# 2018 - Tree removal and 1/2 lawn renovation - the journey begins



## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Hi All, I am Jarrod and new here. This is my first post, but I have been following along for a while, and watching some of your videos. I live just North of Boston near the MA and NH border. I bought my house about 18 months ago and it was in dire need of landscape attention. We couldn't even find the beds when we first moved in.  I quickly hired TruGreen, but was less than impressed with their results. In all fairness we had a lot of mature (75'+) pines which didn't help. In hind sight, I wish I had taken a lot more pictures when we first move in. As the year moved on and my frustration with my lawn grew one of my coworkers turned me on this forum and the LCN.

Through reading your posts, and watching YouTube, I got a better sense of what I was up against, and with the help of a few bad winter storms which took down a few trees, I hatched a diabolical plot through which I was able to convince my wife we should take down ~20 pine trees widen the single lane driveway to a double lane and then renovate the half the yard.

Here is the front of our house following the first spring raking










Here is the side prior to the trees coming down. WIsh I had taken more picks as this entire area was overgrown with brush about 8' high when we first moved in. You couldn't actually see past the trees to the swings, which was good for privacy, but as the temps warmed we realized the only thing that grew there was moss due to the shade










So in late April of 2018 all the trees came down.



















And then the stumps










A few weeks later the pavers came and put the new driveway in. (Tuesday after Memorial Day)










Then came the loam (100 yards of it)










And the hydroseed (early June)










We had germination in about 4 days, but unfortunately the humidity was setting in. This was the first time I had grown a lawn from seed and I most Iikely overwatered because of the heat and humidity. As result the fungus was not far behind. I had a pythium outbreak, just as I was ready for my first mow, which gave me an excellent opportunity to spread it 










And really did a number on the new grass. Luckily the hardest hit areas were not viewable from the street




























I was lucky enough to get it under control and limp into mid July. But the rest of my lawn still looked pretty bad. Luckily it still looked good from the street














































In late August, I brought in 2 yards of compost which I used to top dress the areas struggling the most. I then aerated, overseeded along with starter fert, milo, and RGS. (this is the day after aeration and overseeding)



















I watered (properly/lesson learned), patiently waited. I had quick germination and kept the mow height high. This was about 2 weeks later



















I added a few small doses of 20-20-20 every 3-4 weeks along with RGS starting in just after the pics above. And this is about how we ended. We have had a few hard freezes, but still green



















My plans for next year are new shed and new beds along the tree to the right of my property and potentially accross the back of my lawn. I am also in the process of getting quotes for irrigation, since this year I had to run a 12 zone above ground system. I have a Chappin 20V Backpack sprayer, but I want to find a more efficient way to deliver liquid fert.... maybe...... but will start another thread on that topic.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Note, I can't seem to get my pics to load correctly, appreciate any advice on what I can do to fix that. I tried highlighting the link and clicking the pic icon but that did not seem to accomplish my goal


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Good work! Looking forward to the seeing the rest.

To add images directly, you can either use the postimage link, or wrap the image url in an img tag like this:

```
[img]https://link.to/your/image[/img]
```


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Thanks @samjonester .. Just gave it another try, hopefully it worked this time


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Another tip is to use the preview to see what it will look like when posted. Looks like you may have linked to the gallery url, not the individual image urls.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Another tip, don't use safari for postimage. Chrome or Firefox work with the postimage link.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Thanks g-man


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I'm no longer at work, so I gave this a proper read. Tree and stump removal, 100 yards of loam and hydroseeding, uff expensive but it looks great. 12 zones above ground, wow.

For 18k property, a lesco spreader with a GC spreader mate. https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=27


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Thanks. You are right, it certainly wasn't cheap, but it was satisfying to see, and the neighbors certainly seem to be happy about the improvement.

Thanks for the link to the Lesco GC. I have looked at it a few times. Thinking a slightly different approach, but started a post in equipment for that discussion.

Thanks again and appreciate the pointers.


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## Grass Clippins (Apr 30, 2018)

That looks great! I'm sure you'll look back on this as wise investment.


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## MassHole (Jun 27, 2018)

Looks great, congrats! I'm in Western Mass and all our rain has messed with my backyard. Nice work!


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Sorry to hear that @MassHole. The weather has been brutal. I was just out sucking up my leaves since I have to go out of town unexpectedly. My lawn was very wet even in the places where it is usually not. Although I was out there just hours after the rain stopped.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

@g-man , could I be a pain and ask you to move this to the cool season lawn journals?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@jdc_lawnguy not a pain at all. Moved it.


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

Link to my 2019 Journal

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=8263


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