Bedevilled by mostly dry, humid weather conditions all summer, plants and humans basically wilted.  This year for me was particularly challenging in keeping container plants alive, and my lawn green.

Because I live right next to the lake, I am mindful of protecting our source of drinking water and keeping it safe from pollutants. Earlier in the spring I’d decided to only aerate the lawn and fertilize (phosphate-free) and to not apply any herbicides to prevent broad leaf weeds or crabgrass.

When broad patches of green clover started to appear, I reconciled myself that it was a beneficial plant for pollinators and for the soil. With a step-on weed puller, dandelions met their fate, along with some other larger weeds that appeared from time to time.  During spring the emerald grass grew lush.

All that changed over a few weeks. I decided to let nature do its thing with the lawn, and stopped watering, letting the grass go dormant.  A sad sight to say the least, for in no time the blades of grass turned brown and crunchy underfoot.

The young trees planted in the lawn over the past two years had begun to look stressed, with  leaves dropping.  A drip hose on each tree over several days helped them revive. The grass in the areas around the base of the trees began to turn green again.

Inspired by the sight of green once more, about two weeks ago I decided to start a regular re-watering regimen for the lawn to try to bring it all back, hoping it was just dormant. Or had I indeed killed it?  Sparse rainfall here and there had helped a bit.

Happily, as September begins, much of the lawn has recovered! There still remain some large patches of brown, crispy grass, spiked here and there with a few green blades — a sign of resurgence? Whereas other patches look like goners — a lawn disease perhaps? cinch bug or grub damage?  These areas I can dig out, put down some fresh lawn soil and re-seed.

But oh!  the crabgrass! Never have I seen such an abundance of this nuisance in my lawn — too much, too widespread to remove by hand.

What to do? What to do?