# Matt's 2021 Lawn Journal



## MarineOh3 (Feb 26, 2021)

New'ish user. Have been a longtime reader but townhouse living never really lent itself to lawn journaling or really feeling like I could participate in some of the discussions when all my lawn needs were taken care by my condo fee.

We bought a house in Late 2020 and this Spring 2021 season is pretty much a 20 year dream realized. I haven't had a lawn since I was in high school and I will do my best to capture everything here this season.

Been busy in the lawn the last few weeks and this is how everything looks as of today. 








Just over 5k square feet of turf with I guess what I would call a northern mix. Predominantly tall fescue with some KBG and PRG mixed in... and some POA... and moss... and bare spots.

Bought a Honda HRX to start the year and was cutting down at about an inch. I golfed D1 in college and the tall grass just isn't going to work for me. I want it to be well manicured and fairway length. I picked up a 2008 Greensmaster 1000 last week and will keep it at 1" for the foreseeable future. I am 100% going to do a Reno this fall in the backyard and plant a mono stand of KBG - still trying to decide which but leaning toward either Bewitched or Midnight. Lawn is fully irrigated and gets plenty of sun. Depending on how this fall goes I may look at the front next year but I just don't want to kill my entire lawn this year.

Gonna stop it there as it's already a long first post but thanks for reading. I intend to update regularly.


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## MarineOh3 (Feb 26, 2021)

Cleaned up the GM1000, changed oil and greased the fittings. Came with a new reel and bedknife but have to order air filter and new spark plug. Really pleased with the cut of this machine.


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## MarineOh3 (Feb 26, 2021)

Mowing about every three days right now. I do the back and side one day and then the front the next day. Putting Milorganite down on the first of every month at the bag rate. Prodiamine went down mid March when the soil temp was at about 54 degrees. Other than that, I don't plan on doing much to encourage root growth and all that considering I am going to kill a portion of this lawn in a few months. Really looking forward to the Reno but until then...


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## MarineOh3 (Feb 26, 2021)

This strip of grass is turning into my trophy strip. My goodness it's thick and dark green.



Back is coming along too. It desperately needs seed and probably a heavy dose of Tenacity but I will get there. Ordered a pound of Midnight KBG to do a test patch in the back to see if I can get even an idea of what to expect this fall when I renovate the back yard.



Just ordered the Orbit b-hyve indoor/outdoor WiFi irrigation controller to replace my old school Rain Bird controller. Now I will be able to lay in bed with my phone at night and water the turf whenever I want!!


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## MarineOh3 (Feb 26, 2021)

I've been mowing about every third to fourth day and today was day 4 since last mow - I think I waited a day too long. Grass is really thick and seemed a little high for the Greensmaster - plus, there were a lot of leaves and sticks that blew into the yard so I went over everything with the HRX at its second lowest setting. The Honda sucked everything up and, even with the Checkmate striping kit, actually got the fescue to stand up a little bit. The Greensmaster is set right at one inch and I went over the turf with the reel after the HRX. I'm continually fascinated by the precision cut of the GM. I'm guessing the HRX's second lowest setting is about 1.25 inches because the GM was taking perfect little ~.25" clippings off the top. It really is amazing the difference in look when comparing the rotary and reel. It's just not a fair comparison. Next time I do this 1-2 punch with the HRX followed by the Greensmaster I will take pics along the way to show before-after rotary-after reel because the difference is noticeable.





Tough tough winds came through northern Virginia tonight and I already have holly and magnolia leaves in the yard, but for a couple hours this afternoon it was looking pretty sweet. I got my midnight KBG test bag in the mail and trying to figure out where and how I want to do the test plot (I.e. do I actually kill a square of my yard and mimic my renovation conditions? Or do I just grow it in a tray?). I'm mostly running this test so that I can baseline my expectations and pre-empt any anxiety this fall when I do the renovation on a much larger scale. We'll see...


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