# Here goes nothing..Reno 2020



## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

Hey everyone...lurker turned member introducing myself with a bit of anxiety as I tackle a semi-reno in the front portion of my yard ( 5500sq/ft)and a full reno in the rear section...here's a little journey down my path. Live in a community that HOA pays for the front/common areas to be maintained by a contracted crew. Upon going down the rabbit hole when working on the back area, I certainly couldn't allow the "drapes not to match the cushions" if you will and I began doing my entire yard and have an agreement with the landscapers that they skip me completely like my plot isn't even there. :lol: Before all of this began, I had a beautiful lawn that I worked hard on and mainly wanted to tackle the rear section due to the slope needing some grading and I had a lot of clumping fescue disguised as a nice looking lawn that the neighbors and my wife all questioned my level of insane but here goes nothing...

This was the before ...TTTF all around..nothing specific..mainly Scotts when seed time.


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

After doing all my research I felt I had what it took to do this like I wanted so I began with a partial reno in the front portion of the yard and full reno in the back sections. Started with Round Up a few weeks prior to my target time frame which was mid Sept. I'm in NC and its still in the 80's until Oct so felt giving me a few weeks to actual seed time was perfect. I work Saturdays so I only have Thurs/Sund to work on this and became totally dependent on the weather these days or else I was facing issues with timing of completion. I started Sept 17th as the Thurs before was raining of course so already a week off target. Had a crew come scrape the dead lawn out, mix in double screened top soil and rake out. I did tell them that I was doing all the seeding and work in the back and I should have asked for them to do more than they did for what I paid, but wasn't overwhelmed with what I needed to do with some raking/rolling/leveling. While they did this in the rear, I took off for the front with a deep dethatching (16 50gal bags worth)aeration, seeding (GCI TTTF) fert (Carbon X) Tenacity, RGS, Humic and top dressed with compost. We were looking ok for now...


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

The chance of rain that day was minimal, but boy was I in for a surprise. Got woken up at 4am to a torrential downpour, thunder, lightning..the coming of God if you will. Turned on the flood lights only to find my worst fear...total washout, flooded, clogged drains and a lot of work in my future. Fortunately I didn't get to the seed in the back and spent the first part of Sunday the 20th re-raking the front yard, applying more top dressing, light seed and then spent the second part of the day raking/rolling/ seeding/ compost 2 sections of the back yard before the body literally gave out and was completely spent but I was still bound and determined not to let this take me down!


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

Had one more day available to get the rest of the yard done before we were to go to the beach for a week so Thurs the 24th was a LONG day...raked, leveled, rolled, tilled, seeded, fert the whole process along with blending in some compost as a light top dressing. On top of all this that day, I installed the Ranchio 3 so I could control everything from the beach and not let all that work go to waste...on top, the weather for that upcoming week was as perfect for growing as you could ask for and I was excited to come back to see the outcome since the security cameras couldn't tell the true story. My wife knew I was crazy when I would turn on the irrigation and watch the sprinklers from the beach!!

Came back after 5 days to some great germination in the back yard since that was the section I had just done. The front yard was 14 DAG so it was really filling in strongly and we were looking good. I did have a bit of concern from what was determined to be bleaching from excess Tenacity (gotta work on my spray skills) but it grew out a few days later...I did have some spots that I did quickly prior to vacation and some low spots that needed a little work due to the irrigation washing some away so Saturday Oct 10th was spent raking out more bags of topsoil, light seed and since I didn't have time for much of a dressing, I was going to throw some Peat Moss down to prevent any future rains as it was in the forecast for the next day and I couldn't stomach losing all that seed and topsoil....the supply store was out that day of peat and I grabbed some straw shavings not having any experience with this but thought that anything that said "Seeding Straw" was good right??? Yeah...not so much...


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

The good Lord has a very funny way of showing humor because no less than 30mins after 9hrs of work did the skies open up yet again and in case anyone was wondering...Straw Shavings turn into straw Paste upon a rain of such magnitude. My heart, stomach and wallet all sank at that very moment while I watched and entire yard of straw turn into a mess unlike one I was prepared for...much less so shortly after the first debacle. There was no way I could even think about working on it any time soon as it was a mud hole and even after 3 days of no rain it was still soft enough that I needed cardboard to stand on to rake, till, lightly seed, fert all over again....I left of any more top dressing and left it to nature at this point. The front yard is beginning to kill it again. I've been able to cut it twice at 4" and once at 3.5" along with another app of Carbon X.


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

So that brings us to present day...I bought the Toro TimeMaster at the end of last year and have LOVED every cut with it...my problem was that cutting those sidewalk strips and in some of the areas in the back, I could only cut the yard in one way which left me with the grass trampled and dying in the ruts since I couldn't change directions. In 3hrs on Craiglist I had a very lucky buyer get both the Timemaster and the striping kit and I am now the owner of a new black Super Recycler to go back to a smaller deck to have more cutting options and alleviate these worn lanes. The jury is still out...like mentioned, the Timemaster was one amazing machine yet I just don't have that large of a yard to really need it, and while the perfect pace is great...this whole issue with the rear wheels locking up when pulling backwards on the SR is pissing me off. Everything I've read is that this is normal and I have to push it a few inches further upon stopping to unlock the wheels?!?! This doesn't seem right?? Only been able to use it once so far and installed the stripe kit today..fortunately/unfortunately it rained today as I was counting on another cut as with the second round of X and the rain...the front is taking off like fire and now my next chance to cut is not until Wed night..most likely Thurs so I'll have to double cut...the back is also showing signs of filling in but I still have low spots that I'm concerned about...just trying now to give it a break along with my aching back.


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## cam05210 (Oct 4, 2020)

Man....I'm so frustrated and not sure exactly what direction to take. The front lawn height was getting out of control due to my schedule....knowing that this Thurs we are going to be getting remnants of the hurricane blowing through (of course) I HAD to cut since the next opportunity wouldn't be until Sunday. As this reno has gone...about halfway into the cut...it starts raining again. I couldn't stop so the Super Recycler did its job and we knocked it out in very quick fashion to get us at minimum to Sunday when I could have more time and drier weather.

However....while some areas are beginning to come in, my grading issues persist...I'm not sure if my french drain is clogged from all the mud (we put some felt/rocks over the grate) but I'm having a terrible time in this area. Its really thin all around and I'm sick to my stomach thinking why I wanted to tackle this. Meeting with the crew that did the grading asap to determine action plan. The front yard is looking good and just needs some drying out and a good cut to strengthen everything up. Time to get on the weed control...seeing some action I need to get a handle on and not sure what's going on as I just noticed this slight yellowing...fungus?? Come on sunshine!!!! Advice is appreciated always.


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## Bybcous (Aug 29, 2020)

Nice.


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