# KBG front yard reno



## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Hey guys. My name is Mike and I have quietly lurked around here for a couple years now. I watch the big YouTube guys and what not but I've pulled more information from these forums than I have anywhere else. Because of that, I want to give back and share my renovation to hopefully inspire someone like I was or help someone that needs that little extra push to do a reno of their own. I'm no expert though, so I'm also looking for critique and maybe an answer to "what's next?" from the vets.

I'll start with where I began. My first summer in the house I realized quickly my front lawn was the worst looking on my street. I didn't care. My mowing habits were bad and mowing was the only thing I cared to do with it...when I had to. Summer came and went then before I knew it spring time was back and I had to drag the mower back out as I huffed and puffed. Early spring last year my neighbor loved bragging about his lawn and how good he was with taking care of it lol. His looked good and mine looked crap. My competitive spirit kicked into action immediately and I worked tirelessly in the lawn and even more so here in the forums archiving as much information as I possibly could. I ended up turning my lawn around into something pretty respectable.

Here are a few pictures of my attempt at bringing my grass back to life during that summer...


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Not a bad turn around from where I began but at the end of last summer I still wasn't happy and made up my mind I was going to do a complete renovation. Something I wasn't comfortable with at all whatsoever but kept reading and learning and finally built the confidence to say "hey, I can do this"

This last summer I didn't put too much into the lawn knowing that I was going to kill it all in the fall anyway but I still couldn't neglect it all year. End of July beginning Aug this year is where I began. My goal was to have seed down August 15th.

Still extremely nervous to kill all my grass I just WENT FOR IT! Using a line and stake I made a make shift property line then used a half sheet of plywood to prevent over spray with the glyphosate onto my neighbors property. It took 2 applications to completely kill it all.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Once the grass was completely dead I ran my lawn mower over it at the lowest setting scalping it. After scalped I rented an aerator to go over it with. Naively I didn't believe how tough an aerator is to run. That machine was no joke.

Scalped and aerated..


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

I had some low areas I wanted to fix as best as possible and I wanted to smooth it out so I ordered 4 yards of topsoil to be delivered. Once I got to the end of the pile of top soil I knew I didn't order near enough so I ordered another 4 yards. Dispersed the top soil one wheelbarrow at a time then used a metal garden rake to level it out.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Once I got the top soil spread and was happy with it I rented a roller to go over the lawn with. I found this to be a somewhat tedious process. After rolling the soil the uneven areas, humps etc were much more noticeable. My OCD got the better of me here as I tried to get it perfect but after a while I became satisfied that I'm not going to get it perfect. Still proud of my efforts. This is about the time I started to feel more comfortable with what I was doing but I was still nervous as heck. Will my new grass grow? Am I too early/late? What if it looks worse than it did before? I was worried.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

I hit my mark right on the money. I threw down my grass seed on August 15th exactly. The grass I used was 100% Midnight KBG from Outsidepride.com. At the time of seeding I also applied Scott's starter fertilizer with weed control. The wheel marks from my spreader in the soil irritated me a little bit and I had already returned the roller. I decided to just roll with it and see what happens. Let the watering begin.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Between my kids wanting to play in the dirt and my dogs getting loose having the time of their lives in the mud I noticed sprouts starting to appear in only 6 days. 6 days later???

August 21st..


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

August 28th. Simply watering and watching it grow. 2 weeks after seeding...


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

The pre emergent in the Scotts wore off a lot quicker than advertised and I started getting some weed sprouts that I've never seen before. Looked like corn stalks growing lol. Someone had mentioned it looked like Johnson grass and after a little bit of reading about Johnson grass I went out and hand picked every one of them.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

September 10th was my first cut. Sharpened my blades up and went for it. After the first cut I stepped back and I could finally let out a sigh of relief my hard work is really starting to show and pay off.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Here is where I am at today. 1.5 months after killing everything.

What should I be doing to prepare for winter at this point?


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## CoopyHarry (Sep 26, 2020)

Brother. That looks great &#128077;&#127996; well done. You should be proud of that

Hopefully more experienced folks can chime in on the next couple months of care for it before winter


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

That looks great - it's a really consistent, even result judging by the photos.... Makes me wonder if all of the additional topsoil evened our the growing conditions for all of the new seedlings... Love it!


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## Seacow1500 (May 22, 2020)

Nice job. Looks great. I'm glad to hear someone else has OCD about the little things.


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## Mmcgrouty (Sep 21, 2020)

Looks great. Good things happen when you put the work in.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

great job!!!


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Nice job. Follow the fall N blitz if you haven't been already. Not much else to do this late in the season.


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## Mdjamesd (Sep 5, 2019)

Nitrogen blitz, and start looking at Pre-M for next spring!


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## Cdub5_ (Jun 12, 2019)

Good job, well done!!
Like you I am a novice and am currently in the "waiting phase" of a SPF-30 Hybrid Bluegrass renovation. Hope my yard turns out nice as yours


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## Sinclair (Jul 25, 2017)

Welcome and nice job!

This is a great start to a journal - @Ware can move it over for you if you so desire.


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## Gaddis (Oct 18, 2018)

Congratulations! It looks like your reno is a complete success! Regarding getting ready for winter, I would agree with the previous recommendations of the Nitrogen blitz via spoon feeding once a week if possible. Order up some prodiamine (pre emergent) for the spring and get it down when your soil temps get close to 55 degrees. With all that top soil you brought it, it's bound to be loaded with some not so fun weed seeds that you may battle a little next season.


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## jtuber (Sep 15, 2020)

I love the pictures. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to the post. A lot of people posted about reno but they lacked pics showing the stages.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

What's up lawn junkies? 

I am the worst when it comes to keeping forum posts updated so my apologies for that.

I wanted to to update to keep a record of things for myself and I'm also hoping some of you experts will chime to share thoughts, and hopefully some recommendations.

It's still too early to know if I love or hate the 100%KBG. At the end of last season my grass was looking fantastic in my opinion aside from my side yard. It just didn't come in too well and had many more weeds than the front lawn. That side doesn't get as much sunlight and holds quite a bit of water so I'm wondering if one, or both of those issues could be the culprit? Here are a few photos of the lawn through most of the summer.


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

This brings me to today. My lawn seems to have taken a step backwards this year and isn't looking so fresh. It literally hasn't grown at all this year. Most of my neighbors have had to cut multiple times. I'm over here jealous, wishing I could! It's greening, just not growing. There seems to be a lot more bare areas as well after this past winter.

Is it normal for KBG to take this long to get going? Last spring at this time, it was flourishing. I really love the look of 100% KBG but wondering if I should add something else in with it if it's going to struggle this way every year. We have had an unusually cold spring this year, I will add. I'm a bit disheartened, after all the time and work I put in renovating, only to watch my neighbors grass thrive while my lawn struggles right now. I'll soon today post a few photos of what I am working with at the moment.

Looking forward to any insight and tips you guys may have. Thanks for looking!

Mike


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## NSGTMike (May 13, 2019)

Currently...


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## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Did you do any kind of nitrogen blitz last fall? Have you fed it at all this spring yet?


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## Don_Julio (Aug 16, 2021)

I have some issues with my Reno as well. Very minor after it looked great during the fall. But after winter and now Spring I see some areas that are thin and haven't greened fully. I just put down a some Stress Blend last week and hoping these areas wake up. I will be spoon feeding Urea soon. It's definitely discouraging after all that work.


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## Don_Julio (Aug 16, 2021)

Doesn't look bad I'll will update with the closer up pics of what it's looking like.


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## SnootchieBootchies (Mar 23, 2021)

NSGTMike said:


> This brings me to today. My lawn seems to have taken a step backwards this year and isn't looking so fresh. It literally hasn't grown at all this year. Most of my neighbors have had to cut multiple times. I'm over here jealous, wishing I could! It's greening, just not growing. There seems to be a lot more bare areas as well after this past winter.
> 
> Is it normal for KBG to take this long to get going? Last spring at this time, it was flourishing. I really love the look of 100% KBG but wondering if I should add something else in with it if it's going to struggle this way every year. We have had an unusually cold spring this year, I will add. I'm a bit disheartened, after all the time and work I put in renovating, only to watch my neighbors grass thrive while my lawn struggles right now. I'll soon today post a few photos of what I am working with at the moment.
> 
> ...


Mine wakes up latter than my fescue dominated back yard. KBG needs N input in spring and I dont have to do that with my fescue/Rye/KBG mix.

That being said, yours looks like shade attrition and I'd probably introduce some Mazama or other shade tolerant KBG to it. Alternative would be Summer TTTF cultivar which is remarkably very KBG like and a great compliment to KBG. Greens up very fast in spring without any inputs.


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## SnootchieBootchies (Mar 23, 2021)

Don_Julio said:


> Doesn't look bad I'll will update with the closer up pics of what it's looking like.


KBG will take one full growing season to look great. Sure, fall of Reno your pride kicks in, but the grass doesn't get it's dark color or desired thickness until the following fall, maybe even second spring. KBG is a journey, not a sprint.


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## Don_Julio (Aug 16, 2021)

SnootchieBootchies said:


> Don_Julio said:
> 
> 
> > Doesn't look bad I'll will update with the closer up pics of what it's looking like.
> ...


Mines is 90% TTTF and only 10 percent KBG. I got the seeds from Unitedseeds so I know it's quality. It darkened up a lot last fall when I was spoon feeding Urea weekly. I'm probably gonna wait another week to start doing the same. The StressBlend I put down is a 7-0-24. And I put it down more for the potassium.

&#129764;&#129764;


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## SnootchieBootchies (Mar 23, 2021)

Don_Julio said:


> SnootchieBootchies said:
> 
> 
> > Don_Julio said:
> ...


Probably not best to post your stuff in a KBG centric thread then.


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