# pspork's Lawn Journal - Fall 2021



## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

Welcome to my lawn journal!

I have been browsing the forum for a little while and learning a lot. I am starting a lawn journal now as I'm getting into small area projects/renovations. I want to get this started and supply the quick stats and will update in a follow up post with more in-depth information.

*Quick Stats:*
*Location:* Northwest Indiana
*Lot size:* ~1/2 acre. Corner lot. Base level of house (not including landscaping and concrete) is approximately 1550 sq ft.
*Lawn Area:* ~14,160 SF
*Home:* New Construction 2018
*Soil type: *Clay
*Slope:* Front/Sides small slope to street. Back ~1' in 10' to back corner of lot.
*Grass type:* KBG sod in front and sides. KBG/PRG seed mix in back. All installed by landscaper.
*Irrigation:* In-ground irrigation
*Water type:* Town Well (treated by town at well)

*Tools in arsenal*

Cub Cadet 700 E Mower
Stihl FC 56 C-E Edger
Stihl FS 56 RC-E Weed Trimmer
Stihl BR 350 Backpack Blower
Sun Joe Corded Dethatcher/Scarifier
Lawn Level Rake
Groundskeeper II Rake
Scott's Elite Spreader
Soil Probe
Soil Thermometer
Ambient Weather WS-5000 Weather Station

*Goals for future (timeline/order TBD)*

Develop and execute lawncare plan. Starts now as I already informed my lawncare company to stop.
Level entire lawn. Lawn has settled and I suspect a less than optimal effort at leveling prior to seed and sod. Also, utilities company bored 3 years after build and raised areas in my parkway. This leveling is more for mowing enjoyment and preventing scalping than anything. I would like to try a reel mower and a low mow eventually.
Renovate seeded back lawn to 100% KBG to (more closely) match front and sides.
Reel mow and mow low - as stated in #1

I look forward to updating this and learning from discussions with others on this board!


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## Robs92k (May 9, 2021)

Welcome to the lawn journals! Sounds like you have a good start and you're certainly in the right place for help.

I'll be following…have some leveling to do myself.

Good luck!


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## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

Robs92k said:


> Welcome to the lawn journals! Sounds like you have a good start and you're certainly in the right place for help.
> 
> I'll be following…have some leveling to do myself.
> 
> Good luck!


Thanks Robs92k! I've seen your thread as well. You have a beautiful setup there!


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## Robs92k (May 9, 2021)

pspork said:


> Robs92k said:
> 
> 
> > Welcome to the lawn journals! Sounds like you have a good start and you're certainly in the right place for help.
> ...


Thank you! It's more work than I expected, but loving it more than I thought. Learning patience now…lol


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## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

I forgot to mention that I am getting the area of my driveway torn out between my sidewalk and the street. The utility company subcontractor bored new lines in my parkway and damaged my driveway and raised the parkway a bit. I was awaiting the concrete contractor to show up to start tearing out the driveway area and used the time to take dimensions of the yard. An aerial view (outdated) is below as well.

*Driveway*



*Lawn Area w/ SF in blue ink*



*Raw Data and Rough Overview Sketch*



*Bird's Eye View no later than Spring 2020*



*Aerial View no later than July 2020*

​
I have an aerator on rent for tomorrow that I will pickup after work today. Going to knock that out tomorrow morning before my nephew's first birthday and my wife's cousin's wedding reception. I think I will try to get a mow in after or maybe Sunday. I plan on topdressing with soil to address some of the areas that have dips/erosion, so I will end up picking up the cores.

Below are pictures of my lawn in its current state, as well as images of the area where the utility vault was put in. The neighborhood requires sod in the front and sides. When the vault was put in, they seeded (without leveling) tall fescue. The mismatch drove me crazy, so I sprayed with 41% glyphosate 3 weeks ago now. I scalped and now will be putting in dirt to level and KBG seed. I am running out of time, but hoping weather cooperates for me. We recently installed a fence and they hit the electrical line from my controller to the manifold, so I haven't been able to put seed down yet without it. That should be fixed today and it's off to the races.

*Lawn Porn*







*Renovation Area near new utility vault*





​
This post gives an insight of what I'm up to here in the fall. I do need to keep developing my plans now that I have square footages. This will help me with a volume for top dressing (I may only do the biggest problem sections this fall) and calculations for lawncare treatments now that I'm doing them myself.

I will continue to post progress pictures and any questions I come across. If anyone who reads this has recommendations or notices something I may be doing that doesn't make sense, please do let me know. I have read a lot on lawncare this year and sometimes its hard to follow. There are definitely a lot of different approaches to this.


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## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

This weekend I was able to aerate on Saturday, 9/11 before all the craziness of family parties and weddings. The irrigation system was repaired on Friday and since it's been pretty dry around here, I thought about running the irrigation the evening before aerating. I ended up deciding against it because of fungus scare and I didn't want a muddy mess. The aerator did pretty well, but the plugs weren't as deep as I would've liked. It did open my eyes to how thick my thatch layer was though. If nothing else, it will help with the breakup of the thatch. I did go over each area twice, excluding the North parkways that I only did once.

During the process, I decided that I would experiment a little. I left two parkways un-aerated. This is due to the fact that I dethatched them already and the driveway apron was being poured Saturday morning and I did not want to get too close to that. It was windy all weekend and dirt/grass was blowing everywhere.

Experiment:
-Parkways on the East side of the house were dethatched only, no aeration.
-Rest of lawn aerated only, no dethatching.
-Will see how things look the rest of fall and into spring.

I planned on putting down Milorganite and some soil/seed in my repair areas, but it was way too windy to control. Will attempt to knock that out this week. I was able to get a maintenance mow in and lower the cut height to somewhere between 2" and 2-1/2". I wanted to prepare for some topdressing. Still deciding on how much of a chunk to bite off. If I did the whole lawn with 1/4", we're looking at 11 yards. That's too large of a job for one man (with two daughters <= 2 years old) this late in the season I think. Currently leaning towards doing the parkways and the NE and south sides of the house. Going to get dirt delivered this week and start there. Trying to get seed down this week as well.

*September 6 Dethatch​*
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*Concrete Pictures*​
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*Preparation Day 9/10*​
​
*Aeration Complete*​


​


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## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

Quick update without pictures:

*Sunday, 9/12:* got a maintenance mow in, but was too windy to spread fertilizer. All areas of grass are now about 2" to 2-1/2" HOC. Left clippings on lawn.

*Tuesday, 9/14:* spread 3 bags of milorganite on all areas of lawn with exception of fenced backyard. The area should be about 10,000 sq. ft., so I must've been walking too fast or had some issues. That's a light application, but once I topdress, I am going to continue the nitrogen blitz with some synthetic product.

*Thursday, 9/16:* 8 yards of topsoil delivered

*Saturday, 9/18:* Take soil samples and start to level/topdress the yard. Going to hold off on mowing for a few extra days to allow everything to work. It has been ridiculously warm here lately and with the irrigation issues only being solved last Friday, the grass is starting to green up and grow again. Also going to finally install seed in renovation area.

I know the soil samples may be a little misplaced, but I want to see what I was working with. If I have to take samples again next year after topdressing, so be it.


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## pspork (Sep 8, 2021)

*Friday, 9/17/21*
The kids were both fighting hand, foot, and mouth (fun times) and I was under the weather. However, I was able to start moving dirt to the renovation area. Got the dirt down, but didn't have time to lay down seed before babysitter had to leave.





​
*Saturday, 9/18/21*
I was Mr. Mom this weekend, but I was able to sneak in some time. Seed down! Decided not to put peat moss on top and water everyday for 5 minutes at a time at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm. Unfortunately, we are seeing possibilities for rain this week so hopefully nothing too much.

*Sunday, 9/19/21*
Still feeling under the weather. After thinking about the aeration, there was so much thatch. I decided to call an audible on my plans and use the SunJoe to scarify the area of the yard that needed the most attention during topdress/levelling (~2400 SF). Was feeling beatup after this due to being sick, so after I picked up the debris, I did not end up installing any of the topdressing.

I really need to get some more time and I am running out of time. Trying to take a day off of work in the next week or so to be able to tackle the project.


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