# TilsonTurf's 2021 Lawn Journal: Reel Mowing in the City



## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

[Previous Journal | Instagram]

After a winter full of lockdowns, the 2021 lawn season cannot come soon enough  This will be my second season reel mowing with the Allett Liberty 43 here in densely populated mid-town Toronto.

Here's some context and where things left off towards the end of last season:

*FRONT YARD*




*BACKYARD*


Below are some pictures of where things stand currently.







Despite friends and neighbours telling me it would kill the grass, I decided to build an outdoor rink for the kids this winter (hence the stakes in the above pic) to give us something to do. That process involved putting down a plastic liner and filling it with water. Over the last three weeks I've been breaking up the ice and moving chunks to the driveway to melt so I could get the liner off the grass as soon as possible. Things are definitely looking a little rougher back there with some damage / snow mold spots, but overall it doesn't seem like a complete disaster. We'll see how things wake up. Here's a few rink pics.







*2021 PLAN*
A couple things to note this year impacting what I'll be doing:

*Backyard* | _Sod / Champion GQ_
We are planning a big renovation including putting an addition on the back and side of our house later this year/next year. That means the backyard will become a construction site and will need a full reno when our construction project is over. With that in mind, I'm not going to be going crazy with apps or any kind of levelling projects in the back this year. I'm hoping the front yard will remain unscathed during construction but that might be wishful thinking-we'll see.

*Front Yard* | _Champion GQ / Mazama_
Plan for the front this year is to mow at .75 until hot summer temps kick in. I'll be getting pre-em and a light N app down early/mid-april. I didn't have a huge grub problem last year but I didi find some so I've gone ahead and ordered some imidacloprid from SeedWorld that I'll put down as a preventative step later this spring. When I spoke with the guys at Allturf in Innisfil last year they said grubs were a huge problem in Ontario last season and were completely sold out of Merit (imidacloprid) so I figure better to be safe than sorry this year.

Lastly, I now work from home full time so there will be lots of opportunities for cheeky mid-week mows and lots of lawn staring from the window in between.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Amazing the difference two days of sunny 15°/59F weather makes. My front yard gets a ton of sun all day. Yesterday's soil temp was 45F and today's was 55F. Will be keeping an eye on soil temps daily going forward and aiming to get pre-em down soon.


_Saturday_


_Sunday_


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Temps were at 8°/46F today and look to be holding around here for the next two weeks. Got the first mow of the season in today in the front yard which is beginning to green-up and grow a bit because of all the sun it gets. The area beyond the stones where I seeded Mazama KBG is still pretty dormant looking so I'll be waiting to see how it bounces back. I'm a bit concerned some of the area might be dead so I may avoid putting down pre-em in this area in case in need to get some seed down this Spring.


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

Looks good... I am about two weeks ahead on green up this year... hoping for a good season and nice to see your journal..


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Stuofsci02 said:


> Looks good... I am about two weeks ahead on green up this year... hoping for a good season and nice to see your journal..


Thanks for stopping by. Yeah, I would say the same. Certainly greener than other neighbouring lawns already. Yours is looking like it's off to great start. Followed your journal last year.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Green up over the last 5 days:


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Mowing every three days at 0.75". Considering putting a PGR app down soon. The back has recovered surprisingly well from the backyard rink.


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