# Madao's First Lawn



## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

I moved into this house late February 2021, owned no lawn equipment, and had no lawn experience beyond mowing as a teenager many years ago.

Now I have a variety of pre-M, post-M, pesticide, MainEvent, sprayer, spreader, mower, weed eater, edger, and Scarifier/Dethatcher.

I'll be trying to whip the yard into shape for rotary mowing as low as possible with my Honda hrx to promote thick turf.
When I moved in I thought I would give the yard a year to see what plants I like and don't like along with give me time to get some ideas.

The house faces South so there is some thinning in areas shaded by the house, fence, and the cursed silver maple.

Goals:
1) Get grass to fill in
2) Keep weeds under control
3) Fix some grading low spots
4) Remove trees (Silver Maple, OK Redbud, Hollies) and maybe replant less invasive tree. Keeping the Japanese Maples and Magnolia if I don't find a need to move them further from house.
5) New garden beds and edging with minimal maintenance plantings, and soften the edges around the storm sewer covers. Also make these simpler to mow around.
6) Use little to no irrigation


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

April 2021

Got a HRX217 from FB marketplace early April, and weeds were out of control...
Never knew to scalp at start of season so I jumped into mowing at about 2-2.5" ie: whatever height the mower was at when I got it. Which was different settings for the front/back of the mower.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

May 2021

Lots of rain, and I wasn't keeping up with mowing and definitely broke the 1/3 rule. 
I think early May I had spread some Scotts Weed/Feed on the front and back which resulted in lots of death.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

June 2021

Note: I hadn't discovered TLF as of yet...and on June 28 I made a poor decision.

I bought some Crossfire IV TTTF, and Pennington Sahara Bermuda seed. 
This seed was spread aimlessly around the yard to try and thicken it up.
I never did prepare the soil, or water etc. so if anything took root it was by luck.

Late June I decided to treat more weeds.
Fertilizer: 29-0-5 1lb N/M (front yard)
Herbicide: Bayer Season Long (front yard), Scotts Weed/Feed (back yard)

June 22


June 26


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

July 2021

Later this month I discovered TLF, and started to read every topic I could and keep track of what I was doing to the yard.

Herbicide: Bayer Crabgrass (front) then 10 days later quinclorac & 2,4-D (front & back)
Fungicide: Bayer
Pesticide: Imdicloprid, Bifenthrin
Fertilizer: 1lb N/M Sta-Green 29-0-5
Water: irrigated 1/2in weekly to supplement but probably wasn't getting a full 1in

We finally got tired of the bushes blocking the windows, and wind causing them to rub so we cut them all down to nubs. Plan on pulling them later for new landscaping. The hollies on the side were all but dead from an ice storm that also broke both trees pretty good. The poor Redbud lost it's main vertical growth, and I'm not a fan of the border it has as it's a pain to mow around so I will be removing this in the future.

At the end of July I decided to experiment scalp (0.75in) and scarify with backyard before doing this to the whole yard next year. 
This way I get an idea of the amount of material removed to dispose of and recovery.

Bonus some areas looked rough from fungus from all this rain so I was hoping I could remove some of this issue.

There are areas along my back fence that are low as water flows along it, and sits in some areas but the biggest culprit is the storm drain manhole that sits at or below the sidewalk elevation. Also the front yard has some low areas near another storm drain manhole. 
The storm drain at the street has been allowing soil erosion due to the concrete having gaps. I had filled this area with soil earlier in the month just to see it all wash away.

July 17




July 25


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

August 2021

Mowing twice a week with backyard at 1.25" after scalping, but realized I forgot to raise mower back up for the front yard so it is now also at 1.25".
I got the Ryobi 4g backpack sprayer, and put together a DFW wand that I attached with a few extra fittings so as to not need to cut the hose on the Ryobi.

Herbicide: quinclorac spot treatment a few troublesome crabgrass as my Pre-M in the Bayer Season Long had some escapes.
Pesticide: Bifenthrin (Army Worms)
Fertilizer: Sprayed 8oz HayMaker per week, and 2oz Main Event every 2 weeks
Water: I was only putting down about 1/2" water a week due to sticker shock on my water bill.

Aug 4



Aug 9


Aug 15



Aug 22


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

September 2021

Got the results from my soil test back with recommended 10-20-10, and sulphur for high PH. Towards the end of the month the yard was looking crispy due to rain always missing the house.

I returned the Ryobi sprayer as I didn't like how it wouldn't use the last 1/2 gallon, and it wouldn't maintain 40psi with a red teejet nozzle. I then purchased the SprayMate Tornado, and attached the same DFW wand.

Fertilizer: 10-20-10 (1 lb N/M, for Bermuda front/back), 11-11-22 (1/2 lb N/M, for TTTF/KBG seeded area), 21-0-0-24S (Near Tree as it has higher P and K)
Herbicide: Prodiamine

Continued mowing twice a week at 1.25in, and decided to overseed the side of house where some cool season grass resides. I chose the Combat Southern Extreme TTTF/KBG (SPF30) mix from Outsidepride.

Sprayed some Prodiamine, and watered in with 1/2" but likely did this too early for my area so I decided to follow up with Simazine later in season. Also without good irrigation I'm sure I didn't get it fully watered in so I'll be timing with rainfall in the future.

Sep 3


Sep 7


Sep 10




Sep 20


Sep 26


Sep 30


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

October 2021

Aerated with lawn butler and added some more seed to the TTTF/KBG area as I didn't soften the soil previously so I still had some bare spots.

We finally started getting some rain.
I did a few spray and pray with the yard to try and address some winter weeds and spurge showing up.

Fertilizer: 6oz/M HayMaker and 2oz/M MainEvent every 2 weeks
Herbicide: Simazine 0.75oz/M, and MSM 0.163g/M
When it rains it comes down hard and fast so hopefully the simazine didn't all wash away.

Oct 2




Oct 9






Oct 17




Oct26


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

November 2021

Mowing every 1-2 weeks as growing has slowed.
The backyard is showing some different shades of green which I know those areas were thinner earlier this year.
Also realized I never raised mowing deck above 1.25" for the front yard so every mow has been a 1.25" scalp...

Overall I got a late start this season but the backyard did thicken up nicely, and I think I can get some good progress this next year.

Nov 9






Nov 23


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

January 2022
Not worried about green up delay and just want to give room for Bermuda to spread.

Glyphosate 16 floz/A
Simazine 0.75 floz/M
Surfactant 0.5 floz/M
Dye 1 floz/G
Used 1/2 gallon per M

February 2022

I opened a ticket with the city due to water erosion at the storm drain. They were out the next day to assess and approve a repair. A bit messy and I don't know how well the grass will handle that much concrete beneath it in the future.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

February 2022 cont.

I also had the following removed due to winter storm damage or them being planted less than a foot from the foundation blocking windows.

1) half broken Redbud
2) sugar/silver maple 8-10ft from house
3) 8+ hollies that I had already cut down 'rejuvenated' as they were obstructing the windows and damaging them.
4) 3 boxwoods for the same reason as the hollies.

I'll now revamp the edging and plant new foundation shrubs. Not decided on what to use yet but considering a mix of junipers, kaleidoscope abelia, and nandina. This house faces South so plenty of sun exposure.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

March 2022

9th
Prodiamine 11.77 g/M
SpeedZone Southern 0.75 floz/M
Surfactant 0.5 floz/M
Dye 1-1.25 floz/M

Used yellow turbo teejet to do more passes then hit border hard as it is the only area I had breakthrough from my fall pre-emergent. Added more dye to front than back in attempt to see impact for my preferences. Skipped the newly sodded areas and will deal with it via postemergent as necessary.





11th
4-5in of wet snow and my magnolia isn't very happy about it as we've had a few warm weeks and frosts.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

How is the curb repair looking?


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

Not much rain yet but I don't think it'll erode anymore. I'll post photos as the season progresses. Hoping to smooth it out so I can cut at 1.25 with my rotary but the hell strip might have to be 2in.

Although with shallow soil I bet the grass near the storm drain will struggle especially since I don't have irrigation.

They did drive on some areas that have deep ruts...I can see the tire tread even.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

The ruts and sod weren't smooth so I got dirt in a few spots, but otherwise greening up nicely.


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

April 2022
Fertilizer: 2 week interval
1ea bags front and back 4-2-0 ecoscraps

Pests: 
1st week Imidacloprid 75WSP
3rd week GrubEx

Mowing weekly

Worked on garden beds


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## Madao (Sep 23, 2021)

May 2022

Just mowing and watering new shrubs lately.

4ea #3 Bordeux yaupon holly
2ea #3 kaleidoscope abelia

Trying to determine fillers and vertical accents.
I want to incorporate drift roses and catmint for some color with the possibility of barberry as well.


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