.

Grape vines are very good on a hill; they have very tough, deep roots and generally do not care how poor is the soil. Alone, African daisies or ivy (English or Algerian) are not good because their roots tend to form a mat that can become a weak layer; African daisies and ivy mixed together, however, are excellent on a hill because those mats are at different depths and tend to be less concentrated.

According to the grading experts in my county's public works agency, trees on a hill can be bad. In a wind, they rock back and forth, breaking up the soil around the bases of the trunks. With a major rain storm, that becomes a path for a large amount of water to funnel down to the subsoil. Depending on their alignment, this can lubricate the boundary between soil and subsoil and trigger a slide. On the other hand, shrubs are okay.

Below 1-2 inches, it's hard-packed clay in this particular spot. This was just an idea. Water won't penetrate it. Trying to avoid roto-tilling. It's level and rolling a 200 pound barrel on a rock-hard surface like this is pretty easy. I have rolled a 55 gal drum of liquid on the same place -- that's where I got the idea.

This is a small area - about 10 x 30 ft. Would be nice to have grass there, but being dirt is OK, and not worth renting anything. A few years ago I had to put ground cover on a bare compacted clay hill. I ended up getting a 5/8-inch masonry bit and drilling 4-inch holes about

guaranteed.

Good to know, David. Grapes sounds like a great idea. Any particular varieties to get or stay away from? Or other types of plants on a slope?

When I was testing the soil, grass roots in the good areas went down at least 4 inches. I'm inland in So Calif and we got less than 4 inches of rain last year. Where the grass is established, I seldom have to water more than once every 7-10 days. Over the years, I have watched to see which grass dies and which will go without water, and tried to expand the more drought tolerant. Seat of the pants method, but it works for me.

Thanks, HG. Only restrictions so far are what I do anyway - no watering between 9am-5pm or hose down sideways, etc. Unfortunately, the talk is that the cut back will be 20% less than we used 12 months previous. So folks like us who are very conservative with water will likely end up paying penalties. Meanwhile the swimming pool crowd down the street will only have to stop pumping so much overflow into the gutter.

Guv Bob wrote: ...

note that most grassed do not die completely in drought conditions but will go dormant.

songbird

Almost any variety of grape is okay. Choose something you will use. Just be sure you have sturdy supports since grape vines -- even without fruit -- can be quite heavy. See my for how I support my grape vines. Also, ground cover is still necessary to prevent surface erosion.

Also, do not overplant. Last year, I filled a very large pail in one picking from only one vine.

The first time my hill failed, I had a single grape vine in the middle. While the hill slid on both sides, the vine and the part of the hill below it did not move. Unfortunately, the vine had to be removed to repair the hill. I then planted two grape vines. The hill failed again

You, Higgs Boson, and I are all in southern California. Higgs is coastal (near Santa Monica Bay), and I am in what the National Weather Service calls a coastal valley (near Thousand Oaks and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area). Where are you?

I've already told you where he lives.

Long Beach.

N. San Diego County, about 15 miles inland.

Why did you guess Long Beach?

Long Beach CA is not northern Canada by a long shot.

?-)

Anybody know where to get an aerator that's basically a 20-gallon barrel filled with water with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head pulled by hand? Less than 1000 sq ft and too hard for foot-stomper aerator.

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how about a Tommy Gun?

Now that we have all the comments and theories about aeration......

Anybody know where to get an aerator that's basically a 20-gallon barrel filled with water with a row of aerator tubes fastened around each head pulled by hand? Less than 1000 sq ft and too hard for foot-stomper aerator.

That tiny area, what a wuss. I have a Mantis tiller, greatest gardening tool out there... get the aerating attachment.