LESLIE: John in New Jersey’s looking for that green lawn that’ll give the neighbors envy. What can we do for you?
JOHN: I use a weed n’ feed about three times a year and then, in between, what I do with the weed, I use a gun. I have a … I get clover popping up, you know, quite a bit. And I use a gun. Is that OK to do … go that way or is it better to do the whole lawn?
TOM: You use a gun? (laughing)
JOHN: Yeah, a spray gun. You know.
TOM: (laughter) Oh, a spray gun. Well, you had … I know you’re from New Jersey. You had me worried a little bit. (laughing)
JOHN: No. (laughing) No, not at all. (laughing)
TOM: Well, John, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what you need to do without doing a simple test first and that is a soil test. But the good news is that the county extension service in your part of the country actually will do these tests. You basically go down to the county; you get the test; you collect soil; you send it away. And they’ll be able to tell you what the components of the soil are and exactly what type of fertilizer and what kind of other soil treatments you need to make sure that it’s performing properly.
LESLIE: And then, John, if you’re going to spot treat with your … with your spray gun for any type of weeds that you have in the yard and you’re worried about overspray, take a two-liter bottle of soda – of course, an empty one – cut it in half and take it so that the pouring spout end, place that over the weed and then you can spray into the soda bottle with whatever sort of weed killer you’re using and you don’t have to worry about it getting on any of the other lawn or any of the other plants in the area.
TOM: And we love that tip and we’ve learned it because we typically overspray and kill patches of grass that we’d rather not. (chuckling) So, do as we say; not as we do.
John, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply