# Kman6234's Backyard Renovation



## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new member who has followed the forum for a while now but am just starting to contribute. I live in Bergen County NJ (zone 7a)

We moved to our current house 2 years ago after doing some major renovation work on it. The yard was a mess and mostly crabgrass and other weeds as well as bare dirt from dumpsters and other construction equipment.

Due to everything I've learned on TLF and youtube I have managed to turn my lawn into one of the nicer lawns in town. But like a lot of us the more I learned and improved my lawn the more I moved the goal posts as to what I wanted.

I decided I'm at the point now where I'm ready to start renovating. Since this will be my first renovation I decided to keep it manageable and only do my backyard (1800sf) this year. Then next year and the year after I will tackle my sideyard (1800sf) and front yard (4000sf). I've decided to go with SS5000 seed and am excited to see what our new lawn will look like.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Just wanted to post a few pics of the space I'll be renovating. When we moved in there was a line of paper birch trees along the fence. Unfortunately they were angled towards the house and totally shaded out everything in the backyard. We had them taken out and I planted a row of Skip Laurels this spring that I'll grow into a hedge. The yard gets a lot more sun now.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here is a log of what I have done already….

7/26 - Sprayed 1st round of glyphosate 
8/6 - Mowed with lowest setting to scalp & bag
8/7 - Sprayed 2nd round of glyphosate

Here is what it looks like at the moment…


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

This weekend I removed the dead grass and spread 7 yards of top soil to regrade around the patio edge and the major low points.

I'm pretty happy with the grade now and think i will have a nice seed bed.

I have started fallowing and am planning on dropping seed 8/26. In retrospect I have learned I should have started sooner as ideally I would have been putting my seed down this weekend. Next years side yard reno will be started a month earlier and won't involve regrading so should give me plenty of time to fallow and get seed down by 8/15ish.

Here are some pics of the progress…


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## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

It looks like you got yourself some really good topsoil. Good luck on your reno!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Beautiful backyard! It reminds me of an English garden layout. When you're looking for seeding supplies, try a bag of Espoma Biotone 4-3-3, to drop with your seed. It's an organic slow release fertilizer (from NJ) that's great for seeding and adding OM. I've used it at work with good results in a sandy soil. Then again, that dark topsoil looks great, so you already have a great start! I'll be following. Also, I love the variety of trees that your neighbors have. It looks like they provide some shade/relief from the summer sun. Be sure to mulch all those leaves in the fall, to save that good OM (get a Gator blade for the mower). Good luck! :thumbup:


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks for the tips and encouragement! I will definitely checkout the biotone for when I drop the seed. I typically mulch mow with my super recycler with good results. I definitely tend to mulch as much of the leaves as possible, as long as they aren't too thick.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Was curious if anyone could ID this grass or weed? I have a couple of these clumps that seem like they are resistant to glyphosate. They are pretty spikey and almost pine needle like or stalky. Luckily I don't have much of them so I can just hand pull them.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

That looks like a sedge (i.e. Yellow or Purple Nutsedge). If the cross-section is triangular or V-shaped and the leaf blade has a waxy surface, those are also identifiers of a sedge. If waxy, add a surfactant (see Cool Season Guide) to the glyphosate. A little dish soap can help, if you don't have a NIS or MSO (see glossary for acronyms). Some (not sure if all sedges) have "nutlets", which are little balls on the roots. If you find them, be careful pulling, to get all of them, so they don't spread.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks Chris! It does look like some sort of sedge to me. Another possibility is wild garlic. I put my pic into a plant ID app and thats what it came back as. Either way I'm going to dig them out and make sure I get every bit of it.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

My body has recovered from last weekends hard work and the weed seeds are starting to sprout during the fallowing. Really glad I learned about fallowing here on TLF. Wish I would have started sooner to allow for a longer fallow, but this backyard reno is my first and any tips I learn will be useful during the future renovations of my side and front lawns.


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## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

kman6234 said:


> My body has recovered from last weekends hard work and the weed seeds are starting to sprout during the fallowing. Really glad I learned about fallowing here on TLF. Wish I would have started sooner to allow for a longer fallow, but this backyard reno is my first and any tips I learn will be useful during the future renovations of my side and front lawns.


Absolutely. I had to bring in additional topsoil and didn't have the chance to fallow for as long as I would have liked. I've got quite a bit of crud coming up in my Reno area that I would rather not see!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Grabbed my rake this morning while I was watching my youngest play in the backyard. Lightly raked up the rocks and sticks into piles to get the cleanest seed bed possible


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Glad I decided to fallow a bit and not drop seed yet. Thought Henri was passing well east of us but it ended up dumping a lot of rain here last night. The wagon in this pic below was filled to the brim this morning when I woke up! On a positive note, it looks like the top soil I brought in held up and the overall regrading is looking good.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Tomorrow's the big day. Just measured out my seed and will do my final gly app tonight.







Tomorrow morning I will do a light raking, spread the seed, spray tenacity and then top dress with peat moss.


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## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Looking good NJ brother! Good luck with seed down! I found the hardest part of my seeding yesterday with KBG is that the seeds are so small it is hard to see if you have enough on the ground in some spots.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

MJR12284 said:


> Looking good NJ brother! Good luck with seed down! I found the hardest part of my seeding yesterday with KBG is that the seeds are so small it is hard to see if you have enough on the ground in some spots.


Thanks MJR! I was looking at the seed really close and it's definitely crazy how much smaller the KBG seeds are compared to the PRG in my mix.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Today was the big day…. I started early (6:30am) to try and beat out the the 92F heat.

I started off with a light raking of the soil with my dethatching rake to loosen the topsoil up. Honestly, I didn't want to do this but I'm too invested in this reno to cut corners and wanted to make sure the seed bed wasn't too hard



After that I spread 7.5#s of SS5000 with my scotts spreader. This was definitely my favorite part of the reno so far!



After that I lightly raked the seed into the soil…



Then I sprayed tenacity. This was the only part of today that I wasn't thrilled with. Felt like I was a little heavy at first and then had to speed up my pace halfway through. Hopefully this doesn't hurt the seed.

Once the tenacity was done I covered everything with the peat moss by hand. It was during this process where I started to question my sanity. It didn't help that the sun and humidity started to get to me then. I didnt quit though and powered through.

My wife questioned why I had to be doing all this on a day so hot and humid. I thought about explaining the intricacies of the lawn reno process and how I'm already two weeks behind and living on the edge but decided to just grab a well deserved homebrew instead.





Last but not least I started up the sprinkler and gave everything a good soak…



Looking forward to seeing the lawn grow in now!


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

Haha... Enjoy The Mow Cream Ale. Love it! Congrats on the seed down and best of luck!


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## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Congrats! Awesome prep work! All worth it once you see the results.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

Great job looks fantastic we'll deserved cold beer


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## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

That home brew is on point! I hear you loud and clear questioning your sanity while spreading peat moss by hand! At what rate did you spray your tenacity? The first time I sprayed at the 4oz/acre rate and had a similar experience of needing to speed up at the end, everything turned out just fine and I'm sure you'll be fine as well. Congrats, your surface looks great.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

+1 on the congrats for a job nicely well done! :thumbsup:

I'm glad you got to give both you and the reno a good soak. :beer:

Also, kudos on the cool tap handles!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks everyone!

It's been two days since seed went down and we've had 2 thunderstorms roll in on us so far. Luckily the rain wasn't torrential or super long lasting. There was some pooling / puddles in some spots but I don't think much would have washed away. We still have storms in the forecast the next few days so I will keep holding my breath!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Liquidstone said:


> That home brew is on point! I hear you loud and clear questioning your sanity while spreading peat moss by hand! At what rate did you spray your tenacity? The first time I sprayed at the 4oz/acre rate and had a similar experience of needing to speed up at the end, everything turned out just fine and I'm sure you'll be fine as well. Congrats, your surface looks great.


Hi Liquidstone, my goal was to spray the tenacity at the 4oz/acre rate as well. Thanks for sharing your experience. Definitely reassuring to know your seeds turned out fine!


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## jwill (Jun 12, 2018)

Great prep work. Congrats on seed down!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Happy to report I have some sprouts as of this morning!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

When would you guys typically start counting DAG? I'm using SS5000 seed which is 20% PRG, 60% KBG & 20% Chewings fescue so it's probably the PRG sprouting now as opposed to the KBG.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Grass babies! :yahoo:


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

kman6234 said:


> When would you guys typically start counting DAG? I'm using SS5000 seed which is 20% PRG, 60% KBG & 20% Chewings fescue so it's probably the PRG sprouting now as opposed to the KBG.


It's definitely the PRG you see I would not start counting yet. The PRG will help hold everything together if more rain comes


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## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

Congrats on the grass babies!!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks everyone! It's nice to see some growth. Even if it is just the PRG. Tomorrow things will get interesting here in jersey with Ida coming through. 4-8 inches of rain expected here in Bergen County. I'll be praying the path shifts away from us!


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

Looking good! Can't wait to see the results. Wish I could get good topsoil like that. We don't have anything like that in Utah at the moment. I tried to find something like that and all I can get is screened clay with compost mixed in it.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

So Ida hit us hard last night. My son's weather station recorded 6.5" of rain. Luckily the worst of it was at night so I couldn't see the destruction happening. I could only hear the rain pounding the roof and think this isn't good! Lol



I was feeling really good about the progress the grass was making but now I'm second guessing myself.

I surveyed the damage a few minutes ago… the good news is it seems like most of the grass that sprouted is still in place. I can even see a bunch that is just poking through the soil.

The bad news is a bunch of the grass seems like it got pounded and it's laying flat on the ground. I'm going to let things dry out today and hopefully some of these will pop back up. I also had some top soil wash out into my flower beds but I can fix that once I have a lawn.

At this point I'm just worried about the KBG seed and whether that washed out. I think I'm going to wait until Saturday morning and make a decision to throw down more seed.


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

:shocked: Damn. That's so unfortunate. I saw Brooklyn was buried under several feet of rain. Crazy downpour.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Yeah I really can't complain much. Just a lawn after all. I'm lucky to have escaped any damage or flooding to my house. This was in the town over from me….



I'm going to take today, mow my front lawn, have a beer and re-evaluate the backyard renovation tomorrow morning.


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)




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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Ok finally got the heart to take some pics…









Overall it's probably not as bad as I imagined. I still see a bunch of new sprouts just peeking through so hopefully thats some KBG that didn't get washed out. I'm thinking about waiting another week and then just seeding the bare areas again. At this point it's hard to tell if seed got washed out or if the KBG is just taking its time. Im only 8 days after seed down.

I debated throwing down more seed this weekend and some more peat moss but I wouldn't want to rake and step on everything thats there already.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here are some pics 12 days after seed down.
I decided not to wait, so on Saturday I threw down some more seed and peat on spots that looked thin and washed away from Ida. Knock on wood it looks like we have a decent stretch of good weather ahead.


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## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

This looks like it is coming in real well!


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## lbb091919 (Apr 26, 2020)

Agreed! This is looking fantastic at 12 days after seed


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## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Great coverage and even germination throughout. Will only get better from here!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks everyone! I'm really excited about the progress and can't wait to start mowing!


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

Looking great! That rich soil looks like it's feeding that new stand well. Wish I could get something that good.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

A little PRG mixed into the blend always helps a little keeping things together and a moral boost with it's quick germination


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Woke up yesterday morning and noticed some fungus in one particular area. Luckily nothing widespread. So I backed off the watering to let things dry out a bit and bought some disease ex which I just put down. We were supposed to get more drenching storms last night but my area luckily seemed to avoid anything significant.

I'm going to start watering with the hose and sprayer in the afternoons so I can focus only on spots that need it.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here is what everything is looking like today at 16 DAS and 10 DAG…







I also just picked up this manual reel mower to use on the first few mows. One thing I learned during this renovation is that having the right tools is worth investing in. I'm definitely going to be getting a roller, peat moss spreader and dethatcher for my front and side yard renos in future years.



I plan on starting the spoon feeding either tomorrow or Monday and think I will do the first mow soon as well. It's hard to tell when to mow bc the PRG is a couple inches but the KBG is still short.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

That's really taking shape! Maybe wait a smidge longer to mow, so the ground is more stable. You can start to back off the watering, and supplement with hand watering the spot seeded areas to keep them moist.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Thanks Chris! I will hold off mowing for now. I have already backed off on the watering. I've been making sure the grass blades are drying out before the sun goes down.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

I put down .25 # of N this morning and 3oz /k of RGS.

I also hand pulled a bunch of weeds. Nothing too bad though. My tenacity pre-m barrier was definitely washed away by Ida unfortunately.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Just finished my first mow. I used the manual reel mower and it worked great. I figured it was worth mowing down the PRG at this point so the KBG wouldn't get shaded too bad. All in all, despite the washouts and the manual labor I'm really happy and excited about the results so far!


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

Oh yeah it's looking amazing considering the water you received.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

It looks very strong. Do you have an update? Did the fert kick? Did you make another spoonfeed app?


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Chris LI said:


> It looks very strong. Do you have an update? Did the fert kick? Did you make another spoonfeed app?


Hi Chris,

Here's another update as of this morning. I mowed again this morning with my manual reel mower (which I really enjoy using!). Overall I think it's looking great. Fungus issues seem to have cleared up. I plan on putting down my 2nd .25# of N tomorrow morning.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

The Second to last pic on my last post is the sun light coming through the trees. It makes the grass look like poa or some different color but its all the same


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

This reno is looking really great.. first time I've seen it..


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## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

How are we looking here Kman?


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

MJR12284 said:


> How are we looking here Kman?


Looking good. Here are some pics from this morning…. I've been continuing my apps of .25# N/week and mowing 2 to 3 times a week. I just raised the height up a bit on my reel mower. Very happy with the results so far.


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## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

This is looking THICK! You've got a new lawn! Congrats! What is your HOC? And do you plan on keeping it there or will you be reel moving in the future?


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

MJR12284 said:


> This is looking THICK! You've got a new lawn! Congrats! What is your HOC? And do you plan on keeping it there or will you be reel moving in the future?


I had been cutting it at about 1 inch for the first few weeks. I just raised the HOC to 1.75 inches which is the highest my reel mower will go. I'm having fun with the manual reel mower and at this point I think I will stick with it for my backyard.

Once I renovate the rest of my property (front 4000 sqft & side 2000 sqft) I might try going all out and getting a greens mower but that won't be until a few more years have past.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Today the sprinklers got winterized and the lawn got another mow. The reel mower is nice because I can just give it a quick cut while I'm outside watching the kids. Here are some pics as of today. Got one patch where I think a deer actually ate. Other then that everything looks pretty good.


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

This reno is definitely a success. I know there are more challenges having a lawn which receives shade/fall leaves rather than a lawn that gets sun all the time, so I respect how you've managed to get this renovation looking so good. Will be even better as it matures.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

SNOWBOB11 said:


> This reno is definitely a success. I know there are more challenges having a lawn which receives shade/fall leaves rather than a lawn that gets sun all the time, so I respect how you've managed to get this renovation looking so good. Will be even better as it matures.


Thanks Snowbob! I've been diligent about going out with the backpack blower every other day to blow the leaves off.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

I agree. It's definitely a success! I'm a huge fan of leaf mulching. However, in your situation, with a first year reno, I would bag the leaves (and save them in a compost pile). Blowing the leaves off is a good idea. The chances of matting down the seedlings is not worth the benefits of the OM. If you wanted a little OM, you could mulch on the first pass and bag on the second pass.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Chris LI said:


> I agree. It's definitely a success! I'm a huge fan of leaf mulching. However, in your situation, with a first year reno, I would bag the leaves (and save them in a compost pile). Blowing the leaves off is a good idea. The chances of matting down the seedlings is not worth the benefits of the OM. If you wanted a little OM, you could mulch on the first pass and bag on the second pass.


Thanks Chris! I definitely prefer mulching the leaves in and will definitely be doing it next year since it's what I typically do!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

We had our first frost this morning so things are definitely starting to slow down growth wise. I decided to mow the back with the super recycler and striping kit today and took some pics. Will probably have to keep up on the leaves and mow a bit more for the next few weeks but the season is definitely coming to a close. Can't express how happy I am with my backyard. Thanks to everyone here at the lawn forum!


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

Looking great!


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## Betucker3 (Sep 28, 2021)

kman6234 said:


> We had our first frost this morning so things are definitely starting to slow down growth wise. I decided to mow the back with the super recycler and striping kit today and took some pics. Will probably have to keep up on the leaves and mow a bit more for the next few weeks but the season is definitely coming to a close. Can't express how happy I am with my backyard. Thanks to everyone here at the lawn forum!


What striping kit are you using on your recycler if you don't mind me asking?


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

I'm just using toro's striping kit. It works very well IMO.

https://www.mowersdirect.com/Toro-20601/p8099.html?utm_term=0catch8099


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Finally starting to feel like spring over here. I put down my PreM a couple days ago to take advantage of the rain showers. Sprinkler system won't be turned on until next month so I have to work with Mother Nature.

The lawn is definitely starting to green up. Took these pics a week ago and the grass is significantly greener today. Looking forward to the first full season with the renovated backyard! This year I will be focusing on renovating my side yard, so I will post a separate thread for that soon.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here are a couple pics I took today. I want to document how fast everything greens up for future comparison. Next week seems like it will be the first time this year where we will have temps above 60 for multiple days in a row. Hoping that will jumpstart everything. Yesterday I changed the oil in my mower and sharpened the blade. Looking forward to mowing!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Everything has finally woken up and is starting to look good. Still a couple areas that are thickening up but overall I'm very happy and am going to start focusing on my side yard reno.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here are some pics I took today. Everything has pretty much filled in and is looking nice!


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## livt0ride (Jan 10, 2021)

Looking good &#128077;


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Here's some recent pics of last year's renovation. Since the last pics I've recut the beds which made for some nice clean lines. Overall we had a major dry spell here that recently broke with a few big storms and a heatwave. So far I think it's holding up nicely. I just sprayed my 1st round of gly on this years side yard renovation so I will be creating a new thread for that.


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

It's been a full year now and everything is looking great. I have a few areas I'm going to plug next week but really loving having a nice backyard lawn for once!


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## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Starting to notice a few spots of bent grass in the backyard now. Definitely a bit annoyed but they are very small and now I’m super vigilant and on top of it. Only an OCD lawn person would notice this so I’m going to let it be and enjoy the overall great looking backyard the rest of this fall. I have a big college reunion happening in two weeks so I want the lawn looking good. I think I’ll do a tenacity treatment next spring to nip it in the bud. I still have to reno my main front lawn next year and that’s probably where the bent spread from. Hopefully once I reno the front I’ll have the upper hand on it.


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