# Necrosis' (Not-so) Secret Garden



## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Well, it has been a hell of a year. Glad to be back on the forum. Battled COVID, moved into a new home, had a baby, started on a new yard. The sod has rooted and the yard is green and lumpy. A lot has happened and we have big big plans for this yard.



Continued to water over the summer matching the evapotranspiration rates listed online (https://texaset.tamu.edu/). The sod responded nicely. My water bill did not.



We had 3 Mexican White Oaks planted. These are native fast-growing evergreen shade trees that were planted to block the intense evening summer sun in our backyard and will allow us to enjoy a larger area of our yard which will eventually become our patio.



We had a fence installed. We have, literally, herds of deer roaming the neighborhood. They destroyed most of the plants in the front beds that were installed by our builder. We also tried planting some Crepe Myrtles but they will have to be moved behind the fence.



We roughly developed a landscaping design taking into account future patio plans.



Started cutting in the beds. We are using a "no dig method." You cut in the beds and pile on compost and mulch on top of either cardboard or paper to smother out the grass underneath. Paper tends to decompose faster and will hopefully allow us to plant later this spring.





This is the first of many deliveries of compost and mulch. We ordered 10 yards of mushroom compost. Smells more like cow patties. We have approximately 2K sqft of beds cut.



I have about 15-20 heads I either needed to relocate, cap, or change to drip. Unfortunately, many of these drips will share the zone with spray heads. I'll have to convert these at a later time. Another day, another project.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Subscribed...excited to watch the progress and congrats on all the exciting life changes! Kids are great!

I see a leveling project in your future....if your looking for a Toro GM1000 to replace the Deere let me know lol....not as good of a steal that the Deere was though...

Glad to see you back on here.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Gave the front yard it's first scalp of the season. Somehow it looks more green after the scalp.

I don't have much lawn in the front. Debating taking down both live oak trees in the front. They are a pain to mow around, are low quality, and don't add much I think.... what are y'all's thoughts? Keep them or dig them up?


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

Lose em


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## Rooster (Aug 19, 2019)

I'm a big fan of live oaks but based on their location I think I might keep the one on the left and lose the one on the right, or relocate it to the back.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Do you have an HOA? Mine regulates that kind of thing.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Yeah I do have an HOA. I'll take them down but if they moan about it I'll just plant a red oak or something more colorful in the front.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Move them. You'll hate them once they start slinging roots.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Lots of progress in the yard this weekend. I scalped the rest of the yard and put down my prodiamine at a 6mo rate. Cut several beds and then moved about 2,000sqft of compost. I need to add more hardwood mulch on top to finish it up. After a lot of back breaking work, I'm probably going to hire it out.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Off like a light switch. If this grass dies it will be because it was sodded in the middle of 100 degree heat and then pounded by a generational snowstorm. Wowzers that was crazy. What a time to be alive! Crossing my fingers my Bermuda pulls through!


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## erdons (Apr 3, 2018)

The Bermuda will not die. Just taking a nap.


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## UltimateLawn (Sep 25, 2020)

@Necrosis , I am in the DFW area and feel your pain! My StAug is looking really poor after the extremely cold weather. Our Texas houses and lawns are just not designed for this kind of weather.


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## LA Basshole03 (Jan 17, 2019)

Subscribed. Loving the plans and can't wait to see it come together.

I vote for removing the live oak trees. The leaves are the worst.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Busy weekend update. Finally got some hardwood mulch down. About 10 yards. Planted a redbud and move a crepe myrtle to the backyard. The beds are ready for more plants!









In addition, I put down some insecticides, got my first app of starter fertilizer down, and did some post-emergent control. I will likely need another app in 2 weeks. Lots of sedge...


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## ag_fishing (Feb 3, 2021)

Looks like the grass is coming back nicely after the snow. I have sections in my yard that are 100% green and other spots look just dead


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Had a little birthday mow! Grass is really starting to get moving after the starter fert! Had some guests over for a crawfish boil! It was a good weekend!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Got a notification from our utility company that our water was on for 48 hours continuously. Took a while but found the leak near the water meter...... honestly it should have been the first place to look. Regardless, the area around my meters has sunken considerably. It's already the biggest eyesore of the front lawn. We had some plumbers fix the pipe near the main line. I will be filling the hole back in. This time I'd like to get the utility boxes level. I hate that I have so many. Let me know if you have encountered this before.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Took advantage of the leak and rearranged some valve boxes. I got rid of a redundant box and leveled (as best I could) the top of the utility boxes using a 2x6 to find the best slope. Filled the bottom with pea gravel, replaced the dirt and topped with sand. Unfortunately, the entire area has sunk some. Which will mean I'll likely have to raise the boxes over time as I level the yard.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

The lawn was looking a little long today. It hasn't had a reel mow yet. But today is the day.



The stripes are back! And the lawn look good just under an inch! :thumbup:


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Finished the beds on the other side of the house. Planted some roses and pride of barbados. Had some left over compost from the delivery and did a little leveling of the front lawn just before we got a gully washer.







In other news. Had an absolute weed explosion in the back yard after mulching with the mower last week. Not sure if the freeze messed with the PreEmergent but I'll be looking into a 3 preE schedule this year to minimize the damage. Might have to start taking round up to the crab that found it's way through. What do you guys use for your preE schedule?


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

No pics of the yard today. Just wanted to document that I've laid down my first dose of PGR, imidacloprid, and another dose of celsius. I see it working on the early crabgrass. I'm going to give it another week or so and if it doesn't clear up the glyphosate is coming out to play.

Enjoy pictures of the new bonsai!



Also, anyone knows what this lilly-like ground cover is? I'm digging it.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Just wanted to give an end of the season update.



Finally got that shed built and we started on some garden beds. Eventually we will put up some posts and hang some more formal shade netting.



We removed the trees in the front and installed stone around our garden beds. The one on the left is now significantly larger.



The backyard plants are growing like gang busters. Really happy with how everything is coming along.









What an absolute unit.



Ready for the offseason!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

The lawn never went fully dormant this year. Soil temperatures have been above 55 degrees through December. I'm a little late getting down my Prodiamine 6mo application. I'm thinking of doing a fall app later in the year this year to take me through the spring scalp. I'm planning to scalp probably around mid March. Because of this I'm looking for additional PreE coverage with a chemical that has a different mechanism of action. If you recommend anything that pairs well with prodiamine let me know.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Both Simazine and Isoxaben work well when offset with Prodiamine. Simazine is way cheaper than Isoxaben but it can be a little harsh on the turf when the weather is hot.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Just wanted to put in a quick note to serve as a reminder for future me. Remulched the weed infested bed, put down more cardboard. It took about 36 bags of 2cu ft of hardwood mulch. I may have to buy another pallet for the other side of the house.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I had a lot of Bermuda pressure into the beds given the minimal amount of plants I had planted. While waiting for the grass to green I re-edged all of the beds and planted several plants. Here I started Ajuga (bronze beauty and chocolate chip), Aucuba, and some Lantana.



I added a banana plant next to the old Pride of Barbados.



On the North wall, I planted a Coral Bark Japanese Maple. It gets mostly shade as the leaves are very sensitive to direct sun.



In addition, I planted a Cape Honeysuckle which will likely take up a large amount of this garden space. We also added a Duranta and some Artemisia Powis Castle. I moved the orange Pride of Barbados to the side and will watch to see how it does.



If you were wondering what that plant was that I previously mentioned earlier in the post it was unflowered Nasturtium - which we also added to the corner bed.



I had a lot of space to fill in our main back bed. I have several plants I'm trying here including a couple of trailing lantana, multiple Plumbagoes, mistflower for my wife (she loves the pollinators), and Fall Aster in the shady regions. We also planted some Elephant Ear and some Bird of Paradise. I ran more drip tubing to water everything and then I mulched away!











I then scalped the yard. Every year I have a ton of grass clippings. For several months we have been attempting to compost these clippings with the leaf matter we collect as well as scraps from our kitchen. It seems to be going well. I'll keep you posted.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I got the greensmower up and running. Set height of cut to 0.50'' and scalped a way. I'll probably settle into 0.7-1" this year. That way if the lawn gets away from me I can just take the rotary mower to it.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Looking good!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I got down some fertilizer for the yard today. I also applied a double application of Celsius and Dismiss. I'm having a large problem with sedge this year (last year it was crabgrass). I did a blanket application of both Celsius and Dismiss and their medium rates. I've never had much success with applying Dismiss so I'll probably go ahead and give Certainty a go.



But here is the updated pic of the yard. It has come a long way since we moved in 2020.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I cut the yard and put down about 0.5oz/K of PGR in the front and the back. I'm heading into a string of night shifts so I won't be able to get to the yard as much as I'd like. If the 0.5oz/K rate does well I'll probably try the recommended 0.75oz/K for common bermuda.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I got my new pair of lawn scissors today. Man. What an absolute game changer. It helps keep a great garden bed edge. It doesn't throw mulch everywhere, everything stays neat, you don't get hit with flying debri, and you stay much cleaner. Thanks everyone for the recommendation.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Plants are coming in nicely.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

It has been a busy week for me. Getting the yard ready to bring home our new little girl. So far I've put down another dose of 0.5oz/K of PGR, and app of permethrin, certainty, celsius, fertilized with some left over milorganite. And I've started to level the front yard with some mason sand.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

We have reached stage 3 drought restrictions with no end in sight this summer. A large portion of the backyard has entered dormancy (it going to be hardscaped eventually anyway) and I will have to decrease my watering to once every other week.



So I've sent the yard a farewell into summer dormancy with a 0.25oz/K app of PGR, I applied my 6mo app of Prodiamine (I did see some crab breakthrough for the past couple of weeks), Permethrin, and Mircogreene. I also spot-sprayed a couple of spots in my yard for POA and Sedge.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I did some major weeding and edging today. The bermuda I have is really tough to keep under control. I'm planning on some hardscaping to help keep the beds a little more under control. But the plants seem to be doing well.





My banana plant has absolutely exploded.



The ground cover is doing well. The acucuba - not so much.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Whelp. The yard is looking ROUGH folks. I think we have had 2 days this entire month that has been below 100 degrees and maybe half an inch of rain all summer. So while the yard turns a nice shade of yellow, my wife has now drawn up plans for her new garden which I will be working on while the back yard approaches the temperatures compatible with the surface of the sun.... except with 100% humidity.



I did put down a half hybrid Bermuda rate of PGR on the areas not super stressed from the drought along with some microgreen and iron.





I've outlined the future garden edge with string and stakes. Eventually, we will have a small fence that separates the yard from the garden. I'm still looking at edge ideas. One side will be grass and the other will be some sort of aggregate most likely. If you have any input on something with easy maintenance that will keep Bermuda out of the aggregate I'd love to hear it.

Now meet the newest member of the mowing family! I have recently acquired a JD110 for the low price of free! Redhead not included.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I did a small leveling project with a portion of the backyard while I wait for better weather. I just wanted to make sure my approach was going to work. I'm pretty happy with the pallet method. I got some chains and carabiners to hook everything up next time.







In addition, the beds are filled and ready for fall planting.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Saturdays are for the boys.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

So these next photos will likely represent the peak of the '22 season. Tomorrow I will be doing a scalp to ~0.3-0.35 and leveling project for the lawn. We should have plenty of warm days for the next couple of months so I hope it fills in nicely. I've done quite a bit of bed clean up and fall planting today. Here is where we stand.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

0.7->0.5->0.3







I might have been overzealous. I guess we shall see. I'll take a broom to it if need. Part II coming tomorrow if I can stand….


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Time to finish the back.







I'm really happy with the JD 10PX purchase. It holds a good amount. Any heavier and I would have a heck of a time dumping the thing. The slanted back allows for you to load up the end so when you press the release pedal it dumps automatically. And you can flip it 180 degrees to get all the sand out without the hassle of cleaning up the rest of the sand with a shovel. I highly recommend it.



And that's it for the back. I put down 1/M of ammonia sulfate to get the grass growing through the sand. I'll update later to show the progress.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

One week later. No rain, unfortunately.









How soon before I can throw another 1 pound per 1Ksqft of N?


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

It's been 2 weeks since the sand was laid. Grass is growing in nicely. I put down another app of granular fertilizer.


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