# Green Daze: FlowRider's 2020 Bermuda Lawn Journal



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Today (1/19) I decided to chronicle my journey to upgrade my lawns.

I think of my yard as two lawns - front yard and back yard.

Today I took out my Stihl Kombi KM111R with straight shaft stick edger to cut my first edge on my yard for the year.

We have had five days of scattered showers until today when it cleared up, cool but sunny - no clouds.

I have a lot of edging to do - about 1/4 mile of concrete hardscape.

It is a chore I do not really enjoy doing, but it looks great when it's done.

Noticed a lot of weeds in the usual problem areas. Gonna spray them.

HOA inspection 1/21, 1st this year. 2020 life goal #2 = no HOA letters...!

Edging was sloppy muddy nasty mess, but it did keep the dust down.

Gonna post some pictures as I go to keep up with forward progress.


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

It has been a really wet winter so far, but it has been unseasonably warm and sunny between raining good soaking rains.

The winter weeds have started to emerge in areas that are along the fence lines, flower bed edges, and nooks & crannies.

Here is a little salad bar I have going in an area next to a fence gate that I cannot get to with my riding mower.

I had this crop up in only two weeks time. Dandelions grow fast in my soil. I chopped this with my Honda to kill the flowers.

I plan to spray this weekend, after it rains on Sunday. I need to start mowing the back yard down, going towards the scalp!

Saturday is mow and bag on the first lift in the back yard, and then rains, and ~36 hour window to spray Trimec on weeds.

I can grow weeds with the best of them, that is for sure. :bd:

I need to move these extra bricks over so I can mow this easier....


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I sprayed my front yard with Trimec Plus to kill the broadleaf weeds in my turf areas.

Most of the weeds were small and just getting started.

But I had one weed in the corner of my back yard when I was scouting that was huge. It is kind of in a sloped area so I did not see it from the house, but spotted it while I was doing recon for spraying out back.

This got hosed. I was thinking about entering it in the giant vegetable contest at the County Fair, but I decided to just kill it instead.

:bd:


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I sprayed Roundup 18% concentrate mixed with reverse osmosis filtered water - six fluid ounces to one gallon - to spray weeds in my flower beds and tree rings out in my front yard.

I have yellow nutsedge in my dwarf crepe myrtle tree ring. The lawn mower operator guy I used to hire to mow my yard when I had knee surgery used to pull the nutsedge by hand, causing it to spread...one of the reasons I had to fire that guy.

So I sprayed all my beds and tree rings, and hardscape cracks tonight.

This is supposedly rainfast in 30 minutes; rain expected tomorrow....

These are the "before" pictures:


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I plan to add some nice garden soil to top dress my beds, and then put down pre-emergent, and then cover everything in nice fresh mulch.

But first I need to prune my bushes and crepe myrtles, rake the trimmings up, and then dress up the beds with rich soil and mulch.

I know it will look real nice once I'm all done. If I live through it all! :bd:


----------



## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

I think that the best thing about these lawn journals isn't so much to share progress but to actually get your ideas and thoughts out there to establish a plan of action. At least for me that's what it is. So many thoughts about things that we want to do, but putting it down in words to read back holds yourself to a different place of accountability then just thinking about it.

I look forward to your progress!


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Gilley11 said:


> I think that the best thing about these lawn journals isn't so much to share progress but to actually get your ideas and thoughts out there to establish a plan of action. At least for me that's what it is. So many thoughts about things that we want to do, but putting it down in words to read back holds yourself to a different place of accountability then just thinking about it.
> 
> I look forward to your progress!


Thank you very much, Gilley11...!

I have to admit it was kind of a little bit embarrassing to post these pictures, when comparing to others who have such beautiful manicured lawns.

But I want to make this a true lawn journal - how rough it was when I started to where it is at some point in the future.

The lawn operator guy I had to hire when I was injured absolutely messed up my entire lawn. It took me 18 months to get it to the point it is at now.

Most of my weeds now come from storm water runoff washing seeds into areas where the seeds settle out and sprout.

My next door neighbor has weeds all over his yard. After the floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey receded, my yard was filled with every type of weed that he has in his yard - as the waters receded the seeds filtered out and germinated later on.

The war against weeds is never really won - you just have to keep fighting the battles and repel the invaders as you go!

Pretty much the same thing with ants, wasps, spiders, mosquitos, other flying and biting insects, and oh yeah - flies. :bd:


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Here are some pictures I took of the weeds I sprayed taken today:


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I mowed my front and back yards yesterday (2/15) and bagged.

I had some patches of Poa Annua that had seed heads.

Mowed the front for 2nd time at 2.5" and back 1st time high at 4.0".

Weed spraying had very good results - update pictures of effects:


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

I tested the Poa Annua to see if it was glyphosate resistant. It wasn't.



I bagged the clippings to collect seeds and herbicide-sprayed weeds.

Drove mower with a half face respirator to avoid dust and silica.

Neighbors walking infants and toddlers in strollers; kids freaking out....

Cutting the dead grass down in lifts to eventually scalp is working....

Today I plan to weed whack dead weeds off fence lines and beds.

Then I am gonna use Honda to trim perimeter and bag up debris.

Lawn is definitely greening up. I plan to spread dithiopyr today too.


----------



## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Still have some fire ant mounds to deal with.

Found this one in the back yard and smashed it flat with mower tires.

Checked it today and they are active.

Grass grows really well around mound - nature's little aerators.... :bd:


----------

