# Reas' Lawn Journey



## Reas (Apr 30, 2021)

Hello everyone!!!

I'm brand new here and excited I found this community! Last year my friend and I started discussing taking care of our lawns, and I'm the kinda person that's either ALL IN or not in at all. So, I started doing the deep dive last year, but I'm barely scratching the surface on what I know. Most of my time last year was spent studying soil and basics about grass types.

So, this is year two. Things look a little bit better, but I'm struggling in a couple areas and could use help.



This is from last fall:


So lets start with some problems and then I'll get to some of my plans.

It's a classic midwest lawn with random assortment of grass types, fescue, rye, and kbg. Including patches of just one kind that stick out.

Problem #1
I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but most of my soil on the hill side of sidewalk and my driveway is at least an inch above the cement, and higher in some places. I have no idea what to do about this. The only thing I can think to do is come in with a sod cutter remove my existing turf and then scrape it to level. As it stands, it's a nightmare to mow. I constantly have scalped spots because I like to keep it mowed at 1.5" which is too low for such a huge lip.

Problem #2
I don't have irrigation. Brutal. And, we're in a drought too. I hope to install one at some point. I'd love some pointers on a DIY solution as I'm pretty budget conscious... but I'm holding off on a decision due to prob #1. If I'm going to skin the yard might as well do the irrigation then. I think the grass is yellowish b/c of the lack of water.

Problem #3
The yard is bumpy as heck. I tried to throw some sand on it last fall, but I definitely didn't do enough. It was barely better in the fall, and it's back to awful this spring. Struggling to know what to do with this... don't want to put in hours of back breaking work and the money if I just have to cut the sod to make it level. Maybe I just need to roll it several times after some rains? Any ideas for finding a cheap roller? No body does that around here...

My plan:
The yard is in drastic need of overseeding. I bought some RPR and plan to overseed this weekend as we finally are projected to get a few days of rain in a row. Because of that I haven't planned for any weed control. I'm hoping a grass like RPR will spread and put pressure on weeds and I'll spot treat anything else that's popped up. I haven't ever bought anything like tenacity or anything that's not your typical big box store weed treatment spray.

Fert:
I was told based on my soil test I didn't need to apply anything this year other than N. So I got some AMS and plan to spray it as follows
April 1st - 0.5 lbs
May 1st - 2nd - .4 lbs
June 1st - .3 lbs
July 1st - .15 lbs
August 1st - .15 lbs
September 1st - .3 lbs
October 1st - .6 lbs
(rates are per thousand)

I also plan to spray kelp, fulvic, and some molasses with the AMS. Thinking about leaving out the kelp in July and August. Debating on getting some FAS, my soil seems to have plenty of iron but I don't know how much of that is actually in an available form for the grass. Thoughts? Any recommendations on a budget friendly source? I'm not sure if it needs to be chelated if I'm spraying with fulvic?

Whew, I could go on, but at the risk of no one reading it, I think I'll stop there. Looking forward to being part of this community!


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## Reas (Apr 30, 2021)

Here's a closer look at that lip. The effective height in terms of where the mower rides is 2 inches above the cement in this spot.


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## Reas (Apr 30, 2021)

It was overseeding weekend! I may have waited longer than necessary, but I tried a spring overseed last year when it warmed up in April and a late cold snap killed everything, so I wasn't in a rush. Spring overseeds are tough. That's partly why I went with all rye.

Here's what I did:

Mow: I mowed down to 1.5" and bagged the clippings. I don't usually bag, but wanted to make sure I could get seeds down to the soil. I like to keep my yard at 1.5". Given my present set up I can't go any lower, and with drought-like conditions as it is, even cutting at 1.5" isn't great cultural practice, but I'm hoping the amount of water going down on the yard for

Spray: My lawn is due up for some nitrogen, but I didn't want to push growth too much while I've got germination happening. Instead, I sprayed my own kelp, molasses, and fulvic mix. I'll spray with AMS, FAS, and maybe a touch more fulvic in 10-15 days. I haven't put down any weed killer, and I'm anticipating I'll have to go out heavy with a three-way in a week or 2.

Overseed: Finally, I overseeded with RPR and did my best to heavily run a metal leaf rake over the lawn, particularly on the thin areas to get as much seed worked into the soil as possible. I don't have easy access to a scarifier, so I just did what I could. I was going to pick up some peat moss yesterday, but the store that I stopped at had raised the price a LOT since the last time I was there. It wasn't worth it. I might still see if I can get some in the coming days at another store.

Fortunately, we got a really nice rain overnight and could get more rain throughout the day today. We needed it something awful. Probably going to go for it without peat moss now that we've got a few days of overcast and rain forecast. Just one day with sun in the next few days, so I think I can get by with just the rain and watering as needed.


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## Reas (Apr 30, 2021)

After some discussion on here and discord I decided to pick up some FAS and Fulvic acid powder. I put it down about a week ago with some AMS. I did learn that I was applying AMS at way too heavy a rate for foliar application, so my fert plan listed above is being altered considerably.

We also have gotten plenty of rain to end the drought-like conditions, so that has been helpful.

My application:
2 oz/M FAS
2 oz/M Fulvic
0.1 #/M AMS

I also added vinegar and lemon juice to bring the pH down prior to spraying. I didn't have anything else on hand and really needed to get some N down so I didn't want to wait on citric acid arriving in the mail.

Here's the results after my mow yesterday. Nice progress compared to the pictures above!


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## occamsrzr (Apr 27, 2020)

Your color is looking great after your recent app. Nice work!


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## amartin003 (Apr 30, 2021)

Looking good! Those edges look great as well.


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