Lawn Care

We have always lived in small urban settings but in the past ten years spent four years living first semi-rural followed by four years living rural before moving back into a small urban setting.  Even though our property is not in an urban subdivision it backs on to a very small tract of farm land.  It is surprising what a difference there is in lawn care in subdivisions!  Don't get me wrong as lawn care is part of rural living as well.  The amount of lawn to maintain is considerably larger than subdivision lawns.  However, the lawn maintenance companies likely don't make much off of rural properties.  We never worried about a few dandelions in the lawn that was simply cut when needed with a mulching lawnmower.  

Subdivisions are characterized by their pristine green carpets of grass.  These lawns are chemically dependent and will actually go through withdrawl if you don't keep dousing the chemicals on it.  Not only that, folks in subdivisions have a few weird ideas about lawn care.  Quite often lawns are watered on a schedule whether or not they need it.  The same holds true for cutting the lawn which is usually cut too short.  We have had an abundance of torrential downpours meaning there has been no real need to water the lawn yet some of our neighbours have their sprinklers going like clock work even when it is raining!  I honestly forgot how silly folks can be.  Honestly, a few days ago we had an all day rain with a couple of bouts of heavy down pour.  The same was predicted for the following day.  We woke to rain then it stopped. Our neighbour was out cutting his grass about 15 minutes later.  When he finished cutting the grass his sprinklers came on and remained on for the first half hour after it started raining again.  Really!  Talk about a complete waste of resources...

Still Here...

No I have not dropped off the face of the earth or even given up gardening.  After an abnormally cold spring and spending the month of May at our vacation home in the sunny south, we made the decision to do a bit of major work on the outside of the house.  That meant a lot of ripping out some of which is still in progress.  We are now in the progress of working on the front and side garden beds that were taken down to the bare earth.  The line locates have just been completed so we are ready to start actual construction this weekend.

Our house is in an urban subdivision.  There is a small piece of land behind our road that is owned by the municipality.  It is slated for subdivision development but is currently being farmed so we have farmland behind our property.  It really isn't much as we could easily walk from the back of our property to the edge of the houses on the other side of the field in 5 minutes or less.  On the far edge just before the houses are the railroad tracks so even with development which at this point looks rather unlikely, so there would always be a strip of land conducive to wildlife.  In all likelihood, if this land were ever developed, the larger portion of it to the west would have housing but the portion right behind us and our neighbours to the east would likely be turned into parkland as it is too narrow for housing plus access. 
 

At any rate, this farmland brings a few wild critters with it.  About a week ago we noticed a rather large piece of snake skin while cutting the grass.  This morning my husband spotted a large garter snake directly in front of our road facing, lower level window.  His movement scared the snake which retreated into the space between the siding trim and the front step.  We were not impressed!  A quick  online search revealed that moth balls repel snakes so he bought two boxes and we tossed them around the foundation as a temporary measure.  I don't like using moth balls because they are toxic and generally are only effective as a short term measure.  We are laying the weed barrier and rock in that area on Saturday so hopefully the snake will move along before then.

I called our pest control service who had dealt with our rodent problem.  Rodents will always be a problem on our property due to the field but we have taken all the necessary steps to prevent them from getting indoors.  Our recent work outdoors has disturbed pretty much most of our property and it is only going to get worse over the next few weeks with the construction.  That means any wildlife habitat in our yard is going to be disturbed so we will be seeing a few more critters.  According to our pest control service most snakes in Ontario are protected so you can't harm or kill them.  He said the moth balls and ammonia, another popular repellant won't work.  He said to just wait until the snake comes out then caulk where it went up into the siding.  Garter snakes are fairly harmless, non-aggressive snakes that may bite if provoked but in all reality, this snake will really help keep rodents in check.  I just don't want him making his home behind our siding or worse getting into our home.

I found a good site with advice on getting rid of garter snakes.  Under the remove what they like, we basically have been doing that as far as the thick growth and tall grass.  We don't have any bird feeders, wood piles or ground level water.  The small east garden bed is volunteer poppies while the rest (front and west side) has been leveled to the bare ground and will be covered with rock this weekend with likely no plantings until fall if then.  Along the back fence became a bit over grown the past couple of weeks so we cleared most of that this morning.  The entire backyard when finished will be decking and pool with the exception of the raised beds for herbs and vegetables.  Those beds will take up a total of about 10' x 20' and consist of the beds with rock paths.  As a raised bed garden goes this will end up being one of my smallest gardens yet.  I do have big plans for container gardening on the decks and have already started along those lines.  In short, upon completion the entire property will not be very attractive to the rabbits and snakes.