# JMills Bermuda lawn journal



## mills4090 (Nov 22, 2021)

Original sod laid by landscaping contractor Sept 11,2021 at our new construction build. This was the original landscaping for our new house. The sod rooted well, and established itself before going dormant in late November about a week before thanksgiving.

New sod installed sept, 2021 (Bermuda-don't know what kind?)





I did little to the sod between it being installed and going dormant. Mostly water and one application of about a half a bag of humichar.

I cut my bermuda the last time for the winter November 20, 2021.

First cut of 2022, and my initial scalping March 20th. I scalped the lawn at 1.5" (lowest I could get without my push mower digging in badly) The lawn obviously has some really bad unlevel/rutted spots. I also sprayed a cheap "weed killer" from TSC. It did absolutely nothing to the weeds.

April 3rd



April 4th-applied Scott's 3 in 1 pre emergent, followed but a washout rain the following day. I had a ton of grassy weeds that I've still yet to clearly identify.







At the recommendation of a friend I visited a local fertilizer supplier who got me fertilizers they felt that matched what my UGA soil test recommended.

4/12/22-spread regal 8-22-22 with blue chip. 1/2 bag on the Bermuda. 25lbs

Did very little besides water and mow in April. The grassy weeds mentioned earlier were a real problem. I could mow on Monday and by Friday the weeds would be a foot tall with the grass not needing to be mowed. After much deliberation (and because I could never clearly identify them) I decided to "paint" the weeds with gly. 2 hours of tedious work on a Sunday am and the results have been fantastic! I'd say I got 70% of the weeds with the gly after a couple weeks time to work thoroughly.





The next application recommended by the local folks was to wait either 4 weeks from the original fert app or until the grass was 75% green. 
2nd application 5/9/22
Regal

I had a big bare area of dirt that I didn't get around to seeding in the fescue last fall, and it slopes into my Bermuda. Over the winter all the rain washed a lot of silt down into my bermuda. So this spring I decided the solution would be to sod that area with bermuda as well. I got 12 pallets of tiftuf bermuda down on May 6th. The sod came in great shape, with only probably 100-200 sq ft in less than ideal condition. All the sod was laid in a day and I began watering. Watering is simply not feasible in the morning for me without irrigation, so I was forced to water at night. I ran the sprinklers for 30 min to a hour at a time nightly since the day it was laid, and two or three times on the weekends since then. 
Before:



Install and after:







May 20th: Aerated using my new 40" pull behind from Home Depot. My soil is so hard packed it's crazy. I'm
Hoping repeated aeration in the growing season will help with some time. Plugs are really small from this unit but better than renting one continuously.

First cut on my new Bermuda sod May 21st 1.5" hoc consistent with my other sod. Praying for rain tonight, we've had a little less than 1/4" at my house since I laid this sod.







This spring is my first year having a good lawn of any kind to maintain, my previous home was a mixture of grasses/weeds/mosses that stayed green but was hardly the lawn I wanted.

Needless to say this is important to me that I have and maintain a great yard at my home.
Also, I'm taking information from a wide array of sources: friends, YouTubers, lawn forum, local landscape suppliers to name a few and trying to mash it all together to make my lawn the very best it can be.

That being said if you have input, recommendations or criticism I'm glad to hear it, thanks for checking it out!

Also, hoping to keep this up at least weekly now, sorry for the initial book!


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## mills4090 (Nov 22, 2021)

It seems all the rain will come at once. Came home to this today. 1st really hard rains I've had since regrading for the new sod. A lot more coming this week so I guess we'll see how it holds it all.


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## mills4090 (Nov 22, 2021)

4/27/22
Have had over 7 inches of rain this week at my house! My lawn shot up as expected in both the new and older areas.

Cut this afternoon, it was definitely wetter than Ideal. Might could have waited till tomorrow, but cut a lot off for only 6days of growth. 
Several new weed types popping out in the newly established areas. Will identify them but plan to pull as much as possible.

I have some leveling to do on both areas for sure. I think for now the plan is to do a light leveling on the older portion and do it all early in the year next spring. Going to fix the big spots now.


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## mills4090 (Nov 22, 2021)

Milogranite put on all the Bermuda on May 30. 
6 bags total for the 12,000 sq ft
Watered in yesterday, and cut again today with new blades on the Honda. Still more thatch than I'd like but the lower growth seems to be coming along ok.


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## mills4090 (Nov 22, 2021)

Cut today at 1.5" and bagged the clipping. Trying to not make it a habit but I had a ton of clipping from previous cuts. Also, finally got time today to start working on some of the worst dips and gaps between the original install and the new grass. Used a top soil product from the big box store, wasn't to impressed with the amount and size of the sticks in it but should be fine to get those spots close for future leveling.


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