Fun Question for the Week: May 31, 2018

“Neil, why is my lawn so spotted? What can I do to make it look better?”

When Frank B. showed me this photo and asked his two questions, I asked him two of my own in return:

“Do you have a dog, and if so, is it a female?”

He reported back that he did and she is.

I suggested that he use an all-nitrogen fertilizer to even things out. I don’t recall for sure, but I may even have suggested that he use (one time only!) ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) for fast-release nitrogen to give it a kick-start. I would have noted that you don’t want to use ammonium sulfate more than once for fear that it might lead to an accumulation of thatch. But that takes us off course.

Frank shared a second photo with me several days ago, just a few weeks after the first one. It shows the dramatic turnaround his 10-month-old lawn has made since the feeding.

And there in the middle of the lawn is their princess dog Molly. Frank asked how I knew their dog was a female. I explained that male dogs seek vertical targets for their potty breaks, while the girls are far more random.

 

To some I may look like a genius on dog bathroom behavior, but in reality I’ve just been around the block a few thousand times, and I’ve learned to pick up on the odd but valuable clues.

So I’m not trying to toot my own horn. It’s just fun when you can surprise someone with your answer. I hope you enjoyed the discussion.

Well done, Frank. Molly was trying to show you the way! Your lawn was hungry.