# Rhyrhy7's Lawn Journal



## Rhyrhy7 (Aug 8, 2018)

Hi this is my first official lawn journal. I recently joined TLF, and wanted to share my lawn experience since purchasing my 1st home back on Feb 12th, 2018. My documentation skills are lacking to say the least, but hopefully as time goes along I'll make it more of a point to take pics.

This is what I had to start with on Feb 12th.
Back Yard

Back Yard


Front Yard



March 20th 
I started laying out a border for the front flower bed cause I really didn't want to dig and pull up sod after it started to establish itself in the early spring.



April 29th
After multiple trips to the Lowes and Home Depot for supplies and TLC for the Japanese Maple the flower bed was complete with a mow line. The GF and myself were pretty pleased with how well the bed turned out and beat after that project.



May 9th
I was excited to say the least that the beginning of my seeding project for the non-sodded sections of my lawn were going to start soon. Quickly after I had started the new section with seed I realized that attempting more areas with my lawn would be to much of a under taking for one person and a hose end sprinkler. So I decided one area at a time this year, even if it means spraying/killing the common Bermuda grass next year.





I had started on the east side of my house due to the high amount of rain water runoff from my neighbors house and didn't want to uphill battle it when the rains really started coming down in Oklahoma. I started 2 weeks earlier spraying glyphosate/ Total Vegetation killer from my near by Tractor Supply. After waiting and respraying any new weeds in the 10 day period, I started with a Mantis tiller rented from HD. Tilled all the soil on a Friday evening and then the next morning spread all my Yukon Bermuda seed. Covered it with a layer of peat moss to hold in moisture and rolled it with a lawn roller for good soil to seed contact.





For the next 3 weeks I watered with a tripod sprinkler for an hour and forty-five minutes every morning and evening attempting to keep the soil moist for germination.

June 11th
I had successfully germinated about 90% Yukon Bermuda grass seed. The week after I planted the temps went right from the mid 80's to the mid 90's continuously. So I had a little jump start from the weather that didn't hurt anything. I changed the watering schedule in attempts to give the grass a more soaking water and less frequency watering. 




June 26th 
The lawn was just enjoying the lawn life at a nice 1.5" HOC. I got a free to me lawn mower not long after moving in and getting a used 10 year old riding mower to level cut was a experience I don't wish upon anyone. At this point I had done some Milo applications and tried the Lesco fert from my local HD.











July 22
After some serious heat stress starting to show up in the lawn. I decided to take a swing at build a better sprinkler option to cover more lawn with a more consistent amount of water than using one tripod sprinkler.



As you can see I have little remorse in my domination over the nieghbors lawn next door. :lol:



Being on rural water my pressure is hit and miss. I also bucket tested to see what my GPM were cause I was extremely interested in DIYing a in-ground sprinkler system. After the 1st setup worked out so well, I decided to duplicate it and have 2. I watered one evening for right at an hour and forty-five minutes and put down an inch of water with the some tuna cans for measurement. The setup was just 3/4" PVC, 3/4" poly from Tractor Supply, and Hunter PGP heads and a little ingenuity.


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## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Love it. Great job!


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## dacoyne (May 27, 2018)

Looks great, reno came out nice also.


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## Rhyrhy7 (Aug 8, 2018)

sanders4617 said:


> Love it. Great job!


Thanks its been a uphill battle all the way. I didnt exactly get the best start on weed control but looking forward to next lawn season for sure.


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## Rhyrhy7 (Aug 8, 2018)

dacoyne said:


> Looks great, reno came out nice also.


Thank you! Its not the "best lawn" but compared to the neighbors, its the best on the street. :lol:


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## Rhyrhy7 (Aug 8, 2018)

8/15 Here since last Friday I have gotten just at my house 2.25 inches of rain. Even though that's not a lot, but for August in Oklahoma that's not exactly real common, especially to go along with the nice mid 80's to lower 90's we have had. The lawn has enjoyed the great rains/cooler temps and I found Milo at my local Walmart on clearance for $9 a bag which saved me $3.5/bag buying it at Lowes or HD. So last week I threw down about 8 bags on the yard to give a nice green up after all that heat stress.
Here are just a few pics of my mid week mow. Also raised the cut up to notch 4 on my mower which I believe is right around 1-3/4" to 2".


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## Rhyrhy7 (Aug 8, 2018)

Lawn Season 2019

*1/25* When the 2018 lawn season came to an end I started my search for a reel mower. I had been on everything from Machine Finder to Craig's List. Everyone on here who has looked for a mower that wasn't completely worn out in the southern states, knows it's hard to find. Then I expanded my search north and I found what I was looking for. After some strategic planning on weather systems in January, my girl friend and I loaded up on a Friday and went to Minneapolis. A long 22 hours of driving and some rather unpleasant driving in snow and slick roads on Saturday on the return trip. I finally brought home a reel mower that I was proud to use for my first season.





After a long winter here in central Oklahoma the light at the end of tunnel has finally blossomed into a slightly below average spring time. Even if the temps are cooler that hasn't stopped me and my cabin fever from getting out and working in the yard.

*3/8* Last year I built my own spray rig complementary of Connor Wards setup. :thumbup: I had one decent day without any issues with wind and I laid down my 6 month app of prodiamine. Couple of days later had a nice little rain that watered everything.

* 3/17* Started the scalping process on a more than pleasant Sunday morning. I used the riding mower to knock all the tall material down and then my girl friend was a real MVP :thumbup: and came behind scalping and bagging with the Honda. We only made about 4-5 passes trying to pickup the grass clippings before we said no more. Then we put it into mulch mode and she continued on. By the end of day the wind had picked up and we were absolutely over scalping the yard and called it a day. :x :x 






*3/18* I had finished work at a decent time on Monday afternoon and came home with the intentions of working on my HOC bar and continuing to scalp the front yard down. After getting my HOC bar setup and reading one more time how to change the HOC on the mower, I had it set at .5" for the 1st mow.  The front and side yard will be my primary reel mowing areas this year and the trial and error so to speak.







I was pretty impressed after I was done at how smooth the yard was especially being the only 2nd season in the new house. I hadn't done much lawn leveling last year minus buying some tube sand from Tractor Supply to fill in the gaps in the sod and work on some tire tracks that I put in the lawn. :shock: Hopefully in May when the lawn is really rocking and rolling then I'll do some core aerating and get a load of sand to work in to any areas.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Oh, make no mistake, you are going to totally dominate with the reel mower this year. Your yard looks great!


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