# Awar's Bermuda Lawn Journal (sod to present)



## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2016:*

I knew literally nothing about lawns then. I did not know my grass type. I had never used a mower. I did not know about fertilizers, let alone post- and pre-emergents.

April 2016:














May 2016:


September 2016:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2017:*
I had lawn service doing my treatments


I had lawn service doing my treatments but I dealt with dallisgrass myself
*2018:*


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2019:*

I stopped the lawn service and started doing my own, starting with pre-emergent in the winter. I discovered thelawnforum.com :mrgreen: and the rest is history :lol:









I started addressing the patches of zoysia in my bermuda lawn. My best guess is this is from the sod they used. TLF members identified that it was Zoysia and recommended the treatment. That's the kind of support I've been getting on TLF! :thumbup: Here are the threads about that: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7744 and https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11517









Applied 2 treatments Summer 2019 and got rid of 50-80% of it (depending on the area), so I will re-treat this summer.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2020:*
This year I decided to get my lawn leveled and to buy my first reel mower. Thanks to TLF I'm broke! :mrgreen:

First mow of the season. As you can see I can only go down to 1.5" with my Ego 56V:




Sand leveling on 4/21:
Here are the two threads if you're interested: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15476 and https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16916










8 days later:


16 days later:


26 days later:


We had crappy weather and only a few days over 80F so growth was not great!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

2020 cont'd:

Removed one of the maples in my front yard (again thanks to TLF members) and started my first plugging project:

















Backyard progress & finished my edging & mulching:



Trees, shurbs & flowers:
April 2020:


May 2020:


Orangeola Japanese Maple (can't wait to see the color change this year!):
March 2020:


April 2020:


May 2020:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

5/23:

First mow with my Swardman Edwin 2.1 at HOC just over 1 inch but plan to go a little lower. Still filling in one month after leveling (blame the lower than usual spring temperatures).


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## seebryango (Feb 21, 2019)

Looks good. Great progress and I like the plugging project


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

Looking good! I'm hoping by next season I'll have a reason to pick up a Swardman.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

seebryango said:


> Looks good. Great progress and I like the plugging project





Gilley11 said:


> Looking good! I'm hoping by next season I'll have a reason to pick up a Swardman.


Thanks @seebryango & @Gilley11 :thumbup: I'm learning every day and enjoying my new hobby :mrgreen:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

5/31:

Another mow today at 0.75" HOC. Lawn still getting better. Plugs also doing fine 17 days after transplanting.







Flower beds update on 5/30: The lo & behold butterfly bush is doing great and the dahlias are much taller than their first year.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

6/18 lawn update:

HOC is between 5/8 and 3/4. Pics taken two days after mowing and 5 days after Podium PGR at 0.26oz/1000. No more seed heads and suppression appears to be good :thumbup: for some reason the photos make the lawn look not so great!





Plugs update:

@ 4 weeks:


@ 5 weeks:


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

Looks great and good work, Awar!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

dfw_pilot said:


> Looks great and good work, Awar!


Thanks!


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## B-Rad (Apr 25, 2020)

The plug timelapse is awesome @Awar !


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

B-Rad said:


> The plug timelapse is awesome @Awar !


Thanks @B-Rad. I actually have pics taken every week so when it's all filled-in I'll probably post them. The angle wouldn't be the same so it won't be a perfect time lapse, but would still be cool. :mrgreen:


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## Brou (Jun 18, 2020)

Awar said:


> 6/18 lawn update:
> 
> HOC is between 5/8 and 3/4. Pics taken two days after mowing and 5 days after Podium PGR at 0.26oz/1000. No more seed heads and suppression appears to be good :thumbup: for some reason the photos make the lawn look not so great!
> 
> ...


Progress looks great. Why'd you go with plugs instead of sod?

I have a similarly sized area I just plugged yesterday and I'm already considering sod so I don't have to wait months for it to fill in.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Kamauxx said:


> Awar said:
> 
> 
> > 6/18 lawn update:
> ...


Thanks @Kamauxx! I decided to plug because I want a 100% match. My neighbor sodded an area where he removed a tree more than 3 years ago and I can still see the circle has different color. I say be patient and let the plugs grow & fill-in. I'm actually enjoying the progress!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Plugs update:

@ 6 weeks:


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## Brou (Jun 18, 2020)

Oh wow look at that! Looks like the plugs will fill in before the season is over. Nice!

How much water do you give them?


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

Did you pull or dig out your Dallisgrass?


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Kamauxx said:


> Oh wow look at that! Looks like the plugs will fill in before the season is over. Nice!
> 
> How much water do you give them?


The first 2 weeks i had a hose connected with a small sprinkler that I would use to water daily if there was no rain. Since then it's been raining a lot and they get water from my standard irrigation when needed, so no additional watering.



Sbcgenii said:


> Did you pull or dig out your Dallisgrass?


I dug out most of the Dallisgrass using weed a pulling tool. It was not a pleasant experience but I did it before it got too bad. My neighbors now have dallisgrass that's 1 to 2 feet across.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Lawn update 6/28. HOC is just under 3/4":


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Lawn update 7/11. HOC is just under 5/8".







Plugs update:

@ 7 weeks:


@ 8 weeks:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Plugs update:

@ 9 weeks (added sand to level low spots):


@ 11 weeks:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Plugs update:

@ 12 weeks:


@ 13 weeks (pic taken before spot leveling with sand & soil mix):


@ 14 weeks:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Lawn update 8/19. HOC is 3/4". Pics taken 3 days after mow.











This corner landscaped area is coming along nice. Those were planted two years ago. I can't figure out why the red knock-out roses are much smaller than the pink ones. They were struggling last summer and even this spring, but I kept on top of them with disease control, insect control, regular feeding & some kelp4less extreme blend. At least they look very healthy now so I think they should start growing.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Awar Beautiful!

Love the backyard landscaping.

What type of shrubs are those that have "im guessing" white stone or rock around them".

Great job on our lawn!!!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Thanks @ENC_Lawn!

The shrubs you're asking about are called "Little Giant Dwarf Arborvitae". Those are one of the favorite things we planted (we have some in the front too) as they require no attention and no shaping/trimming. Here's a closer pic. The larger ones were planted two years ago and the smaller ones were planted this spring. They grow up to 3' x 3' size, maintain a ball-shape, and have a dark green color except that they show some bronzing during winter.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Awar said:


> Thanks @ENC_Lawn!
> 
> The shrubs you're asking about are called "Little Giant Dwarf Arborvitae". Those are one of the favorite things we planted (we have some in the front too) as they require no attention and no shaping/trimming. Here's a closer pic. The larger ones were planted two years ago and the smaller ones were planted this spring. They grow up to 3' x 3' size, maintain a ball-shape, and have a dark green color except that they show some bronzing during winter.


 :thumbup:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Plugs update:

@ 16 weeks:


@ 17 weeks:


Just a couple of cool pics of my Swardman & backyard:


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Awar Swardsman and lawn are both looking on point!!! :nod: :thumbup:


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## DeepC (Aug 12, 2020)

Very nice! I like seeing the plugs fill in. That inspires me to do that on a couple spots. I assume you dont spray that area with pgr?


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

How's the war on Zoysia going? I can just barely make out your test areas but I don't see any zoysia in your pictures.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

DeepC said:


> Very nice! I like seeing the plugs fill in. That inspires me to do that on a couple spots. I assume you dont spray that area with pgr?


@DeepC The plugs completely filled in. I've been applying PGR to this area for the past 3 apps as that was the only way to suppress the seed heads and make it consistent with the rest of the lawn in terms of height-of-cut and color. The only real issue I have is that this area is still not level with the rest of the lawn. The center of the circle is still a little too high but I'm hoping it'll settle over the winter after more root decay (at least that's what I was told!)

Here's the front yard showing how the plugged area almost blends-in with the rest of the lawn. You can see a darker ring around the circumference of the circle that's still a mystery I haven't solved. The grass is definitely thicker there than anywhere else!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Redtwin said:


> How's the war on Zoysia going? I can just barely make out your test areas but I don't see any zoysia in your pictures.


@Redtwin most of the Zoysia in the areas I sprayed appears to have completely died. However I'm discovering some small patches that I missed, probably because they were either too small or because of the network of underground rhizomes that Greendoc warned me about when I said I did not want to broadcast spray!

It appears I need to do an app or two next year.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

11/10 (fall pic):

Proof that short cut bermuda stays green longer :mrgreen:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2021:*

I had some weird whitish/pinkish patches in my bermuda over the winter. One forum member suggested it was pink snow mold which is a fungus that can hit bermuda and cause dead spots after green-up:

2/12/2021:











3/14/2021 (front scalp):



3/20/2021 (back scalp + 1 week):



4/3/2021 (green-up domination):


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

5/2/2021 (spring dead spot hit the backyard :x):







4/29/2021 (front):



5/6/2021 (front):



5/6/2021 (back):


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

April 2021 (Patio Extension & Tile Project):


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Wow! That looks amazing. Does the Swardman make it through those tight turns?


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Redtwin said:


> Wow! That looks amazing. Does the Swardman make it through those tight turns?


Thanks @Redtwin yes I'm very happy with the Swardman it's very easy to maneuver around bends and obstacles but of course I still use my string trimmer for the final couple of inches (no power rotary scissors for me).


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

5/29/2021 (back) pre-mow:


5/29/2021 (side) pre-mow:


5/29/2021 (front) pre-mow - the circle where I removed a tree and plugged still looks different but mostly due to more seed heads in this area which gives it a white haze. Maybe the sand & soil mixture I used to prep this area changed the soil properties too? I hope this changes and it blends-in better as time goes... :? 


5/30/2021 (front) post-mow - from a rare opposite angle:


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Awar Lawn and patio looks great!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Awar Lawn and patio looks great!


Thanks! We're really enjoying the patio this year :thumbup:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

5/29/2021 - updates from our front landscape beds:


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

Is that one of the Black Diamond Crape Myrtles? I recently planted one (much smaller) interested to see how it does.


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## DeepC (Aug 12, 2020)

That's killer!! That has to be the best yard in the neighborhood?


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

DeepC said:


> That's killer!! That has to be the best yard in the neighborhood?


@DeepC Our neighborhood is pretty nice and several neighbors take care of their yards but I would proudly say our yard is the best if you rate it based on lawn & landscaping together. One of my neighbors is a professional landscaper and his yard is beautiful based on variety, uniqueness & layout of plants so I can't compete with him just on landscape alone! His front lawn is beautiful for being rotary cut specially after leveling this season. But he has a very poor backyard lawn as it's very shaded. He's trying to get into reel mowing but he listens to his wife more than most of us haha!



mha2345 said:


> Is that one of the Black Diamond Crape Myrtles? I recently planted one (much smaller) interested to see how it does.


@mha2345 Yes that's a black diamond crape myrtle that we planted almost 5 years ago. It's leaves are very dark (almost black) and it has hot pink (forgot the color name) flowers. Last year it got hit hard by aphids that I treated over & over which must have impacted its ability to flower (zero flowers last year). This year I treated systemically with Dominion twice so far and I expect that it will flower well. I'll post pics when it does, which is usually late June / early July.

I also have 2 other black diamonds but from a different variety so their leaves are not as dark as this one (more brownish), and their flowers are light pink. Got those from the big box store and they haven't impressed me much but I'll give them more time as they compete with larger trees right behind them.


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

mha2345 said:


> Is that one of the Black Diamond Crape Myrtles? I recently planted one (much smaller) interested to see how it does.





> @mha2345 Yes that's a black diamond crape myrtle that we planted almost 5 years ago. It's leaves are very dark (almost black) and it has hot pink (forgot the color name) flowers. Last year it got hit hard by aphids that I treated over & over which must have impacted its ability to flower (zero flowers last year). This year I treated systemically with Dominion twice so far and I expect that it will flower well. I'll post pics when it does, which is usually late June / early July.
> 
> I also have 2 other black diamonds but from a different variety so their leaves are not as dark as this one (more brownish), and their flowers are light pink. Got those from the big box store and they haven't impressed me much but I'll give them more time as they compete with larger trees right behind them.


Very nice, I got the Ebony Embers variety which I believe is supposed to be pink so perhaps it's the same one. I'm hoping it will grow to 10-12' like the tag says. I will have to keep the insect problem in mind!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

6/4/2021:
Best my lawn has ever looked? :mrgreen: 





Put down some milo - it's been 4 years since I last used this!


Enjoying the new patio :nod:


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Patio looks great. Grass ain't too shabby.

What material did you use for the patio? I feel like I saw a previous picture that was a poured concrete pad, but definitely doesn't appear that way.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Tmank87 said:


> Patio looks great. Grass ain't too shabby.
> 
> What material did you use for the patio? I feel like I saw a previous picture that was a poured concrete pad, but definitely doesn't appear that way.


@Tmank87 thanks! we extended our patio and made it one large concrete pad, then installed porcelain outdoor tile.

A few posts up you'll see a few pics of the extension before & after concrete & tile.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Awar said:


> Tmank87 said:
> 
> 
> > Patio looks great. Grass ain't too shabby.
> ...


Looks really nice. Great selection on the tile.


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Finally had a chance to do a quick mow late this morning after all the rain we've been getting. Lawn had grown too much in 6 days including a million seedheads so I broke the 1/3 rule. It still looks fine at 5/8" and the Swardman performed really well on wet grass for one pass:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

7/4/2021 (happy 4th mow :mrgreen:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

7/15/2021:


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## Cdub5_ (Jun 12, 2019)

@Awar Geez how do you get your hydrangea to bloom like that??? I don't think I've ever seen so many hydrangea flowers


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Cdub5_ said:


> @Awar Geez how do you get your hydrangea to bloom like that??? I don't think I've ever seen so many hydrangea flowers


@Cdub5_ Those are limelight hydrangeas and from my experience they don't need much, if any, care or maintenance. No fertilizer or anything applied other than what they get from my granular lawn fert apps.

Morning sun & afternoon shade works best! I first had that tree form limelight hydrangea in full sun and it didn't do well. The following spring I moved it and it did great.


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## Cdub5_ (Jun 12, 2019)

Awar said:


> Cdub5_ said:
> 
> 
> > @Awar Geez how do you get your hydrangea to bloom like that??? I don't think I've ever seen so many hydrangea flowers
> ...


I should look into getting one. I have several hydrangeas, but I don't know what brand they are, one may be an Endless Summer.

Your whole yard is just beautiful! Hope I can have a lawn and landscape look like that one day. Very well done!!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Cdub5_ said:


> I should look into getting one. I have several hydrangeas, but I don't know what brand they are, one may be an Endless Summer.
> 
> Your whole yard is just beautiful! Hope I can have a lawn and landscape look like that one day. Very well done!!


Thanks for the complements! :thumbup:

You should try those limelights. I picked mine up from Home Depot by the way. The brand was Proven Winners.


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## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

Lawn is looking great! Very solid progress this season!

This is my first season and I know I'm just spoiled, but the amount of rain we've been getting here in ATL has been wonderful for my water bill and I'm sure yours as well!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

littlehuman said:


> Lawn is looking great! Very solid progress this season!
> 
> This is my first season and I know I'm just spoiled, but the amount of rain we've been getting here in ATL has been wonderful for my water bill and I'm sure yours as well!


Thanks! :thumbup: Rain has been great for the most part, but I hate when you have a full week of 50-60% chance of rain as it makes it difficult to plan your mowing schedule, let alone PGR applications and other things!


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## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

Awar said:


> littlehuman said:
> 
> 
> > Lawn is looking great! Very solid progress this season!
> ...


No joke. Especially when that 60% could be either .1" or 1.5" in a half hour lol


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

*2022*

It's been a while since posting any updates so here we go :mrgreen:

First & foremost, this year I did not suffer from spring dead spot like last year. I applied Kabuto fungicide as recommended by @Ware on this forum, and it seems to have worked perfectly!

3/31/2022 (spring scalp):



5/11/2022 (pre-leveling scalp):



5/12/2022 (aeration & leveling):
I used Amigos Land Care and they did a good job. They did 5 homes in our neighborhood in 2 days so we got a good discount. They usually use river sand, but based on my previous experience with pebbles in river sand, I had them use white (masonary) sand from green brothers in Marietta, GA, which was very clean.











Recovery:
@1 day


@7 days


@11 days


5/24/2022:



5/27/2022:







Retaining Wall:

We had this 100+ ft long retaining wall built this spring too. Finally I don't need to spend 20 minutes picking up mulch before every mow :lol:


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## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

It recovered really well from the sanding - looks like the crew did good work for you.

Solid work on the wall as well! How much did that run you?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

@Awar congrats on beating the SDS! Kabuto is not cheap so I am cautious to recommend it, but it worked really well for me - and now you!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

littlehuman said:


> It recovered really well from the sanding - looks like the crew did good work for you.
> 
> Solid work on the wall as well! How much did that run you?


Material cost was about $1500 total including the blocks, drainage, glue, crushed gravel, 5 tons of top soil, and 40 bags of mulch. Labor was almost $2500. We also did a drainage pipe behind the wall that collects water and routes it into the nearby storm drain. Labor cost was high because it was over 105ft in length so the prep work was labor intensive despite the short height, and the curves required cutting the blocks one by one because they are rectangular unlike other retaining wall blocks on the market that allow making curves without cutting (but require caps on top). The project was at least $1000 more than what I wanted to pay but I got multiple quotes and nobody is willing to do work for a reasonable rate anymore :roll:



Ware said:


> @Awar congrats on beating the SDS! Kabuto is not cheap so I am cautious to recommend it, but it worked really well for me - and now you!


It worked great! Thanks for the recommendation! :thumbup:


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

Mid summer update: This is how she looked like around mid July:





I decided to do a HOC reset on July 27th. Let's see how she comes back:




For some reason the lighter green areas, mostly in front of the patio, scalp differently and show much more brown when I cut off too much. I've always questioned why those areas were lighter green or more like lime green... The shape makes me think the sod was a different tifway 419 variety because in a one area an almost perfect straight line separates the two colors and in other areas it's I almost see the lighter green squares :?


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

End of August update:

First double cut this season (except for scalps). Almost forgot that it only takes 15 extra minutes to do the diagonal mow. Worth it for the stripes alone :mrgreen:


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Awar Absolutely Beautiful!

Great job!


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## Awar (Feb 25, 2019)

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Awar Absolutely Beautiful!
> 
> Great job!


Thanks!


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