# Fraust's lawn journal



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Been lurking around the boards here for a year, and thought it was time to finally post.

We moved into our house in February of last year. By all accounts, previous owners had done nothing aside from occasionally mowing. (I took pictures of what I started with, but unfortunately lost them to a broken phone.) Not knowing any better, that spring I decided I wanted to improve the lawn. I rented an aerator, bought my Scotts seed and Milo and gave it my best shot. Results were, mediocre at best.

Not long after, I found this place and spent the summer learning and coming up with a better plan. In hindsight, I probably should have just gone the full reno route. But the wife was mad enough at the state of the yard the way it went, I can't imagine she would have tolerated a full kill off. So I applied my WBG, rented a dethatcher, scalped the lawn, seeded my Super Turf 2 from United Seeds, rented a lawn roller, put down Tenacity, a thin layer of peat moss, and watered watered watered.

So far, I'm liking the results. I'd still like to improve on them, and am looking forward to seeing improvement with a full year of proper care. This year, I've already got my Prodiamine down, sent soil off for a soil test, and I'm 3 mows in, and 1 Urea spoon feeding down.


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Where I was right before seed down







Today


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Got out earlier and got my second urea spoon feeding down ahead of the scheduled rain this afternoon. Really thinking I need to upgrade from the basic 1gal pump sprayer I've been using to at least a 2gal.


----------



## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

4000 sq ft is a lot for a 1 gal pump sprayer. I think the first time I sprayed my 18k sq ft I used a 1 gal pump sprayer and it took me several hours. Eventually upgraded to pump backpack and now battery operated backpack. Worth the investment!


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

@jskierko yeah, all the trips back and forth to the garage definitely add up. Time to start sprayer shopping.


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Well, I'm finally "that guy" in the neighborhood that mows his lawn in the (nearly) dark. Grass is growing nicely but rain Wednesday and Thursday kept me from mowing. It was already a little longer than I'd like, but it was still too wet this morning and family obligations kept me busy all day, so I didn't get a chance until late. And with more rain in the forecast tomorrow, it needed to get done. My wife thinks I'm a little more crazy then she did before...


----------



## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Huge improvement! That will only start looking better with time and good care.


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Got a quick mow in today. Rain in the forecast for Friday afternoon and Saturday, so I'm going to try and get another spoon feeding down Friday morning. Back yard is finally starting to even out, with the rest catching up to the over fertilized dog pee areas.







And did someone say weed pressure? 🙄


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Got a few things done over the last several days:
Spot sprayed a couple broadleaf weeds with WeedBGon. My first app worked well and there weren't nearly as many spots that needed a second spray as I'd thought there would be. Might have "accidentally" oversprayed a little bit over the property lines to help keep weed pressure a little lower 😬

Got GrubEx down. I didn't have any grub damage that I was aware of last year, but my yard was also a salad mix of random grasses and weeds until the fall and I'm not sure I would have known if grubs were a problem anyway. And fwiw an elderly neighbor a few houses down claims she had really bad grub damage a year or two ago.

Sprayed what will likely be my final spoon feeding of urea for the Spring. Puts me at right about 1# N/1k. Planning to drop Milo twice before I lay off the nitrogen over the summer.

I've already started looking ahead to August and planning to nuke a bunch of what I think is some kind of clumping fescue that's scattered throughout the yard. Some of the clumps are big/mature enough that I'm thinking I'll just use some cardboard as a perimeter and gly small areas, rather than trying to paint leaves or be more meticulous.


----------



## Fraust (Apr 4, 2021)

Was really busy this week and let the grass get taller than I should have. There's rain forecasted starting Saturday and every day for a week after. Raised the HOC and got a mow in, and going to drop it back down and mow again tomorrow before all the rain.

Also, got my first Milo app down last week. And received my Feature order. Going to wait a week or two for my first app, to give me some good green up for Memorial Day.


----------



## Liquidstone (Mar 31, 2021)

Man, that weed pressure is real! Nice looking lawn Fraust. Looks thick and lush.


----------

