Shut your mulch!

This weekend was the first weekend of dedicated yard work at my house. I had to mow the lawn, but there was one problem...

I don't have a lawnmower. So I trekked over to the Home Depot and bought myself a new shiny red lawnmower! Then I mowed and it was good.



Then I looked around and needed to put some fresh mulch in an area around some trees I had. Well I don't have a wheel barrel so I had to manually carry 12 bags of mulch, I know what a drag, but all in all it was a good work out. I also added some ceramic frogs my aunt gave me as a housewarming present.

So I thought to myself, Self what is the purpose of mulch, besides making the area look nice?

So off to the Google machine I went. I found http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-the-benefits-of-garden-mulch.html. This was a great resource of information.

Ultimately the mulch does a lot of things and not just making it look pretty.

• Prevents weeds
• Holds moisture
• Moderates temp
• Prevents frost-heaving in the winter
• Keeps roots cool
• Depending on the mulch it can provide nutrients to the soil as well. 

So it actually does a lot for the trees and plants in the area that you put the mulch. I used bark mulch as my did mostly did as well, but I thought what other types are there?

• Grass Clippings
• Bark Mulch
• Decaying Leaves
• Compost
• Peat Moss
• Straw
• Hay
• Rocks
• Fabric
• Rubber Mulch, usually recycled from tires

Each of these mulches have their own set of pros and cons and can be see at the dummies website. 

It is an Azalea!

I few weeks ago I posted this picture in a blog and asked for help identifying it and Sarah told me it was an azalea.

Well now this little guy is in full bloom! And much easier to identify as an Azalea by the blooms. 

So then I became interested in the parts of the flower since we learned all about botany earlier this semester. 

In this picture you can see the sepal leaves of the flower that protect the bud before bloom. 

In this picture we can see that the flower is a perfect flower because it has both a stamen (male) and a pistal (pistal).  The anthers (male parts) which seem to have white tips and the stigma has a pink tip. Also on reading about azalea they have a system to not self pollinate themselves. 

"Rhododendron flowers produce sticky, dripping pollen from anthers as blossoms open. The female pistil, which receives pollen, doesn't become sticky and receptive to pollen for a couple days later. This prevents self-pollination."(http://www.ehow.com/facts_7827694_rhododendrons-pollinated.html#ixzz2RU1o0JzT)

A man and his lawn

There is something directly related between a man's ability to be a man and the quality of his lawn. A man's character can almost be judged on his care of his lawn.

Maybe that is a little dramatic but there is something inherently in me and many other men to make sure there lawn is green and plush. I mean the lawn care industry $21 Billion industry, some people must really care about this stuff. (according to them).

The reason I am going on this tangent is that I have a few brown spots in my lawn, grrr. So I am working on developing a strategy, yes a fricking strategy to get rid of brown spots, on how to fix this. Being this my first year with my own lawn I am researching. I have concluded with exhaustive research (asking 4 or 5 other gentlemen what they and do and their results) that the 4 step Scott's treatment is the way to go. I only have 5k square feet of lawn so it won't be crazy expensive either. Also if you have any feedback let me know what products you use.

So the question I had is why are just some random spots brown, so I turned to the interwebs to answer this question. I found the http://www.thelawninstitute.org/. They most be the foremost experts they call themselves the lawn institute and because of that I value their opinion.

So they have a convoluted answer for this but the root, pun intended, cause is stress. "Either biotic (living) or abiotic (not living) stress placed on a plant." Ok, now how what actually causes each and why does the Scott's 4 step prevent this?

Well living causes are usually insects, such as grubs, diseases or animal urine. Then not living causes are more environmental like lack of nutrients, sun, temperature, amount of rain and even sub-terrain things like stones causing water to flow away.

The Scott's system works because it helps mostly the abiotic issues like nutrients, but also biotic issues like competing plants.

Step 1 is a fertilizer and crab grass preventer. You need to put this down mid -late April. I am doing it this weekend. This helps provide nutrients to the soil and prevent the growth of crabgrass which can steal nutrients from lawn.

Step 2 is another fertilizer and weed preventer but it prevents dandelions and other broad-leafed weeds. This needs to be applied April to June.

Step 3 feeds and strengthens against heat and drought and uses Water Smart® technology which improves lawn's ability to absorb water and nutrients. This needs to be applied June - August.

Step 4 builds stronger, deeper roots for winter.  This produces a thicker, greener lawn next spring. This gets applied in the Fall.

Blogging about biology...

Another week another blog...

This weekend I enjoyed some time outside and I was not shoveling! I was actually putting together my new grill!

I also took in a ball game at the old Fenway park! (well that was Monday but it was my extended weekend.)

It is amazing how your body reacts and feels when you spend some time in the warm sun! I felt energized again after the long frosty winter. 

Also this meant some more activity in the yard. I looked at the plant that we decided was not a crocus (which are already gone) again and it started to bloom. I did a whole bunch of Googling and still cannot identify it.

I know it is not:

Crocus

Tulip

Azalea

Pansy

Daffodil

I thought it was a Clivia Miniata but that grows in the southern hemisphere and in warmer temps. 

Anyone have any ideas?

Wait... what... flowers in March?

Yes I have seen the beauty of flowers in my yard on 3/31/13! They are beautiful purple crocus. A lot of people posted last week that they had some hearty crocuses poking through. Mine may have been late bloomers... (bad joke). They are a very nice sight compared to the seemingly never ending snow we were getting on weekends.

Anyways how can crocuses bloom so early? I don't know why and after 30+ Google searches I am tapping out... I found on the Wikipedia page that "Crocus flowers and leaves are protected from frost by a waxy cuticle; in areas where snow and frost occasionally occur in the early spring, it is not uncommon to see early-flowering crocus blooming through a light late snowfall."

Other than that I am unable to locate any solid reasoning. However crocuses have 90 varieties and can be split up into spring and fall bloomers. Also they are very hearty and are not affected by many pests or disease, other than squirrels eating the bulbs.

Does anyone know the any other reasons that the crocus bloom so early?

Another Week Another Snow Storm

Well since I started this blog it has snowed almost every weekend to some extent. Even this morning as I ventured out there was a little snow from last night and a good frost on everything.

This I am not happy about and neither are others, they even indicted Puxatawny Phil for fraud, due to him predicting in an early spring. Yet the closer I look the more spring I see everyday.

We are technically in spring because we have passed the Vernal Equinox on March 20th. This means that the days are longer than the nights and the earth is starting tilt towards the sun (for the northern hemisphere). I took a look at a plant (I am not sure what it is since I just moved in the house and have not seen the blooms) but I can see many buds being protected by their sepals.

I looked up to see what the plant could be, so I started my normal Google search and found this site which seems like a cool resource. The app to identify trees leafsnap it is able to identify trees by pictures of it leaves, I am going to try it as soon as my trees have some leaves. Also I found http://plants.usda.gov/characteristics.html, but I am terrible at this identification game.

Any help?

Here are some other pics. and thanks for the help!!!!

A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside. - Winnie the Pooh

Ok you must be wondering why I used a Winnie the Pooh quote... ok maybe not...

The reason is because I have a tree in my backyard with a tree hollow and it reminded me of Winnie the Pooh getting his honey. 

These hollow as seen below in my tree are just holes that form in the tree. They are can form for a variety of reasons including, natural forces like wind, attacks from other organisms including insects, bacteria and fungi, they also can be caused when a tree self prunes. I tried figuring out what caused this hollow and am struggling, but seems because the location that it have been from a branch that was there at some point.  

I unfortunately can't see anything to interesting in my hollow besides miss which seems to inhabit my entire backyard, but these can be great habitats for all sorts of organisms. Depending on the size of the hollow the organisms can be extremely small like bacteria and fungi or can be rather large like This is because they can be a good shelter and hiding place for them. 

I am going to keep an eye on this hollow and see if anything grows and blooms in there. 

Until next week...

"A rolling stone gathers no moss"

As I ventured out this week to see the living organisms in my yard this week, I noticed this moss on some non-moving stones. I have noticed it before but really took a look at it, as that is the purpose of this blog...

Here it is, as close as i could get the ole iPhone to focus. This moss is growing on a retaining wall, so it is literally growing on concrete, which is pretty hard to do. It is just hanging out with some of it's buddies too!

Moss is a non-vascular plant. It is defined by dictionary.com as "any tiny, leafy-stemmed, flowerless plant of the class Musci, reproducing by spores and growing in tufts, sods, or mats on moist ground, tree trunks, rocks, etc."

Moss uses diffusion to carry water and nutrients throughout the plants and this is why they cannot grow very far from their source of water. This can be seen in these photos.

           

I tried to identify the type of moss by some Googling, but couldn't actually identify it. I looked at this doc , but couldn't diversify it. Does anyone know what this is?

So... my back yard is an ecosystem

Unfortunately my backyard is still covered in several inches of snow, so traipsing about in it is somewhat difficult, but I can still see things from the warmth of my home and I decided to summarize on what is out there and then I will be able to examine it very closely throughout the rest of the semester.

First off to go back to the title. My backyard is an ecosystem. Here is the definition:

ec·o·sys·tem 
/ˈekōˌsistəm/
Noun
A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

My backyard is a community full of plants, animals, bacteria, fungus and protists. Here is a picture from a few months ago (actually from the real estate listing).

So from this picture I can see a few trees and they appear to be of different varieties. I am not a botanist and have no idea what these are but I looked up common trees in New England and found this link. I will use this to identify these during the spring.

I can see grass, which is a plant, I also can see some kind of bush in the back of the yard as well. I also have a couple planters off to the side which appear to be filled with death from last year's vegetable garden. We will take a closer look at that in a few weeks as well.

Also I know that there is a plethora of bugs and insects living in there as well, even though we can't see them either. I will make sure when I start planting I snap some pics and identify these little guys.  I found this site that will help me in identifying them.

I also know of at least one animal living in my back yard, a squirrel. The previous owner told me about him and his "work" routine. He runs across the the fence on the left of this picture around 8 in the morning then runs back around 6, he may go back and forth many other times but she saw him on this pretty regular schedule.

His a pic of him before I left for work one morning.

So I hope you will continue with me and my journey through my backyard. I will hopefully be able to find something interesting, as they say even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Biology in my backyard!!!

Is Biology really in my backyard?

Of course it is...

I have a plethora of biology. The reason that there biology in my backyard is because many things live there and by definition biology is the study of living things.

bi·ol·o·gy  

/bīˈäləjē/

Noun

The study of living organisms, divided into many specialized fields. The plants and animals of a particular area.

In my backyard I have several species of plants, insects and animals. I moved to the house in the winter so I haven't had a great chance to examine it closely but as we go through the semester and spring I will explore and enlighten you with the results of my findings :)

I am kind of a nerd and got a cool camera a few years ago (Nikon D5000) and haven't really invested the time to really learn how to use it, but with the BLIZZARD of 13 I thought is was a good time to make a time lapse video. So here is my back yard from 12pm-5pm on 2/8/13.