# Owens' Backyard Renovation (3,100sqft)



## Owens01 (May 7, 2020)

Hello all,

So i started this journey back in the fall of 2019, when i moved into this old property that my grandma has owned for years. She used to rent it out to people, but nobody has lived in it in at least 8 years, and the last family that did pretty much destroyed the place inside and out. Years ago, a family who lived here planted all sorts of bushes, ivy, put up a privacy fence, and never took care of it after doing so. As you can see, it was terribly overgrown, and i kick myself for not taking lots of before pictures, but i mainly just wanted to get started and get it done.

*Summary:*
Plan in the beginning was to remove all the old shrubs and overgrown bushes, put privacy fence up, level with dirt and topsoil, and then to get down a 50/50 Mazama/Midnight mix this fall - and keep it at about 1.5/2".

*Plan:*
-Finish getting fence up.
-Level yard with dirt and topsoil.
-Take a soil test.
-Seed down this fall with Mazama/Midnight mix.

Here are the Google Maps pictures of what it looked like when overgrown: (Pictures show the topview, and each outside from the street angle)







*Early December:*
My grandfather is an excavator and has his own backhoe. So whenever it got dry enough we began pulling all the old fencing, old shrubs and small trees out of the ground. In total, we hauled 15 dump truck loads of it away to the dump. Here are some pictures of right after we hauled it off.








You can see here where the grass and dirt meet each other... The shrubs and weeds were grown to this point - probably 15 feet off of the fence line.

*This Spring:*
This Spring is when the hard work really began. My wife decided she wanted a privacy fence put back around where the old shrubs were, so we prepared for that by taking down the shrubs and a few trees along the way.







*Today - June 28:*
And here's where we are today. We have most of the fence up, but we came to a little problem. The ground where this last side of the fence will be, sits up much higher than the rest of the fence. So i have began to till much of it to dig a trench. Im using this dirt i till up to fill the low spots in the middle of the yard so i dont need as much dirt hauled in.









As you can see, it has been one helluva process just to get where we are today. I wish i would have documented it more throughout the process, but it is what it is. I will continue to update as we go and looking forward to get seed down this fall!


----------



## Owens01 (May 7, 2020)

Due for an update here. Been busy this summer with some inside renovations as well as outside, along with law school. Not a good mix. Anyways, here we go.

Late July, we finally got the rest of the fence up. There were a few weeks where it was so muddy from all the storms we had that we had to put it on hold.

Early August, i began applying roundup and killing the weeds and grass left in the yard. After a few applications, i was able to drag the yard to fill in some of the low spots.

Here are pictures with fence finished and yard after i dragged it:


----------



## Owens01 (May 7, 2020)

August 18: 
-There were still a few issues with low spots in the yard, so i dragged it again to move some of the dirt around and to break up the top layer to prepare for seed.
-After dragging, applied more roundup.

August 21:
-Raked the soil around some more to break it up, if it wasn't already.
-Seeded with my 50/50 Mazama/Midnight mix, raked it in, and then rolled it.
-Applied Scott's starter fert with tenacity, along with some milogranite.
-Blanket covered it all with 12 bails of peat moss. Which worked and looked pretty good.

August 26:
-We got a really big thunderstorm which blew the peat moss all over the place (Pictures below), and i thought the reno was done for.

August 27: 
-The very next day there was germination.

August 31:
-Pictures are from today to showcase the germination and what the wind and storm did to my peat moss (and some seed i assume).







I think the storm pretty much screwed up the entire reno, but i am hopeful that seed will continue to germinate as we go.


----------



## Owens01 (May 7, 2020)

Next plan, following the renovation guide: (Please feel free to critique and add suggestions)

September 10:
-Apply Urea at 0.2lbs/sqft

September 17:
-Seed the bare areas and adjust the irrigation a bit.

September 19:
-Apply tenacity (maybe apply when seeding the bare areas instead?)

September 24:
-Mow at 2in. 
-Apply more Urea and maybe another app of milogranite.

October 11:
-Apply more Urea, and order pre-emergent.

October 26:
-Get pre-emergent down.


----------

