# My spring renovation



## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

I did not do a very good job tracking my progress along the way. For that I apologize. Trying to make up for that by putting all the pictures to date out there at once.

Here is what I started with on March 31st:



First I mowed the lawn as low as my mower could go. Then I used one of those cheap thatch removal mower blades. That didn't work great along the side of the house where there had been a really bad moss problem, so I had to use a metal rake.

I took this picture on April 20th:



I wanted the lawn flat, but I also wanted to top dress compost. I realized these goals were flying in the face of each other since the organic matter in compost will go away over time. I settled with a compost/topsoil mix. Dumped it on the yard, then smoothed it out.

I took these pictures on April 20th as well:





Next, I made something to drag around the yard. Im sure my neighbors thought I was crazy dragging this thing around after work for several days:

Took these pictures on April 30th:


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Notice, I did nothing to kill the grass that was already there. This didn't turn out to be a horrible decision, but I do regret not killing it off first.

After several days of scraping, I started using the roller as well. I also watered the lawn at certain points to help with some compaction. Here are some pics taken on May 9th after more scraping and traversing with the roller:





Next I rolled in the seed and covered with a thin layer of peat moss. Ran my sprinklers 3 times per day. After 2 weeks, I over-seeded and added more peat moss in areas that were a bit light. I probably didn't need to do this, but I can be very impatient. Sorry, no pictures during early germination. At the time I was more focused on getting it done than I was on showing the result.

I should add, the grass seed I chose was Scotts Pacific Northwest Blend. Here's the breakdown:

16.81% Vision perennial Ryegrass
14.40% silver dollar perennial ryegrass
9.59% treazure II chewings fescue
7.19% fenway creeping red fescue

June 12th:





June 13th:


June 17th:



June 19th:

The side that had all the moss:



Somewhere along the line I added milorganite and it wasn't doing much of anything other than stinking up the yard. We had a long period of cold, rainy or overcast days. Somewhere along the line, I decided to try adding some calcium. I tested the soil PH and it was at a 7, so I added some fast acting gypsum and the yard really took off. The sun started coming out as well not long after that.

June 26th:



Here is the lawn on July 5th:







Since I started this project, I started reading and watching every video I could find. I came across @wardconnor's videos, and now I want to get the height below 1 inch. I am so serious about this, I ordered a new Swardman Edwin 2.0 on Sunday (currently using Honda HRR series rotary mower), I was even willing to settle for a light blue model so I don't have to wait 4-5 weeks for it to ship.

I would love to hear any advice I can get for achieving a super low HOC on my lawn. If I have to start over, I am willing to do that. I have seen some posts from @PNW_George so I know it's possible in the pacific northwest, where I live. I assume if I start mowing lower than some of the grass varieties like, they will eventually get overtaken by the varieties that do not mind a low cut. Is this a reasonable assumption?

I ordered some Highland Colonial Bentgrass, but I worry that the color might be substantially lighter than the other grasses. I don't want to end up with ugly patches throughout the lawn if it won't eventually blend well.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

WOW! Awesome transformation. I can't help you out with the questions at the end of your post, but I can offer you a nice golf clap on a job very well done! :dancenana:


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

Nice edging on the sidewalk and driveway

Do you use a sting trimmer or stick edger on the driveway portion? I prefer the look the stick edger gives me but I'm finding the edge of the asphalt crumbles when I use it and I kick up ALOT of "rocks"


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Harts said:


> WOW! Awesome transformation. I can't help you out with the questions at the end of your post, but I can offer you a nice golf clap on a job very well done! :dancenana:


Thank you!


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

chriscarigs said:


> Nice edging on the sidewalk and driveway
> 
> Do you use a sting trimmer or stick edger on the driveway portion? I prefer the look the stick edger gives me but I'm finding the edge of the asphalt crumbles when I use it and I kick up ALOT of "rocks"


Thanks, this was actually my first time using a string trimmer to edge. If you saw it up close, you would see that it actually looks pretty rough. Since then my accuracy has improved quite a bit.

I recently bought a new Stihl stick edger though, so i'm not sure if I will be using the string trimmer to do it any more.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

my first attempt at crispy flowerbed edges


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

I see a bright future. I am 15 miles or so from you. We are lucky with no water restrictions and great growing weather I believe. I just started growing low and kept going lower and would simply overseed each fall because I am currently a PRG Guy. Fast germination so always works out. But if I knew now what I have learned I may lean to a mono stand, pick a great seed and go for it. I may attempt that in a few years. But either way just start cutting it down. It will learn over time. Follow the great advice on here and post updates.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

oh cool, you're in Tacoma. I was born and raised in Tacoma, not far from Alenmore Hospital.

So what specifically do you like about the PRG besides fast germination? Seems like it's often responsible for ugly, thick brown stalks in my yard. It seems to be very popular, so I'm assuming there are several positive attributes.


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

Really just that, I have not had any issues with brown stalks. Always green. It's battling the Poa that is the chore. So I am doing a test next month and overseeding with True Putt Perennial Creeping Bluegrass and see how that goes. If goes well I may just continue with that seed for the future. Or do a complete Reno and do a mono stand with that. It's a bit expensive so we will se how the test goes. 100+ for 5lbs


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Rule11 said:


> It's battling the Poa that is the chore. So I am doing a test next month and overseeding with True Putt Perennial Creeping Bluegrass and see how that goes.


Oh wow, it is shade tolerant and it spreads. I recently ordered some Colonial Bentgrass. I might order some of this too!


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Question is, how do you keep this from taking over your neighbors lawn?


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

KarmicDebt said:


> Question is, how do you keep this from taking over your neighbors lawn?


Outsidepride.com


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Rule11 said:


> KarmicDebt said:
> 
> 
> > Question is, how do you keep this from taking over your neighbors lawn?
> ...


Already ordered some


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

KarmicDebt said:


> Rule11 said:
> 
> 
> > KarmicDebt said:
> ...


That is awesome!! When do you plan Seed down.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Rule11 said:


> That is awesome!! When do you plan Seed down.


I think i'll wait until the Swardman is here. Then i'll mow it really low, use the verticutter both ways and then de-thatch it. Next i'll apply the seed, sprinkle on some peat moss and water 3 times a day.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

This brings up a question though. I figure I am going to need to level with sand. Should I do that before or after overseeding? Probably before?


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

rule11: Have you heard of this?

https://sodsolutions.com/grasses/rpr-regenerating-perennial-ryegrass/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o34WARNx2jI


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

KarmicDebt said:


> rule11: Have you heard of this?
> 
> https://sodsolutions.com/grasses/rpr-regenerating-perennial-ryegrass/


That is some impressive stuff there. Be interested in digging in deeper! Thanks


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

KarmicDebt said:


> This brings up a question though. I figure I am going to need to level with sand. Should I do that before or after overseeding? Probably before?


Yes, before if it is a heavy amount of sand to level. If it is lighter then you could do at seeding


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

So I bought a swardman, and decided that I want to get this lawn down to 3/4 inch or lower. I figured the Scotts PNW blend seed contained varieties that tolerate low mowing heights, and some that do not. I also wanted to overseed with KBG since it introduces some auto-heal abilities to the lawn. I chose SS1100 three way bluegrass blend from superseedstore for this project.

As a reminder, these varieties come with Scotts PNW blend:

16.81% Vision perennial Ryegrass
14.40% silver dollar perennial ryegrass
9.59% treazure II chewings fescue
7.19% fenway creeping red fescue

I have read that people struggle to successfully overseed with KBG, so I decided to mow really low and incorporate some T-Nex in order to slow growth of the existing grass to increase my chances.

I wanted to use Tenacity in the future as well, so I figured, I might as well apply tenacity as well for the reseed to act as a pre-emergent and kill or retard growth of the fescue varieties, to increase the chances that the KBG will get plenty of sunlight. Lastly, I decided to break the rules and do all of this when the weather was consistently in the 80s and 90s. I knew mowing low would stress the lawn out quite a bit on it's own in the high temperature, however I liked the idea of providing more time for the KBG to mature.

I started by mowing at about an inch, followed by verticutting, thatching and top dressing sparse areas with some Scotts lawn soil I already had laying around.

Note: I later learned that the Scotts Lawn Soil has tenacity as well, so these areas likely received an overdose.

Lastly, I top dressed the entire lawn with peat moss.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Here is what the lawn looked like after verticutting, thatching, covering and rolling the sparse locations with Scotts Lawn Soil:


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

Wow love love love all the finished pictures &#128079;&#127995;&#128079;&#127995;&#128079;&#127995;


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Seed went down on August 5th. You can see here, the KBG is still lime green. It seems to be taking it's sweet time coming out of sprout and pout:


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

This is just after mowing at just under 1 inch:


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

Domination


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

I have a few places that need repair, so I am going to seed those areas with PRG. Once it matures I am going to top dress the entire front lawn with sand. That will probably be a wrap for my front lawn this year.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

S7108384 said:


> Wow love love love all the finished pictures 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻


Yeah, I need to do a better job taking pictures at each step. I will be working on the back yard within the next week. I'll try to take a lot more pictures.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You guys in the PNW have it easy. Those stripes look great.


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

g-man said:


> You guys in the PNW have it easy. Those stripes look great.


whats PNW? Pacific Northwest?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Yes


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

g-man said:


> Yes


thx G


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

g-man said:


> You guys in the PNW have it easy. Those stripes look great.


We had quite a few days in the 80s and 90s in July and August. Lots of new heat related records and an abundance of forest fires to prove it over the past couple years.


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

The KBG was just refusing to progress, long after sprout and pout should have finished. No amount of milorganite or ringer helped. I added some gypsum and the KBG took off immediately.


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

Looks great. Well done!


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Thank you


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

Very nice!


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Crispy edges from early May of this year


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## KarmicDebt (Jul 12, 2018)

Independence Day


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

KarmicDebt said:


> Crispy edges from early May of this year


Still looking awesome. That edging...damn!


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## jnarlock_19 (Feb 17, 2021)

KarmicDebt said:


> Crispy edges from early May of this year


what blend of seed is this again?


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## creediddy2021 (Mar 27, 2021)

Great job Karmic! It looks amazing!


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