# Neville Parks' Whitby Lawn Journal



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Hi All,

My name is Geoff, I was recommended by @Chuuurles to join the forum as our text convo could be considered a journal it's self, lol.

I know very little about lawn care, but I know a little more than I did in April of this year when I really started my lawn journey as my wife, daughter and I are enjoying our first family home 🏡

I hope you stick around as the impatient will be rewarded as I have some pretty fun progress to Share thus far… with a lifetime of progress to be made still.

In upcoming posts I plan to:
1) give run down of my (2) lawns
2)lay out my progress via timeline from April to now
3) highlight some equipment, chemicals or other lawn stuff that stuck out to me as I grow and learn

Thank you and appreciate the help in advance!

Teaser w tons of improvement to go:


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

My Front and Back Lawns - Sizes and Layouts

This is my current journal ... the back of the garage door :lol:


*Note: the red pen denotes a hard scape reno and lawn size change.

The Front - 490sqft total over (4) zones:
South side run - 165sqft rectangle w grass boarder to neighbour
South street tree - 15sqft square
Front run - 100sqft facing street
Front Lawn - 210sqft

It ain't much but its mine 

The Back - 460sqft as a large rectangle w angular addition

It used to be 350sqft but 110sqft were added.
This is the result of a hardscape change and tidy up i did in addition to a sod reno.

Teaser: the added 110sqft of lawn

Before


After


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

The Grass Types

Front has been a mess (you'll see when I start w the journal). I have put down a mix of Scott's Thick n Quick, Which contains KBG, TTTF and PR. And, some broadleaf, other grassy weeds, etc

The front near the shade side:


The back is kinda awesome, spoiler alert, I bought turf. So it's 100% KBG from GHG sod farm, their "Ultimate Sports Turf". After some sleuthing for seed, I might believe their is a strong presence from Barenbrug's Award, NuGlade and/or Beyond KBG mix in that sod.




*note: this is kept high rn as in rotary mowing currently, you'll also notice the cut is ok, but still tearing the blades.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

April 6th, 2021 - It starts

This was the day I felt inspired, a sense of new, that Spring feeling to tidy up and prep for the warmer weather.

And this is what I focused on:





Dr google said "you should aerate" so I bought a Fiskers duel core aerator and went to town.







I confirmed my soil is very heavy clay based with aggregate of construction materials gone-by.

To improve it I wanted to add some fert and top dressing.

So of course, the left over fall fertilizer went down…😂 (For sure I weighed it out and didn't guess the spreader setting either)



Followed by a yard of pre-screened, pre mixed 60:40 Compost:Sand Top Dressing









By this point I was exhausted and proud, felt like making things dirty was my way of tidying up for spring.

Tomorrow we tackle the back


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Welcome to the forum. Nice to see a Whitby lawn. My good ole home town!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Stuofsci02 said:


> Welcome to the forum. Nice to see a Whitby lawn. My good ole home town!


Hey thanks for the welcome! 
We moved from Upper Beaches' to here and love it


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Rewind - March 28, 2021

The overgrown bushes from the previous owners weren't salvageable except for (1) I cut back like **** Strawbridge did in Escape the Chateau (it's tucked to the side of the porch)

So really _these_ were my first steps:









Looking at the pile of years past, I couldn't help but be self aware to my new neighbours watching me fall these bushes w my trusty 18v sawzall and drawing a comparison to Clark from Christmas Vacation 😂 … or maybe Frank from Old School


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

April 7th / 8th - It Starts … in the back

Same process, aerate, laughably toss down some fert, invent a new way to move dirt and spread the 60:40 top dressing about

… new way to move dirt(?)

Ahh yes, thank you covid, no purchasing of a wheel barrow so to relocate the second full yard of top dressing from the front of the house to the back, I did what any logical, Canadian, man stuck in this position would do… I forced it.

Drilling (2) holes in a left over 115L Roughneck bin, I threaded a 5m piece of paracord, tied a loop and proceeded to push/drag this thing like a Barbarian.

(15) shovels each pass would fill the bin iirc


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

April 15th, 2021 - Seeds n Dalhias

Variety is the spice of life eh?



I proceeded to buy a plethora of big box store seed in hopes that I would find a diamond in that rough

(In fairness, I actually love the mix from the Scott's tough series…it's barefoot walkability / feel is awesome)

I didn't take photos of me seeding, but this time I did take out my scale and weigh the seed and set spreader properly. What I learned was the anxiety from not knowing what I did (or didn't do) with the fertilizer app before really made me get serious with application rates.

I sowed between 4-5lbs / 1000sqft on a light wind day with pretty good spreader control.

My method in my madness was:
- CIL shade mix for side of house (Chewings & Red Fescue, PR and IR)
- Scott's Tough for down at the street and by the driveway (TF, KBG & FF)
- Scott's thick n quick sun mix for the primary lawn (says "Bluegrass mix)
- save the random overseed for down the line

Keep in mind my goal was "green" and "walkability" I have no idea if these blends will play nice together or not, but I sent it anyways

Looking back, I would have gone heavier with the rate upwards of 5-6lbs.

Around this time @Chuuurles and I had been talking a lot about Dalhias.

I ordered a bunch from a local farm near Hamilton ON.


This is the one I'm most hoping blooms


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

April 24th, 2021 - baby hairs

TBH after I seeded, we got some crazy cold pressure esp at night, mixed with some heavy deluge rains, I thought it was a lost cause.

But, I kept up with my program:

Morning and eve watering by hand w a spray wand, no measuring, just trying to soak but not wash away seed.

And stair blankly for 10's of minutes at a time pondering what may become of this tortured land we are attempting to transform into a lush, green carpet while your wife texts you photos of yourself from inside the house looking like a real life scarecrow :lol:

But for now, we accept baby hairs!

9days confirmed germination.
Yus!


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Yesss, nice to see you on here @Neville Park so great to have everything in one place!

I guess at this rate we are going to be up to present day pretty soon 😛


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Thanks for all the consulting and advice @Chuuurles and really is nice to have it all here.

Working on it! So much to try and condense


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 1st/3rd - the RC car arrives

Quick lawn update:





Not much to say … it's a mess, but it's growing!

My only observation is the area where I took out a large cedar shrub seemed to grow and mature a lot quicker. I suspect it's the loosened / tilled fresh soil from stump removal.

Along with the clear lack of weed pressure from the previously protected area.

Now, the fun part!

Behold, the new and improved "2021 Turbo Hopper 16"







I know what you are thinking…

Yes - it works off my existing 18v Ryobi eco system.
Yep - it takes 2ah even w the 18v pack to cut my almost 1000sqft
Yeh - it comes w grass catcher
Nah - it's not a whipper, it has a metal blade
Of course - it's the best darn 13" battery rotary mower for the price you can run.

At this point I had yet to try it, but for some reason initial impressions made me bullish on the purchase.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 6th - Stump n Garden prep

I had neglected cutting out the stumps from before.
So back out comes the sawzall and sent it



We transplanted a beautiful lime green magnolia my mother in law gifted us as well.







Some small grow happening here too



The skeleton of a bush to the side of the porch is all that remains. My wife, neighbour's and the school yard kids all tell me "it's ugly, chop it too" … I'm refusing, really relying on my assumption that it will bounce back.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 10, 2021 - shoulda listened

At this point, I'm realizing I should have heeded the advice to simply kill the weeds.

I didn't have Tenacity when I seeded to use as a sowing pre-emergent and I couldn't use traditional stuff and prevent germination… again because I forced it, 😂

So, I logically took out all dandelion by hand…



The remaining is on my neighbours side and did not want to impose



For contrast





New growth is doing ok, again we had some cold and heavy rain, but the kids n dogs seemed to stay off of it.

I knew at this point, I wanted to do a second round of seeding


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 14th, 2021 - seed n soil

Another half yard of 60:40 top dressing.
I've been very impressed with the predictable compaction as it ages in situ.

Sent it with another round of 3lb/1000sqft of Scott's sunny KBG mixed

My life is hand watering now… I feel like such a dad out there "hey mike, just watering the dirt… I mean lawn"

Also, the magnolia bloomed!









You can see I felt bad and pulled the neighbours dandelion too



Overall, I was optimistic but still really frustrated as it seemed any problem I solved a new one popped up.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 16th, 2021 - TSN Turning point

This in a nutshell this photo is when I felt validated in the hard work and that my expectations were becoming the thieves of my lawn joy



Also I put in the garden added another yard of, this time, black mulch and built a new front step!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 17th, 2021

Really loving the look of the Scott's tough mix, showcased here near the driveway

I think it's the bunches of FF and TF that I really like

At this point nothing other then the small fertilizer amounts in the seed mix and tap water





The back… didn't take photos because it's a hot dumpster fire 


Annnnd my neighbour who kept shooting shots all spring long. He has a great lawn to admire from my porch! 


Making progress, still haven't cut the front yet
Soon!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 19th - the domination line starts

It's finally time to cut the lawn… well maybe more of a "touch up the areas that aren't bald" type of mow

Around this time I started to invest time in the back too, thinking about how to make the space usable.





It was such a treat powering up this tiny toy of a lawn mower and watch it do an admirable job… albeit is tiny 13" passes 😂

Now onto the back; where, I'm still not sure what cause they big clumps of grass between big bomb holes of dirt(?) grubs, dog pee, it's weeds not grass…

But we mowed it!





Again, I was thrilled at this point… it's green, less weeds and seemed to be going the right direction, cool.

Also the Azalea started to give a great show around this time


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 20th, 2021 - grub killa n sprayer

I sent a vid to @Chuuurles questioning the spots in the back, we landed on grubs (bad Japanese beetles last year said neighbours)

So I weighed out some grub ex and sent it



Additionally, we found out that our Tenacity came in… bad decisions were about to be compounded with the purchase of…. You guessed it! Ryobi 18v 1gal folder sprayer!



The Tenacity disaster is for forthcoming… 😏


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 21, 2021 - front lawn update

This is where I was deep in a groove - watering, weeding, overseeing problem spots, levelling w top dressing… just babysitting and …. Forcing the lawn along



You can see that great growth where the bush was…

Also the insane weed pressure, wait! YouTube says they have a solution for that….Tenacity, let's goooo


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 21st, 2021 - Man, you are one pathetic loser, no offence 😆

Alright, with the momentum of some growth on the lawn coupled with my new found YT rabbit hole, again I did what I should not have done…forced it

This time with Tenacity. See what I have learned is YT will say it's a cure all, they often minimize the fine print: Will 100% bleach your lawn / use mostly as a pre emergent…


This is about 3days in, I was impressed at the selective bleaching of some broadleaf weeds



🤣 … those aren't mowing stripes.

Now, I did practice with the sprayer a bunch, water on the concrete style and even did a trial run walking the whole yard. Steep learning curve.



I did a 1gal mixture of 1/2tsp, blue dye & surfactant



The front really took a hit from the manual weeding, this is where I learned I should look into that old dandelion bar my mom gifted me for our old place

.







And here we go, despite me nuking the new growth, I was still pushing in with my recipe of water, overseed and stare.

Again, I was reinforced that you need to be patient, so fine let's give it a bit


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

May 30th, 2021 - why won't you dieee!

Weeds were bleaching, but not dying. Faced with a second app or waiting it out and learning about 2-4d, I choose the latter.

Current lawn, filling in nicely but slowly







You can see the new growth in this photo as well



I found out why my mulch was being scattered into the lawn, a group of 4 juvenile bunnies were going crazy during the day drizzle we had that day

So, what's Par3 anyways…


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 1st, 2021 - "Forrrrrre"

Remember my neighbours lawn I admire from my porch?



I saw him and worked up the courage to ask why he had no weeds on his lawn, he was a little coy and said, "yah know, the stuff the golf courses use"

I immediately snapped back, 2-4d (like I knew what I was talking about 😂)

He returned "Par3"

So of course I call up @Chuuurles and proceed to inquire.

Here is the result of the first attempt. Yah, you read that right… attempt









I think this is the correct looking knock down / spiralling



The poppies really started to pop



I cycle by this local house a few times a week and I can't help but shout out kudos under my breath every time! Well done neighbour!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 6th, 2021 - fine, you win

Alright, I'll stop, jeez, take it easy lawn.

😏

But first;



I fully appreciate the kookiness of this photo, but at this time, I'm getting traction and practicing for the real game when the time comes.

I weighed out an overseed batch
And
A half dose of this iron rich CIL spring summer 18-0-8 fert and laid it down very diligently. Watered in after.

*aside - later I read that 3:1:2 ratio of fert is good for lawn, still don't know why tho.





Fun fact, I love a regular pic axe for edging





Note the left side, I didn't topdress enough and it continues to be a problem area











That same problem area with another seed mix top up



Mowed on the left, to be mowed on the right.

The advice of regular mowing is super helpful and rewarding. Part of the reason I bought the Ryobi was for the grass catcher, and with how non-existent my lawn was, I found this to be another crucial bit of kit

Now, now I can leave the front alone for a while.

On to the back


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 8th, 2021 - the second app

Found a ton of this stuff, no idea what it's called but it's a menace

Did a second application of par3, this time no wind, very methodical and it was my 6-7th time using chemicals to spray the lawn now (I added liquid humic acid and kelp to the program around this time)

Much better results on the front in days to come






My $10 fresco begonia 😍





Started chatting about the back reno, a weather window was opening up (despite some solid advice not to reno now)

Plan and actions next


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 10th-16th, 2021 - Reno Time!

Candid FaceTime chat resulted in this concept for the backyard which includes more lawn, big build in planter and fixing the interlock retaining method.









At this point I needed to cut one of the armour stones to make it fit







Next step - sow or sod?

@Chuuurles showed me Green Horizons Ultimate sports turf, so in a matter of a 15min phone call I decided to cut out the back lawn…. That day

I tried to rent a sod cutter, but no avail. 
Did it all by hand w a pick axe.









At this point I knew I had to get the yard of top dressing in the truck or I might run out of time before they close

And at this point I had confirmed w GHG I would arrive the next morning to pick up my 500sqft of fresh cut turf!

Ran to grab another yard of the 60:40 top dressing and started spreading, leveling, tilling and weeding.




Went hard with a screening board, rake and my gloves hands to get to somewhat flat.

Not slope free, but flat enough to warrant the turf it would be receiving



Of course, my dogs just hadddd to do check it out, 😂. Foreshadowing maybe…

Done!

Tomorrow we wake up early and get our turf!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 16th, 2021 - judgement day

I woke up early to make the 2hr drive to the sod farm for 745am. I was jazzed.

@Chuuurles shared the sod pick up on his journal under post "field trip" go check it out!

Was super cool, I got to watch it be cut from the farm and then brought to my ram 1500 for loading


Looking back I wish I measured this, I'm not 100% sure I got the ultimate sports turf or the dwarf KBG turf… either way, it's beautiful, oh my gosh!

https://greenhorizonssod.com/uploads/spec-sheets/sports-turf.pdf


Round trip details, time to get to work!
19C - not bad for the time of year


Weighed out starter fert app to put down along with HA


Sprayed humic and kelp on the soil with my sprayer too. I heard Kelp is good for roots and HA may improve micro soil environment and in general be healthy for the lawn.




I worked fast and diligently with my make shift Rubbermaid moving device


Focus was straight, seams tight and turf going same direction


Oh man, it's a reality 😃

No time to waste, we need to roll it and get water on it ASAP!



😂 apparently all the log rolling contests I watched on OLN as a kid paid off.

With no sod roller rental avail, I needed to improvise.

I had a piece of 6" sch 40 galv sprinkler pipe handy and log rolled that sucker back and forth, side to side… it worked great!











I spent the rest of the day watering and testing, adjusting my solo sprinkler and timer set up and generally being in disbelief that a few short hours ago I went from terrible to elite KBG monostand.

With great power comes great responsibility…time to work out how to not kill this thing

Sheesh!


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Fun read watching your journey! Welcome to the forum!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

SodFace said:


> Fun read watching your journey! Welcome to the forum!


Hey thank yah, appreciate that! Been really fun learning with all the ups and downs.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 16th, 2021 - PM Session

P3 2nd app update: seems to be working perfectly.

This time no rain, great foiler coverage and temps were mild but sunny, weeds were growing too.


Boom. Pow. Zap!


Bottom right, at this point I'm reckless with seed…but it's been a long day and I'm trying to use it up before summer locks in as I'll get other, turf seed for fall.


Pointing to destruction, so impressive to watch.

In the foreground near the rock is my pride and joy at this point, the very well established Scott's Sunny KBG mix.


You can really see two things here:
1) how that left side near neighbour really is suffering from lack of initial top dressing
2) the almost artificial deep bluey/green from the CIL Iron+ stuff…

Like the consistent dark green with fine grasses looks great, but it's almost too much(?)

Idk, I love the natural shimmer from the back now, so maybe I'm bias 🤷‍♂️


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 19th, 2021 - Icarus grass

Ok we have a lot going on rn in the front,
Active weed control, new seed, managing the other baby grass… something had to give


You can you feel how stressed the lawn is here… the weird combo of yellow sick and artificial green pump is, odd.


We flew a little too close to the Sun up here by the street trying to give the P3 app time to dry. It was a gamble I knew I was making, but again (common theme), I forced it 🤣

Side note, look at the difference that Scott's tough vs other did right next to driveway. Wish I could identify the grass variety.


Overall, at this point I see the potential for the lawn, maybe not this season, but next year for surrrre

Next up, first cuts on the back!
Let's go lil Ryobi


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 20th, 2021 - let's go go go on a big world adventure

Alright before we get into this, let's level set expectations for first cut

Prob the cheapest battery rotary mower available is about to be used to cut a 4day old elite sports turf…by some lunatic that figures he likes lawns now

Yep - well, up until this point I have been very pleased with the 13" Ryobi. I have been able to keep it sharp by taking the curl off the blade every few cuts and with an over capacity battery (4-9ah) it has power in spades for the deck width.

But still, bro, most people use very fancy reels to cut this type of turf…


Detail of the 1.5" wide strips I used to fill in towards the interlock. Making sure the wheels wouldn't pop it right out


Yellow is Ryobi cut
Red is top of grass

Yes it rips the blade a bit but man, pretttty good (imho)


Pretty happy to see the hard prep work pay off.
Pretty flat but with a small roll to the back corner

Cool to see the mower works ok to have such a consistent cut at 1.25"


How sick is it going to be when the seams fade

Speaking of seams, twice a day I would pinch them together and really make sure they seated well butted together.

As well, I rolled it another few times in between keeping a high frequency of water down as the days started to really heat up (28-30C)

Tomorrow I get a dumb idea… haha 😑


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## JBC-1 (Apr 5, 2020)

Welcome to the forum! I've enjoyed reading through your journey so far.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 21, 2021 - that's a bold move

Not much to say, I got excited and forced it…

I took the really fresh lawn down to 1" with the Ryobi.

Thinking back, my rationale made sense "what happens if the grass un-trains it's self and I won't be able to get it low again"

Yea, turns out that's wrong and I could have scalped it way worst than I did.

Behold:


Maybe it was a touch lower 😬


The only spot that got scalped


Laying down about an 1"-2"/day at this point

It looked and felt great at 1", but was far too risky to repeat.

I think I learned to back off a bit from that, so I slowed down on the forcing more change to either the front or back lawns

What I also learned is that with both lawns on autopilot I needed to tackle a few other projects


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

JBC-1 said:


> Welcome to the forum! I've enjoyed reading through your journey so far.


Hey thanks so much! Been fun to get it out there, glad to hear your enjoying


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Neville Park said:


> June 8th, 2021 - the second app
> 
> Found a ton of this stuff, no idea what it's called but it's a menace
> 
> ...


Black medic….


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 22nd, 2021 - little drainage fix

I'll save the details but had to do a small retaining wall and French drain by the back corner low point of the lawn


Here's the finished detail.
3/4" clear held by a small PT strip of wood fastened to the retaining wall 8x8 post

(Not going to more than 3-5yr solution, ground type PT post is a ok for my purposes here)


They look so good with that KBG backdrop 😍


Removed the fence panel


Added the post with 3/4 clear below and beside it.
Used some screening for the base and fastened with landscape spikes


I added a layer of sandy-loam over the 3/4 clear, it's worked great and the turf has taken there as well as the other areas


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@Stuofsci02 amazing thank you. It's a terrible weed to try and hand pull.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 24th, 2021 - front update & a task I did not want


Seams are fading, water program has been by measurement and feel, day by day.

I continue with generally leaving things alone and allowing both lawns to grow out a bit

You may notice the deck boards are up…yah, that task? Rebuild the full 12x24' deck from the framing up, more to come.


South stretch with the same problem patch on the left. But overall nice coverage and a lack of broadleaf


Wand upgrade 😂


Enter the side yard.

Finally (KBG?) those bright green and broader leafed fellas are standing up, was fun to work in stages to mow this down from like 3"+ to 1.5"

And alas, my **** Strawbridge inspired shrub has survived, I trimmed it up and it's a nice established addition to the garden. Very happy that worked!


The front is looking awesome and fairly consistent despite the country fair of seeds I tossed down.

All of the above of pre mow photos, it was starting to baby stripe now 😭

Still sticking to my plan to let the lawns relax, let's check in with the deck.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 22nd-26th, 2021 - Son of a nutcracker

The whole reason I put the sports turf in the back was to give my almost 2yr old daughter a really satisfying and safe place to play

My deck was the complete opposite. Kinda like Minesweeper meets perpetual Home Alone scene.

So in a week after work and between calls I rebuilt the deck.

Replaced rotten joists
Re-spaced from 16" to 12"
Made a new 24' front stringer
Then frames out for picture frame decking
Tossed down some 5/4" brown PT and called it a day


Oh, so there's' ur problem 😑


Planer was MVP for the final fit and finish of the picture frame feature boards











This view was so bad before, thrilled with the progress after a very hot, long and exhausting week.

Good news tho, back to the lawns next week as we have a new problem to figure out


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

June 29th, 2021 - dogs

I have two small, male dogs.
One pees like a boy
The other like a girl

I think that's what is going on here

Figured sod was still fresh


I have a small doner spot near the back


Seemed to work







Still a battle now as more spots have developed
I have simply started training the dogs where to pee and combating with HA/Kelp solution as per YT

Other than that, the back looks great.
I'm thrilled with how well the armour stones move went.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

July 1st-ish, 2021 - lawn update

Really turned the corner this season.
I feel I have achieved my goal of "green" across the front.

I still have a ton of reno work come the late summer / fall.

But I'll take it!





Planning out the planter feature
Grass is looking great too


Cut about 1.5" here, really like the look at this height.

We are almost caught up, thank you to all the people who made it this far


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

July 4th, 2021 - dogs spots r getting worst!

Sprayed the area with HA / Kelp.
Stopped transplanting plugs as I feel like without a proper tool it hurts the perimeter roots too much and ultimately will be longer for the grass to bounce back


Mixed up a 1/4gal in the sprayer


Did just a rectangle around the patch of spots you can see here

The only other thought I had was Sod Webworm(?)


A few problem areas that I have learned can wait till fall to correct

So now I focus on…


Mods 😂🤣

1" inside 1.25" with some fender washers and #12 wire holding it together (RRR yah know).

It does weigh 15-17lbs and rolls quite well with one inside the other.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

July 9th, 2021 - Sun Joe!

Pretty sure I was a little wasted this time last week as I chatted w @Chuuurles.

Apparently iPhones auto fill and use Touch ID to order things remarkably fast.

Well it's here and I'm terrible at cutting with it 😂


Clippings from the front.
Going from maybe 2-2.25" to 1.5" with reel
Prob my fault 🤦‍♂️


Might look okish but what I see is:
- no idea how to overlap the cut and line things up
- it revealed just how spotty things are / where we can improve


HOC 1"
Double cut
Used bagger

What an absolute pleasure if not weird as the two wheel thing takes some finesse I wasn't accustomed too


Sloppy, but we will get better



Fun machine for the price point.

Especially for a guy like me and my Ryobi 13" teammate!

Got it to cut paper across the reel, look forward to modding it with a front roller and found a vid on how to back Lap it (thank you to the creators!)


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Today 2021 - we made it!

Finally all caught up with the journal posts. Thanks to all who read along this far. Here is where we are at today.

I'm getting better with the reel mower and alternating catcher on vs off.


Finally starting to get my overlap markings on the machine and wheel marks in the lawn aligned.


Liking the larger 15" stripe over the smaller 13" Ryobi at the moment.




Cut is consistently 1.25" on the front for a few days now.
Double cuts each day.
Think it's all fairly even now.
Clippings and cut look ok size and sharp to me.


Coneflower is beautiful rn


I'm still struggling with the dog spots and am very frustrated by them.

Neighbour today said "sinch bug" might be a possibility(?) so considering ripping up that hand size section and looking.



Any suggestions on what this is and how to repair it?

Thanks everyone


----------



## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Chinch bugs? Maybe...that second last pic looks exactly like a dog spot, though.

My dog leaves spots in the back too. I thought about mulching part of my side and training him to go there but he's now mostly going in the back few feet near the back fence. That bothers mule much less.


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

SodFace said:


> Chinch bugs? Maybe...that second last pic looks exactly like a dog spot, though.
> 
> My dog leaves spots in the back too. I thought about mulching part of my side and training him to go there but he's now mostly going in the back few feet near the back fence. That bothers mule much less.


I'll have to take a look into them and see. Im about 95% sure its dogs, has to be right?

And training is actually going well using the mulched planter bed for pee's and the (3) treat method. 
Would be awesome if they went on the transplant patch by the back fence tho


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Blitz'd by OSC and happy about it

Few updates here:
- reel mowing is so fun
- my neighbours think I'm nuts
- front 1.5" and holding (I was wrong about HOC b4)
- tried 0.6" on the back… 🤦‍♂️
- OSC got me good
- organic fert on order


Trimmed the edges down into the beds to give more of a rolling look vs clean / hard edge.

Kinda digging it


This is the Scott's Sunny KBG mix w some PRG is a fairly mature state it seems. Feels great, mows well, looks awesome!

I have some clumping grass in there that sucks…


The back is a challenge.
Too much water, too many dog spots and I decided to force it again…

Look at the perimeter before I stopped. From 1" down to 0.6". We are not there yet


As @Chuuurles mentioned I went to lengths to have Ken physically confirm as a phone call and email citing the blend we wanted…looks good so far


Oh man, so happy this came so fast!


…wait a minute!!

@Stuofsci02 looks like you were right. I was told we had confirmation of a bag of the discounted stuff. Guess not.

But here is what I'm happy with, it's elite grass seed that I had shipped to my house in 2 days…as a consumer that doesn't have a big order kudos to the team at OSC Turf for supplying this niche.



Phone order to my local HH for the above

Excited to seed regardless and for the fertilizer to come in, thanks Home Hardware!


----------



## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Hmmmm.. Don't tell my wife that I was right ....
OSC was great for getting it sorted out for me. Actually I was also great for them since my neighbor bought the bag of #23 so they sold more seed.. But they got me a new bag of Award in a couple of days. Did their guy that lives in Cobourg drop it off for you?


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@Stuofsci02 tbh I was thinking of keeping it… why did you not want Blitz?

I'm trying to match GHG ultimate sports turf.

And must have been, I was in the back trying to murder my lawn at 0.6" and it had been dropped off, no tracking number 😎


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Between rain storms and conference calls…

I sent it on the front, prob gunna do the back too(?)

I figure I'll force it like everything else thus far, maybe it'll be a waste (2% of the bag)


Found this and can confirm KBG seeds are small


490sqft in the front, split the seeding rate from above.


I find being low manages the spread way better on small lawns


Mutant double cone flower


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Lawn has exploded with these fellas?

Thought it was sedge, but not a triangular stock, so thinking crabgrass…

Would this be a TZone, P3 and/or Tenacity weed?

Also, quick calc for N total on the front
24lbs of 18-0-8
Used 9.5lbs 
Therefore I have 1.71lbs of N on the front so far(?)


Feels a lot softer than established grabgrass


Pointing to the clumping fescue(?) that was here before me

Top down view of the Scott's Sunny KBG.
Dense and very nice walkability at 1.5"

Really didn't think I would be here already with the front. 👏


----------



## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Neville Park said:


> @Stuofsci02 tbh I was thinking of keeping it… why did you not want Blitz?
> 
> I'm trying to match GHG ultimate sports turf.
> 
> And must have been, I was in the back trying to murder my lawn at 0.6" and it had been dropped off, no tracking number 😎


Yeah.. The guy from OSC is a grass seed Ninja.. It just appears...

I don't know much about Blitz KBG, but I was not interested in the Jackpot. It is a Shamrock Cultivar. Nothing wrong with it in a nice sod, but not an Elite Cultivar IMO..


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Stuofsci02 said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > @Stuofsci02 tbh I was thinking of keeping it… why did you not want Blitz?
> ...


Ahhh, cool. I looked up Shamrock cultivars and it would appear some traits are desirable to me like the dense turf quality and high traffic tolerance.

… but then again this is from a guy who doesn't even know what qualifies a grass as elite 😂


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Quick update:

Lots of rain recently

I'm still trying to leave the back alone for the most part. Double cuts each day (except today), did a clean up vacuum w the Ryobi yesterday.


The back today


Also the back.

Oh, I have (3) plug styles being trialed right now for the dog pee spots, lol.

1) the yogurt cup method. Trace and cut w utility knife
2) natural tear method. Gently shake, massage and tear the sod piece trying to preserve roots/rhizomes
3) stippling…I used the aerator to make miniature plugs.

Will post results


The front is looking great albeit a lot of weed pressure.

Is it time around now to do a second app of weed control?


Our Green Jewel coneflower started blooming.

Green pedalled flowers are underrated imho


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Fresh cut today, a little mullet action if I may, rotary business in the front and a reel party in the back 🤣


2" rotary mow after a few days off


Side yard looking ok


Back w dog pee holes filled in w divot mix.

You can see the grass needs fert(?) based on the green up around the holes. Nothing down since the starter stuff when I laid the sod


I think this makes sense


1gal mixed at 60:40 sand to peat
Added (1) official small yogurt cup of seed


Approx 37g of seed


Example up close

I would add a little mix, level, tamp, fluff edges and work up grass, repeat.

More rain in the forecast, so let's see how this compliments the plugs' experiment 🔬


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Big day today!

Few things came in, my Natures Best 9-2-2 +2% Fe and my pro plugger.

Also, took advantage of the weather and hit the front w blanket P3 app. Shout out to @silvercymbal for the vid that shows how much surfactant to measure.


11lb/m gets yah 1Lb of N
Also nice build quality on the plugger!

Had to try it… 4" deep ring and pop



Taken from back near the fence line. Maybe soil is a touch moist


Boom! So satisfying


Ended up w two rounds to fit all 4.20lbs


Honestly, this is a few hours after double cut, fert and watering in.

Temps are perfect 21-24C, Sunny and the grass is looking its best yet!

Standing very tall and texture has changed, it's impressive in person the change


----------



## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> Big day today!
> 
> Few things came in, my Natures Best 9-2-2 +2% Fe and my pro plugger.
> 
> ...


@Neville Park that last shot is looking really nice ! 🤤


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

I secretly kind of like it when I have damage and get to use the proplugger. It's the second most satisfying-to-use lawn tool I own, after the reel mower of course.

Looking good!


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@Chuuurles Thanks man, appreciate the help!

@davegravy its so fun!! Stepping the plug in after install is magical.

And thank you!

One more closer up shot just 'cause 😁


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Finally tried to put some stripes down.
Double cut and double pass on the strips.
1" HOC


Dog spots are looking better and the poor boxwood is getting blasted by the dog N 😂


This is the front… thought it might be from the weed app. But on closer look 👀


Looks like lawn rust to me…

Shazbot! I guess it's just been so wet and hot, hard to prevent rn.


----------



## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

I am a sucker for double wides! Have u tried the fungus ID thread ?


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Does it leave an orange residue if you rub it on a paper towel / Kleenex? If yes it's probably rust.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@Chuuurles yea, went searching there too

@davegravy yea, seems to be the case as it def leaves residue.

People seem to say to leave it alone and wash lawn equipment after each use


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Yeah I had it one September and it was everywhere. But I didn't get any dieoff, it wasn't hurting the grass like it seems to be in your photo. Do you have any fungicides?


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Left the front for a few days after weed treatment.

Really fun to get a double cut w the trustee Ryobi after a few days of growth

Killed some baby grass near the road, but with reno season approaching I'm not upset









Training the dogs is going really well, but can't win em all… !


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Yeah I had it one September and it was everywhere. But I didn't get any dieoff, it wasn't hurting the grass like it seems to be in your photo. Do you have any fungicides?


Im not sure how bad it's stressing the grass and no fungicides, haven't dove into that rabbit hole yet

I wonder if the yellowing from weed app w rust is making it look weird?


----------



## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah I had it one September and it was everywhere. But I didn't get any dieoff, it wasn't hurting the grass like it seems to be in your photo. Do you have any fungicides?
> ...


Not sure if it's what u want but I have some spare propi


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@Chuuurles thank yah and will see what others say


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Neville Park said:


> @Chuuurles thank yah and will see what others say


Recommend this thread

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4042

Propi has good rust control. I just don't know how risky it is to not treat it. I was told not to bother so I didn't and didn't suffer any consequences. That's my only datapoint...


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > @Chuuurles thank yah and will see what others say
> ...


Awesome - appreciate the share

And yah, hard to know, I did hear that fungicide builds tolerance so you need to rotate and use sparingly?

I figure I'll give it some time and then intervene if no improvement.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Little lawn update as I get stoked on @Chuuurles reno and get the urge to start forcing things again… 😂🤣


Left the back alone after the 9-2-2 app and the 3/4lb N is really pumping through the grasses veins


Really pleased I haven't killed the KBG sod lol. Def need to fix and stain my fence tho


Mrs Triple Lee Dee came out to say hi 👋
It's like an over saturated picture irl


Really having fun w the pro plugger too!
Honestly, it's like ASMR meets package opening videos.

The Front -

Recovering OK from the rust attack and overall doing ok-ish, but being very hands off as perhaps my P3 app was a little heavy or weather too hot when applied…as I nuked my baby KBG near the road


Can you spot the "user error ring"? 🤣
I think I get lazy and cross my application passes here…


Been fun making some divot mix to get a head start on the levelling which is to come.

My thoughts are use a 80:20 sandeat mix in the low spots now, get some seeds germinated and baby root structure to hold in place so I can do a blanket sand level in the near future.

You can see the broadleaf destruction, the burnt grass and overall struggle on the front in some spots.


@Stuofsci02 I feel like you would like this, @Chuuurles and I were deep in his reno, I tried to show my thoughts of how to get most flow (blue) from the grass fall line into the flattest section as evenly as possible.

Was really fun convo and can't wait to see his progress

And finally shoutout to @g-man for the Fall N Blitz sticky… omgosh, I am so stoked to pump pump pump!


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Gave the back a much needed trim… manscape perhaps 🤔

(2) rotary mows to knock down from 1.75-2" to 1.25"
(1) reel at 1.25"
(2) reel at 1"

No stripes, looking for cut coverage

She's really popping and looks so established and getting that beautiful silver sheen


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Big weekend!

After taking the back down from 2" or so to 1" it was looking stellar.

So I mowed it down to 0.6"
Dethatched w a plastic rake
Levelled w sand

First the front is recovering ok


I need to do one less pass of the left as that's def my neighbours


Not terrible, not great. Big patch of grab grass. Prepping for levelling / fall soon

Now onto the back


This is halfway through my 3rd cut at 0.6".
I did 2 cuts, then used a plastic rake to dethatch lightly/fluff the newish sod.
Left is to be cut still after fluffing
Look at all that grass and debris!


Fully cut 0.6"
Not looking amazing, but with fall blitz coming I'm bullish on the foundation.


Dump cart is life changing
This is 0.5yard of mixed concrete and play sand


Built a 5ft 8x8 drag.
Was like flying a kite 🪁


Lots of passes with the drag
Not a bad learning curve to operate it quite well


Finished brushing in the sand and it started to rain 🌧 …perfect!


Woke up to this! 
Thank you Mother Nature


Re levelled some of the sunken areas and fluffed some more blades up


The sand had some 1/4" beach pebbles that floated to the top, so I used a plastic rake to flick them off and do a farmers pass to finish.

Next onto the front for some pre work before it's levelling project 😁


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Pebbles getting lost in the growth. I'm ok w this


Insane the top growth, been 3 days and very happy with the blades pushing so hard


Another dahlia showed up this week


Hit the front with some HA and Kelp this eve


Hoping this is stop the intense baby grass die off happening…

Live and learn, don't use weed control when it's warm out 🤣


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Five days post sand.

Needs a mow, gunna wait a week. 
Thinking of rolling it again tomorrow too.

Recovery going ok in the dog spots, really think prevention is only way.


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

22 days since last post:

I stopped w the inputs…and a few lessons learned:

1) stick w regular water and mowing no matter what
2) less it really more w lawns
3) did I mention less is more!?

Here is the back, 1" HOC w 0.75lb Organic N from 5 weeks ago. Dog spots finally going away. The sanding realllly helped w flatness albeit slope still there.







I absolutely NUKED a lot of the front … lesson learned; don't try to spray for broadleaf during summer ("you really are one pathetic loser" - Lloyd Christmas)





You can see what I thought was dormant but it was actually residual burning from the P3 app… was hoping to do Prodimine and N blitz on front, but neeeed to overseed

So, if we seeding we need water right? 😈


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Oh - my budget constrained (9) head site plan for just shy of 1k sqft

Fire protection sprinkler design is the same as irrigation sprinkler design, right?


Man do heads add up quick.
I'm at $57.78/head installed w my labour.

Thanks @Chuuurles for planting the MP rotator seed and chatting this thru.


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

MP rotators are a good choice but in my experience:


keep replacement heads in stock. They periodically get stuck (stop rotating) and no amount of washing /cleaning will unstick them. It's a mystery to me why this happens but they're not crazy expensive to swap out
know they don't hit their advertised range so I would plan spacing to be 20 or 30 percent closer than the max advertised range so you actually achieve head to head coverage.


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> MP rotators are a good choice but in my experience:
> 
> 
> keep replacement heads in stock. They periodically get stuck (stop rotating) and no amount of washing /cleaning will unstick them. It's a mystery to me why this happens but they're not crazy expensive to swap out
> know they don't hit their advertised range so I would plan spacing to be 20 or 30 percent closer than the max advertised range so you actually achieve head to head coverage.


Thank you!

1) interesting, will be fun to tinker when one fails.
2) good! I designed erroring on longer spray pattern as Hunter says u can tune down 20% per head too

Might send it and bury the rear ones… we'll see


----------



## lbb091919 (Apr 26, 2020)

Totally agree with @davegravy. I've had some get mysteriously stuck and also little particles get stuck in the veins effecting the spray pattern. They are great heads but definitely delicate.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

lbb091919 said:


> Totally agree with @davegravy. I've had some get mysteriously stuck and also little particles get stuck in the veins effecting the spray pattern. They are great heads but definitely delicate.


...so excitedly dropping a built up unit on the interlock is a bad thing eh? :lol: ughh

and thanks for the user feedback fellas, appreciate it.
You guys are pushing me to order the (3) additional head/body combos to flesh out coverage and then get some spares while at it, TY!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

So I have mostly finished my above ground irrigation!

- Utilized (2) hose bib locations: garage and rear deck
- Garage zone has (2) heads and single reused Toro timer
- Rear Deck has single B Hyve timer running two zones: back yard and front yard main
- Back yard has (3) MP2000 90-210s
- Main front has (4) heads

I used all 5/8" ID brass fittings, clearance garden hoses and more t tape then my days as an installation apprentice!


Garage zone w (1) LCS515 and (1) SS530

Watching these heads in particular are intoxicating…the infinity pattern mixed with the changing radius is nerdy and cool AF


The front leveraged some (2) MP2000s, (1) RCS515 and (1) SS530.

Yes, not true head to head coverage, but honestly the spray pattern discharge covers 95% of what I need it to.

Going to bury the hoses running in the garden


Detail shot of the front SS530.

Edit - the one SUPER annoying thing, the spikes had 3/4" NPT female inlet and a 3/4" GHT male outlet, so my inlets all need new fittings. And yes, I cross threaded em a bit to make it work…surprisingly little leaks 😂


Moving onto the back, (3) MP2000s installed.
I originally was going to add a tee and put (1) head at the apex of the interlock. I ended up excluding the tee and continuing the third head down to the chain link.

As you can see on the interlock, coverage is 👌


I have to clean this up, but it was 1030 last night and I wanted to test it.

Routed the wifi timer to the north side of the house for protection.


Orbit BHyve wifi timer's application has blown me away.

One of the best IoT set up wizards out there. Then the very friendly interface allows you the core features for great customization:

1) GPS / Wunderground rain syncing (let's see…)
2) (3) schedule programs w infinite inputs (regular, seeding, etc)
3) built in pitot and live LPM info…(this is cool for planning, data mining/troubleshooting, confirmation of amounts put down)

Alas, I watched the program work this AM and it confirmed my flow, head adjustment, pressure loss all jives! Yay!

To anyone nervous to start this: it's just lines and circles. Easy!


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Beautiful, crisp, clear, cool morning!
The calm before the fall lawn storm


Lawn pre cut - 2.25"

Left the lawn to grow out a bit. I know the "rule" for short lawns is to consistently mow at your desired HOC, but I've found that letting it grow out a bit 1xmth really helps with consistent coverage


Lawn post cut - 1.1"

Lawn got to just over 2", so cut with Ryobi at 2" then double pass w SunJoe down to 1.1"…yah yah, 1/3 rule but w the cooler nights and auto irrigation, she's poppin' these days 🤷‍♂️


Close up of the pre cut grass. Beautiful boat shaped tips, very strong ridge spine and consistent deep colour.


*note: measures the real HOC and marked on the Ryobi (green part) really whacky increments but makes sense that a swing adjustment would be exponential not linear graph.

With the irrigation working a treat it's time to focus on getting the front in order. I plan to thin, level and overseed.

Very different from the back, which I plan to Prodiamine and N blitz.

Can't wait 😝


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

So - I welcomed fall by diving into a overseed on the front.

Big day, started at 945am finished 910pm

My schedule:

- Take plugs to check thatch
- Cut progressively shorter from 2" to approx 1"
- dethatch (if needed)
- aerate (if needed)
- collect plugs
- top dress w 60:40 mix from Hardco
- rake
- seed w PRG
- rake
- roll
- peat moss
- water

So let's dive in!


I used the pro plugger to grab a cross section of samples prior to starting.

Don't have a soil prob and using my manual aerator produces ok cores, sometimes 🤣


This is typical of the Scott's Sunny KBG mix that I hammered the lawn with since may.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting to dethatch this fall based on how thin the lawn was, turns out I was wrong.


I cut everything multiple times:
Ryobi 1.5"
Ryobi 1.25"
SunJoe 1.1"
SunJoe 1.1"

Also trenched the sidewalk edges w the pick side of a pick axe ⛏


The side surprised me at this height…it looked good! Albeit the remnants of summer stress are evident


Grass view of the 1.1" cut on the side.

I was realllllly stoked at this point thinking ahead to after all this hard work.


Tried my hand at manual dethatching…didn't get very far before calling it


Canadian Tire w the clearance sales always come through! Wanted to hate this and return it, but of all the cheap plastic lawn tools I've used, this is the king 👑


Hammered the side strip first, gosh it's so satisfying (close to the pro plugger satisfaction levels)


Little crew of tools getting work done!

Power rake then power vacuum.


First of (2) trips to Hardco.

Was hoping 1/2yard and (5) additive bags of sand would do… nope!


Spreading by shovel / cart

Built another drag to move the initial piles, but unlike pure sand you don't get the same control to thin it out properly.


The hell strip near the road is just a nightmare, it's also where I over-sprayed P3 on the baby grass. Whoops 😬


The side really is my pride and joy.

I've overseeded and watered there constantly and more consistently due to the proximity to the garage and it shows.

I worked the top dressing in by hand and with a stiff brush. I can't wait to reel mow this b!tch 😏

At this time it was 524pm, daycare pick up is 530.

So I jumped in the pool, ram to day care and admired how sore my back was with still so much more to do after baby bed time 🥱

To be continued…


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Part deux - Seeding and Finishing

I made a badass dinner of bacon 🥓 sammies, fries 🍟 and broccoli 🥦. Put my sweet little terrible two year old angel to bed and re-dressed in my sweaty cloths that dried crisp on the deck. 🤢

Before I got seeding, I mixed up 0.25tsp of Tenacity and did a blanket app.


With only a small hand held spreader and large PRG seeds I weigh out (2) rounds of 1.5lbs to overseed the approx 500sqft.

I find Cornell University has a resource called "safesportsfields" that seems to always have the info I need.

I referenced their "agressive overseeding" and took the low end of the suggested 6-10LB/k.


This is the dog damage areas right next to the side walk.

Don't want to be that neighbour, but might need to put up a strong fence till established.


Showing the seed coverage as it gets dark.

I raked this in with a gentle farmers pass using my plastic hand rake.


I then took my trusty 6" sch 40 galv pipe and log rolled the whole lawn twice, perpendicular to each other.


Really started to get dark, so I put on my MTB helmet w torch light attached… lol to my neighbours watching me 🤣

Started spreading peat moss by hand


Checking peat coverage with the headlamp after almost 12hrs of work…


It was finally time to put my sweet new MP Rotators to work, grab a tall boy and play some retro games on the porch (Anbernic RG351v is an insane device for anyone over 30yrs old)

This was by far one of the most satisfying inputs I've done on the lawn to date.

I am more than ever looking forward to see how the predominantly KBG mixes w the 100% PRG overseed, in shocked at how well the lawn looked at 1" HOC and with the irrigation set up I don't have to hand water.

Even if it all fails, the substrate is better than it was which is still progress.

Thanks for reading 📖

Geoff


----------



## lbb091919 (Apr 26, 2020)

Looks like you had a very productive day. Are you really a lawn nerd if you haven't broken out the spotlights/head lamps to finish you project?!?

Also, I've never seen anyone use a pipe like that as a roller but it looks like it worked out!


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

lbb091919 said:


> Looks like you had a very productive day. Are you really a lawn nerd if you haven't broken out the spotlights/head lamps to finish you project?!?
> 
> Also, I've never seen anyone use a pipe like that as a roller but it looks like it worked out!


Haha was a first for me but def not that last. The time just kept slipping away.

Honestly, it works super well but I don't see it catching on as you need to be part circus performer to work the thing. :lol:


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Neville Park said:


> lbb091919 said:
> 
> 
> > Looks like you had a very productive day. Are you really a lawn nerd if you haven't broken out the spotlights/head lamps to finish you project?!?
> ...


Obligatory


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > lbb091919 said:
> ...


🤣 exactly!

@davegravy gets it


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Woke up this morning to check my B Hyve timer set up was doing it thing

Cool cool cool, perfecting timing for services to be marked… 😂🤷‍♂️



So what you're saying is Reno fall 2022??

Guess I'll find out in a week or so


----------



## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Damn... Maybe an opportunity to bury that above ground system while they have your lawn all dug up?


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Damn... Maybe an opportunity to bury that above ground system while they have your lawn all dug up?


You sir are 1000% correct, proof of concept is complete, meaning: static and residual flow numbers are good for pipe and heads count, coverage needs 5% tweaking and overall system performance is good. All things I wanted to confirm before digging it in


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

So this is cool, KBG seeded in the dog spots are poppin'.

Jackpot
Nuglade
Blitz

So I guess we gunna see if it matches the GHG KBG mixed sod.



Lawn needs a cut too


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Snuck a quick 1.25" Ryobi rotary cut in before dark.


----------



## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

It Starts 🤠

490sqft
1.2lbs of 21-0-0
0.5lb N effective
weekly

Huge thank you to @Chuuurles for the pop by and drop off today!


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> It Starts 🤠
> 
> 490sqft
> 1.2lbs of 21-0-0
> ...


Nice you didn't mess up the lingo like me! The overseed looks great and KBG in the back looks so good irl.


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

Chuuurles said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > It Starts 🤠
> ...


Beautifully done (both the application and breakdown :lol! I dropped 21-0-0 today myself using the same spreader. Rained all day here so it was about the only thing I could do.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > It Starts 🤠
> ...


Heck yes - appreciate the extra set of eyes looking everything over and I'm happy you got to experience the joy of pro plugging :lol:


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

jskierko said:


> Chuuurles said:
> 
> 
> > Neville Park said:
> ...


haha I have to admit I was sweating a bit writing that.

Hey thanks @jskierko for stopping by, love the little spreader and happy to go with 21-0-0 vs something hotter as I would be trying to spread micro amounts of product...But you have 18k .. isnt that close to 50lbs to spread w the little hand guy? :shock:

Rain for us too, so i watered in 1/4" w irrigation then rain started


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

I've got a reno happening on 7k in the back, so only 11k total right now. My sections in the front are 4.5k and 3.5k, then 3k in the back and I dropped 1 lb of product per k. I've found that the spreader can hold about 5 lbs of product comfortably, so with such a small amount it's easier to use the handheld spreader and break it up by section. It also avoids the tire tracks of the broadcast spreader.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

@jskierko thats awesome and I bet feels very connected to the process. Makes sense to tackles the blocks like that, smart!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

5 days since big overseeding and topdress

I'm telling yah, the stupid Scott's Sunny KBG slaps for what it is. Responded very well to being mowed short. Has beautiful silver shimmer in the right light. (I know, lol, I'm an idiot, but still, she bad)

Everything coming in well, all summer stress is long but a forgotten memory from what I can tell.

Will be cool to see how the PRG mixes in (takes over?)


Inconsistent, consistent germination starting. 
Weather is perfect.

Not sure when to establish a germination date(?) but plan to call it when 80% of area overseeded shows life.

Would you and when would you use starter fert?
Or
Wait and blitz it w N due to time of year?


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Guess I'll call this Day 1
1 DAG

D'ya like dags?


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Which seed is this? Is this this the one you split with @Chuuurles from OSC? Congrats on the seedlings..


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Stuofsci02 said:


> Which seed is this? Is this this the one you split with @Chuuurles from OSC? Congrats on the seedlings..


The above is the champion GQ PRG that @Chuuurles bought. I'm using it to blend in w the Scott's Sunny KBG.

Below I also have the OSC mixed KBG going hard in the dog spots on the backyard:


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

That champion gq germinated in 72 hours for me last year.. it is unreal..


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Remember that broom scene in Fantasia?

Well there I was hiring the power of Champion PRG to do my bidding and fill the thin spots of KBG on the front… when everything got out of control! The more you look the more PRG you see.

Guess my front is 100% PRG now 😂🤣


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

The line is from the eaves trough not the hose.


Some washout on a small slope



Got smoked late last night.
Shouldn't be that bad, but definitely some damage

Not as bad as others, but not great either 😂


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Good news bad news

At least the back is firing!
Multi cut, no stripes and even 1.1" HOC


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

PRG road grass…🤣
Prob the best patch I grew


The side that got washed out the other night is rallying.



Averaging 1.75"-2" height on the new PRG in the front.

DAG 5.

Maybe a few more days till I cut it. Brought the sun joe to the front…


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Looking great. That street grass is unreal. You should give it tier 1 inputs lol


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Looking great. That street grass is unreal. You should give it tier 1 inputs lol


Thanks man! And yah, def gunna keep it going 😂


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Cut the back yesterday eve and this am hit it with another 0.5lbs of effective N.

1.2lbs of 21-0-0 AMS


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Giving it the ol' college try

Can't stop thinking about how fun a 14" allett would be 🧐


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> Can't stop thinking about how fun a 14" allett would be 🧐


Dooo ittt


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > Can't stop thinking about how fun a 14" allett would be 🧐
> ...


 :lol: :lol:


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## Allett Canada (Oct 13, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> Giving it the ol' college try
> 
> Can't stop thinking about how fun a 14" allett would be 🧐


It would be very fun. I have Liberty 35 in stock, in Toronto, right now and you can have it next week.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Allett Canada said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > Giving it the ol' college try
> ...


That's great to know and will do some more research, thanks!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Hell strip filling in well!
Feels like the front is getting better by the hour.

1.1" HOC

Still some longer stragglers, but getting closer to a very consistent mow.

The levelling has worked great thus far but construction 🚧 is inbound… maybe they'll clean up the other com boxes while at it

Overall impressions of the KBG to PRG blend are positive. I think it will look great down about 5/8".

When would you do a second follow up Tenacity app?

First feed tomorrow 💪


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

😍💖
First feed down on the front


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Neville Park said:


> Hell strip filling in well!
> Feels like the front is getting better by the hour.
> 
> 1.1" HOC
> ...


Check the overseed and reno guide, I think it's 30 days after seed down


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Been 3days since first N feeding.
Problem spots filling in.
Could use some more divot mix in a handful of spots.

1.1" HOC
Quad passes at 90 degrees
Still some stragglers hiding


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Fresh cut & 0.5LBs of N applied
(4) apps on back 
(2) apps on front


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

*chef's kiss*

Looking good! Nice job getting that pattern down in what looks like a tight area.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

SodFace said:


> *chef's kiss*
> 
> Looking good! Nice job getting that pattern down in what looks like a tight area.


Hey thank yah!

Def takes some finesse for sure and always learn something new each attempt


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Yea Nev! Looks awesome. The KBG is loving all that N


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Yea Nev! Looks awesome. The KBG is loving all that N


Thanks man, it's really been awesome to watch


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

One month post overseed


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Great success &#128076;


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Great success 👌


Thanks @Chuuurles

Here's a better lit version


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Cut the back at 1.1" w the Ryobi…😲


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Neville Park said:


> Cut the back at 1.1" w the Ryobi…😲


That's looking sharp!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > Cut the back at 1.1" w the Ryobi…😲
> ...


Thanks man! After nearly 6months the turf is starting to look like turf! 😂


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Kay, it needs a cut, but, look at it!

This is the Scott's Sunny KBG mixed w recent Champion GQ PRG at the front.

Really impressed w the stand and lack of weeds.

Consulted @Chuuurles and going to Prodaimine the back and water in a second tenacity in front while doing a final patch level / seed again.

Took the above ground sprinklers out from the front too.

All time fall time!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Canada 🍁


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Double wide cut w SunJoe @ 1.1"
2.55g Prodiamine on back



1.1" quad cut w sunjoe 
1/4tsp Tenacity on front

Both got 0.5lb N effective
Both watered in w rain coming shortly

Feels like these are some of the last inputs for season.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Cut the front and bagged w Ryobi @ 1.5" HOC



And also made this for Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend!

🍁 🦃 🇨🇦


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

It just looks so nice, what a transformation &#128076;


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> It just looks so nice, what a transformation 👌


Appreciate the kind words and actually couldn't have got this far w/o ur help man!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Cut to 0.6" and sanded an L shape area of the back.
Worm mounds have been terrible in that area anyways.

Also hit both front and back w 0.5LBs of effective N too.



This is about 10" diameter.
Beautiful late season push


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

The Dalhias and front looking fine after a lil' blow n mow.

Might have first frost in a few days, bye bye flowers


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

Those Dahlias are gorgeous. Reno looks great. Did you end up putting tenacity (mesotrione) down again? I'm thinking of throwing in the tank tonight, but not sure if its too soon since the overseed being like 45-50 days ago. If you did, did you see any damage?


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Wile said:


> Those Dahlias are gorgeous. Reno looks great. Did you end up putting tenacity (mesotrione) down again? I'm thinking of throwing in the tank tonight, but not sure if its too soon since the overseed being like 45-50 days ago. If you did, did you see any damage?


Hey @Wile thanks a bunch for the kind words!

Yep! I did a second app of tenacity on the front (0.25tsp/500sqft) and watered it in.

Zero damage on the new PRG, has kept broadleaf stuff away and really knocked down my grassy weeds, but not gone.

I have now come full circle to loving tenacity again, when used appropriately 😂


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

I know what you mean. It's not the most effective, but it sure is useful. I think I'll spray it it next week then. That's super helpful!


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

Wile said:


> I know what you mean. It's not the most effective, but it sure is useful. I think I'll spray it it next week then. That's super helpful!


I think end of October is a bit late for tenacity in your area. I wouldn't want bleaching as top growth slows/stops for the season. If you are looking to get pre emergent control then I'd do prodiamine next week.


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Wile said:
> 
> 
> > I know what you mean. It's not the most effective, but it sure is useful. I think I'll spray it it next week then. That's super helpful!
> ...


That's a good point and I was planning to water in immediately without surfactant. I'm not sure if I will need to seed a couple spots in the spring. So, maybe I just hold off until spring to see what shakes out. Thanks!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Appreciate the balance to the convo @SNOWBOB11! As we know, I force everything… lol

@Wile i can only provide my anecdotal finds below, fwiw.

As for bleaching, I didn't use surfactant and watered in immediately.

I found almost no bleaching on the grass, only some lime colouring on the grassy weeds in the lawn and some sweet knock down of broadleaf stuff that got over-sprayed (or wait, run off?) to neighbours side.

Take a gander below;
(Neighbour left, me right)


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

You and I are of similar minds on "forcing" everything lol. It does look good and no damage. I'm glad you added that extra info as that's what I was thinking you did too. I think @SNOWBOB11 is right about it being risky this late. Anecdotal or not its extremely helpful to see others doing certain things so we can trial and find out what works best.


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Looking at the 14 day trend, I wonder if we should wind down on N blitz ???


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Wile said:


> You and I are of similar minds on "forcing" everything lol. It does look good and no damage. I'm glad you added that extra info as that's what I was thinking you did too. I think @SNOWBOB11 is right about it being risky this late. Anecdotal or not its extremely helpful to see others doing certain things so we can trial and find out what works best.


Hope everything worked out for yah!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Chuuurles said:


> Looking at the 14 day trend, I wonder if we should wind down on N blitz ???


Yep, I def stopped. Gotta look back and see total Lbs of N for both front and back


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Nov 1 and got a post Halloween clean up mow done. Feels like we're close to last mows this season.

Gotta tally up N applied too


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

It did! Wowsers that color!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Well, not the start I wanted being sick the last month… but, alas the first cut!


Impressed with the colour and thickness overall.

Have some serious levelling / holes to fill, some work on the hell strip and some new PRG filling in the winter walking traffic by the driveway.


New PRG strip w some decent germination.

I literally threw this down in a brain fog about 10days ago(?)


The back is ok, again colour good, levelling to be done.

Seemingly winning the dog pee war thus far tho!

Flushed the hose lines and got the MP Rotators back up and running.

So happy to be back and considering the state of things this time last year, I'm pretty stoked!

Happy turf season frens!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Gave a cross cut on the back this AM.

Low spots starting to fill in.

Still one dog spot to correct w the pro plugger but w 30c temps coming, will hold off till rain cools things off.


Our provincial flower, the White Trillium (Wake Robin) is in full bloom right now, beautiful forest floor dwellers

Need to get some products down asap, feels like I've missed the window


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Wait.. 30C coming? When?


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Stuofsci02 said:


> Wait.. 30C coming? When?


Friday forecast 26C+ for me w predictions of hitting 30c midday!

Big SL high pressure sitting on the east coast fighting off the low heading north over the next few days bringing some clear skies and warm air


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Neville Park said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> > Wait.. 30C coming? When?
> ...


Cool.. I am showing 24C.. Eitherway it will be nice...


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Laid down 1lb effective N via 21-0-0 on the front and back this eve and watered in.

If I can get the whole back this thic, the barefoot soccer will be so fun w my daughter this year!


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Feild Trip! … well more like drive by and stop the greensmaster from doing his job…lol

Was getting my lunch and saw Andrew out giving this 50yr old lawn bowling pitch a nice fresh cut at 160 HOC.

He was awesome, taking the time to chat w me and indulge my lunacy for about an hour!

Walked me through his all-natural protocol to help fight off poa in the bent grass stand and some great tips for preventing disease pressure during our insane dog days of summer.

Was great to hear his thoughts on fertilizer too! Re: amounts used, ratios of NPK, when to start and when not to.

What a great impromptu learning experience.

He is the Greens Master for a notable golf course and likes to take on smaller, community driven projects outside of his day job…he even offered to let me run some shifts/equipment w him in the future.

Stoked on this interaction, thank yah Andrew


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Neville Park said:


> Feild Trip! … well more like drive by and stop the greensmaster from doing his job…lol
> 
> Was getting my lunch and saw Andrew out giving this 50yr old lawn bowling pitch a nice fresh cut at 160 HOC.
> 
> ...


Cool!

Please write about his poa strategy!

Do bowling pitches qualify for chemical use, same as golf courses?


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

davegravy said:


> Neville Park said:
> 
> 
> > Feild Trip! … well more like drive by and stop the greensmaster from doing his job…lol
> ...


So, they dont qualify for chem use ... and in fact he is saying some euro golf courses are au-natural and believes that is coming for us too in the years to come

Poa strat:
*disclaimer - this is second hand info and i'm kind of dumb*

1 - starve the turf of fert in the spring and brush the morning dew off
2 - get off the N and on the K, he does 0.1/1000 N late spring to fall and pumps the K (i forgot the rate)
3 - Mow frequently and dont water ("cook to a crisp" i think he said lol)

His thoughts were this promotes the bent grass to spread laterally crowding out the poa(?)

Showed me a few areas that have seen improvement and pointed out some areas where the bent was infact crowding out the poa into smaller and smaller circles

I wish I took notes, but will follow up when I go back thursday night for my first round of lawn bowling :lol: 
Also, I sent him the forum and hope he joins to add more colour to my coles notes above

let me know if you want me to ask him anything


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Oh and correction ... 95yr old club!
started in 1927 and the green has been maintained year over year since.


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Last nights post mow shot.

Keeping HOC a bit higher for now and loving the PRG look after some N and warmth.

Def some grassy weeds to take care of in there and could do w a 1/3yard of levelling lol


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## Neville Park (Jul 8, 2021)

Little freshen up and soaking in this heat wavvvvvveeee :bandit:


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