# LAWN JOURNAL, BORED_MORE_THAN_U



## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

This is my first attempt at anything like a journal. there will be words mispelled puncuation missing and multiple other grammer mistakes. so if that bothers you im sorry.

I got the lawncare bug like many others during the 2020 covid quarantine and has not let up since. i found this site after following a link on a you tube video to a discord chat room ( where i should not have been, and then a person there sent me to the correct disord chat). So, here i am, i will post pictures of my lawn before and after. pictures of my property from spring 2020, a DYI youtube inspired renovation i did on my side yard in fall 2020 and then pictures of my progress this year moving forward.

My goal is to have The Best Lawn in the neighborhood. i will be open to advice, suggestion and corrections. I will not/do not take offense to such things unless give in a mean sprited way. My goals are long term i dont not plan on everything being done in 1 -2 -3 season but long term, im 50 years old and this god willing will be my last home so it will be done sections at a time.

West side yard was renovated as i said fall 2020 so that will be my benchmark / testing ground for my upkeep. the other sections are back yard prolly done in multiple phases as i have a dog that is 70/30 outside/inside, east side which is the smallest last side, front yard wich will become my "show case" , small fenced in section in back yard that is for my mother who we moved in with us and that will be her space ( was renovated with side yard fall 2020).


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

I dont know where to start with posts so i guess ill start at the beginning. Covid hit and was stuck at home going nuts, so i was walking around outside looking for things i could do to improve the outside of the house. i came up with getting some new fence installed , cutting down a couple old big sad looking trees and 2 pear trees that never produced much fruit and 1 kept getting black spots all over leaves and fruit.

While walking the yard i realized how poor the grass looked compared to the neighbors. he was the guy who was out side at night with a flash light picking up leaves and such off his lawn, out there with a spreader doing what ever you do with a spreader. his lawn looked and still does look awesome. i was the type of guy that if it was green it was good enough for me. problem was it was starting to not be green anymore. so i did what everyone now a days does, went to you tube to " How to make your grass look good." i watched everything i could find. im not gonna list them most of you know the big names on you tube and even some of the no names. i was hooked,

i realized that fixing everything was going to be impossible to do all at once, along with the other things i needed to get done I.E. trees , fence and such. Also i have a dog , a husky named Oberon , that is out side more than inside , he will be in some of the pictures i am sure. so i came up with a loose plan and order of areas to attack. get the fences work done than the trees then start on the grass. while i was doing this a buddy of mine said he had a little john deere riding lawn mower for sale cheap so i picked that up figuring i could use that to help with the projects if for nothing else to haul soil and various stuff around. so i picked that up and got a cart to pull around along with a bagger attachment for the TON of leaves in the fall. Great! well this added 1 more project to the list a Lawn equipment shed.

so i guess i ll post some before pictures now, keep in mind they were taken for my personal memories, i was not planning on posting anything like this so the will be out of focus, poor quality and well not even taken for the grass but other projects or reasons but you all will get a sense of what i am/was starting off with. all these before pictures were taken from spring 2020 till fall 2020 when i started the side yard renovation.


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

Before posting pictures of the fall renovation i figured i would post some of the work done in back yard prior to the start.
i am guessing some of you are saying enough back story already get to the lawn pictures, i get it but i am using this as a personal journal as well so please bare with me. Just a couple pictures of the tree removals and the shed process then i promise GRASS !!!!


the area in the foreground where the the guys are standing is the "mom area" fenced in to keep Oberon out
was renovated along with side yard fall2020 i dont have pics of that being done.



this was the pine tree had very few branches and the ones that were there were sparse






Looks like we caught this one in the nick of time, it was hollow from ground to about 7 foot high

on to the shed process....


those 2 bare spots are where there was 2 pear trees removed.


I did the "site work" for the shed myself. as i was digging for the stone base i screened the soil to fill some 
low spot on the property.




4x6 frame then fill with 3/4" stone

3 tons of stone....





i hired a local Amish Shed company to build the shed. it was at this point i got diagnosed with R.A. and the high 
lumber prices just made sense to have someone else do this. faster,better,cheaper.( not me in the picture btw)















i did the fit out of the inside of shed, loft shelves , other shelves, tool rack.

The Mrs. Painted the sunflowers so the back neighbors were not looking at a green box forever, i think it looks awesome.


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

On to the FALL 2020 Reno.
1st soil test

when i sent in soil for testing i was going to plant fine fescue but after talking with the seed company they recomended TTTF for my application so that s what i went with.

So, after spraying a big box store weed killer on the side yard i either killed grass and weeds or i had more weeds than i thought, so just overseeding didnt make sense. so back to you tube to watch every complete lawn renovation video i could find. after watching hours of videos i figured i would give it a shot on what i figured what would be the hardest spot on my property for me to grow grass from seed. SHADE more than half the day time hours. 6 hours direct sun at the longest time of the year and maybe 4 hrs direct sunlight most of the year. if i could grow grass here i could grow grass anywhere right?









time to kill it all !









more !








and its dead


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

so after it was dead i kept and eye on it for like 2 weeks to see if anything else would pop up. It truns out that area was filled
with what i believe is wild garlic. i didnt take any pictures of this but i dug up a ton of shoots and bulbs for a few days. comnig to the conclusion i wasnt gonna be able to get them all i went on to the next step.

Soil prep.

again i didnt take many pictures of this process. i used my rotary mower and cut and bagged all the dead grass/weeds. i ran an electric dethatcher/scarafier in multiple passes then cleaned up with the rotary mower again.

Soil amendment time.
added lime as per the soil report recommended amounts, the best i could understand them. and added a liquid fertilizer i found on you tube at the recommended rate suggested by the manufacturer. at this point i am well over my head in information and knowlege so i just trusted what was told me, worst case i would have to go buy sod to cover the dirt yard best case i would have a perfect lawn of new grass, i was shooting for somewhere in the middle.

time for top soil.

10yrds of screened top soil. not all would be used on side yard but enough of it was.


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

Next step was seed and top dress. looking back i learned a lot here. with what i used more woulda been better in both case i believe. a little more seed and peat moss for top dress would have prolly served me better. having never done it before i was please with what i accomplished.










with the shadows i was fighting it was hard to tell mow much of each i put down but just went with it.

i rolled it with a rented lawn roller again no pictures but it was done. now its water and wait.

i still have plenty od seed left for pacth filling and overseeding this year as needed so theres a plus side


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

the next step was i sprayed down starter fertilizer and i forget if i sprayed the pre emergent (tenacity generic)before or after i put the seed down but it was a step i did,

and here we go
7 days after seeding

8 days

9 days



10 days



25 day




you can see the shoots of the wild garlic in this picture if you look, i will be adressing these moving forward

31 days



41 days


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## Bored_more_than_u (Feb 20, 2021)

there ya have it folks my start into lawn care. it happened all over the spring,summer and fall of 2020

the date of dead lawn photo was 08-23-2020 and the date of 41 days post seed was 10-31-2020.

i look forward to sharing my journey of learning and taking care of my lawn with you all. again i welcome all comments and criticisms i can not learn if i am not told.

i hope you enjoyed.

lets go 2021 lawn care season

2021 journal link.
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=25771


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