# TilsonTurf's 2020 Journal



## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

****2020 Posts start towards the bottom of page 1****

Ok guys, I think my wife and neighbours all think I'm nuts and I'm holding all of you responsible 

In four months I've gone from knowing zero about lawncare and Googling "how to keep sod alive", to installing a front yard irrigation system myself, building a DIY lawn levelling tool, buying a (manual) reel mower, overseeding/reno'ing my front yard with KBG (jury is out on whether this is going to work), binging lawn care YouTube content, and spending way too much money at Seed World.

But in all seriousness, this is my first post and I want to say thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice and information being shared in this forum - in particular @Harts and the other Canadians in here who have really saved me a bunch of time and helped avoid some pitfalls. For anyone else that's a newbie 'north of the wall', I'd recommend reading the following threads:


The Great Canadian Lawncare Rant
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3638&hilit=canadian

Cool Season Lawn Guide
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1595

*BACKGROUND*
I've lived in my house for four years and this is the first year I've started investing in the lawn. The forcing function was a new detached garage we built which included grading and re-sodding our backyard. I don't know what kind of grass was installed as I didn't even to think to ask at the time (can anyone tell from the pics?). But I'm the kind of person that get's a bit obsessive about new hobbies and projects and so researching how to make sure the damn sod wouldn't die has sent me full steam down the lawn care rabbit hole since then.

*BACKYARD*
Here's a quick overview of the backyard from May until now:

_Existing backyard:_










_Top soil delivery on front yard. This location was the only option as avoiding hydro wires was an issue for the truck - and you can bet this did some damage. Big tire ruts. (Also, front yard teaser) _


_Sod installed:_




_Battling raccoons:_


_First mow with the Ego:_


_Throwing down some Home Hardware 9-2-2_


Some shots from June when it was looking pretty decent:






_What it's all about:_


*Backyard Current State*
Until recently I was mowing the backyard at 3.5-4" to try and help it root and survive the summer months. While it was lush and green I did notice it would flop over a bit. In the last couple weeks I've lowered the HOC to 2.5-3" which I think is a better height as it's still pretty tall and the the grass stands up straight. However, I've run into an issue which I think is maybe fungus? No idea. Worth noting that it was present before I lowered HOC and I was watering pretty diligently. I've since backed off the water in the last couple weeks. as I thought less water might help combat whatever this is. Again, no idea though. I do have some Honor Guard PPZ Turf & Ornamental Broad Spectrum Fungicide on the way from Seed World - but again not sure if this is a fungus issue or not...

*What is this??*




Any help is appreciated.

I'll be following up this post with my front yard reno/overseed progress to date. (My KBG went down 8 days ago and hasn't germinated yet - what a goddamn emotional rollercoaster! Trying to keep the faith but doubt is slowly creeping in....)


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

What water path caused the creek in the back? How did you fix that? Did you removed the rocks and mulch? The issue seems to be in the same path.

You might need to take more close up images.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Welcome to TLF. Some close ups of the grass in the trouble areas might help us to identify an underlying cause.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Enjoyed reading your introduction. I think that you are definitely in the right place here at TLF :thumbup:


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

g-man said:


> What water path caused the creek in the back? How did you fix that? Did you removed the rocks and mulch? The issue seems to be in the same path.
> 
> You might need to take more close up images.


There was no creek. I think you're probably referring to the old concrete path that was quite a bit lower than the lawn on either side of it, and the hedge that was removed (where the mulchy soil was). You can see the path on the left in this old Google streetview pic as well as the hedge:



Here are some closeups of the area in question:





I should add that all the concrete was removed from the site - nothing was buried. And the hedges were excavated. Another thought I had was perhaps roots from the large tree could have something to do with it.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Can you do even closer? I'm looking for lesions in the leaf blade. The top image looks like a white/gray on the leaf?


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

g-man said:


> Can you do even closer? I'm looking for lesions in the leaf blade. The top image looks like a white/gray on the leaf?


Here's a few more pics. It's raining here today which is making the grass look better than it does when it's dry. Thanks!


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

I do see some lesions on the blades like g-man said. It could be leaf spot. Looking at the first image it also looks like it is drought stressed. Take a screwdriver and see if there is something under the soil surface causing the roots to not be getting moisture.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

SNOWBOB11 said:


> I do see some lesions on the blades like g-man said. It could be leaf spot. Looking at the first image it also looks like it is drought stressed. Take a screwdriver and see if there is something under the soil surface causing the roots to not be getting moisture.


I did a grub control with Nematodes today so it got a lot of water (with bonus rain) - so we'll see if that causes any kind of rebound.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Here's an update on how things are looking a few days later after the lawn getting a bunch of water through both the nematodes app and a bunch of rain we've been having. Lawn seems to have responded well with some yellow / brown remaining which might just be the high foot traffic areas. I've also started lowering the HOC in prep for some levelling and an overseed I'm hoping to do this weekend if the weather cooperates.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

tilsonturf said:


>


Looking nice! :thumbup:


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

After waking up to see raccoons has feasted on my lawn the night before, I spent most of the day yesterday scalping, dethatching, levelling with 70% sand 30% soil and overseeding with a KBG, Rye, TTF blend.

The backyard is 1400sqft and I got half a yard of sand. Initially thought it was going to be too much but was surprised to find that it actually wasn't enough. I had enough soil to top dress the areas that didn't get any of the sand/soil mixture.

I have the SunJoe dethatcher and have used it twice now and I'm impressed with how effective it is. I kept it on the highest setting as the sod is new this year and still establishing and testing at lower settings was ripping up too much good grass.

Anyone who's gone through this process knows it's a ton of work - especially working with the sand which is super heavy. Body is sore today!

I think I may test out keeping the backyard cut low with the manual push mower. Not sure how well the grass blend will work for that but we'll see.

_Raccoon damage:_


_SunJoe Dethatcher:_


_Scalped and dethatched:_


_Bringing in the sand/soil mixture with some help (really like this Gorilla Cart):_


_DIY lawn levelling tool (hat tip ShortCut Lawn for the inspo):_


_Post levelling:_


Lawn this morning after seeding and watering last evening:


Going to have to keep thinking about how to tackle the grubs the raccoons are dining on...


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Here's some pics from 2020 showing the ups and downs and projects in the yard this year. I'll do a follow up post detailing my fall overseed project and process which is underway now.

Front coming out of winter April 14th:


The City removed a large tree in Feb:


INstalling a new edge for the flower bed:






Backyard April 25th:


Stump grinding May 15th


Planting boxwoods and hydrangeas May 24th:



Backyard May 31:


Prepping seedbed and levelling front area after stump removal, grading, and retaining stones install. Black pipe is drip irrigation rough-in:


Mazama KBG seeded with peat moss on top:


Mazama 11 days after seed down, 5 days after germination:


12 DAG:


Front and back June 25th:



Front Mazama patch filling in but also battling heat stress:


July 24:


Aug 16th, cut a new edge and installed a small garden bed behind retaining rocks. Mazama looking very heat stressed:


Sept 1st, new Allett Liberty 43 mower arrived. Brown patches are clumping fescue patches I sprayed in prep for fall overseed.


Striping for the first time with the Liberty 43:




Next up, I'll post some pics of the recent fall overseed I did with Champion GQ PRG.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

*//FALL OVERSEED PROJECT//*

Sept 3rd, scalped and core aerated.



Sept 4th, sand leveling. I put down approximately 1 tonne of screened mason sand.







Here's how the sand looked after being worked in with a level lawn tool and a large, stiff-bristled broom.



Overseeding with Champion GQ 100% PRG blend.





Seed down and peat moss over top.





Germination 5 days after seed down (Sept 10th).



2 DAG:







4 DAG:





12 DAG:







Backyard 12 DAG. I didn't do sand leveling in the back this year but still got some solid germination after overseeding.



And here's a video I made documenting the entire (mostly) front yard overseed project:

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD6rYYCauuI[/media]


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

First mow last evening after overseeding 2.5 weeks ago. Cut it with the Ego rotary down to 2" and will keep it there for 3-4 mows and then start mowing it at around 1"-1.25" with the reel.

This morning I also began spoon feeding with Urea at a rate of 1/4lb N/k and will continue to do that weekly. Shout out to Harts for some guidance on how to proceed with the post-germination phase.

I get *a lot* of foot traffic going by and yesterday after mowing I noticed multiple people commenting and rubber-necking at the lawn-which is not my main motivation for my lawn obsession, but interesting to see nonetheless.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

First mow with the Allett Liberty 43 today (after the overseed) at just over 1" HOC . Was pleased with how the Liberty didn't scalp some of the sloped areas at this height. Starting to figure out my routes for striping as well but stil a WIP. Went with single-wide in the front and double-wide in the back.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

This is looking fabulous!!

How do you like the Allett?

Thinking about getting a Kensington 20H but no reel reviews seem to be out there.


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

@JerseyGreens Thanks. I'm really liking it so far though have only used it about three times. Main pro's that stick out to me so far:


Relatively quiet

Simple knob to adjust the HOC with numbers that tell you where you are

Cartridge system for easy dethatching with the power rake cartridge

Cut quality seems great

One drawback I've noticed with the Liberty 43 is battery life on the included Greenworks battery. It does fine to mow the 2,500 sqft I have but it died on me when I was scalping and then dethatching ahead of my overseed. I'm used to Ego's line of battery tools which last a long time so it was a bummer to be managing battery life and at one point waiting for it to charge to resume my project. Perhaps I'll buy a second battery.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

I have I want to say 8 ego tools which allett went with ego for batteries but they are more expensive I believe.

You did a great job leveling as well before getting into reel mowing.

I leveled the heck out of my Reno but then had tons of washout...I'll know how level things stayed once I get out there to cut.

Based on your not and a few other people on TLF helping answer my questions - I think I'll buy the kensington 20h!


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Quick mow at 1" before a rain storm rolled in. Did a spot spray of tenacity last week on a crab grass problem area I have at the front edge of the lawn which you can see now has some bleaching,. While mowing today I had one guy ask me "what is that?" pointing to the reel mower and another woman say "you win the award for the most gorgeous grass in the neighbourhood". ha!


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Mowing 3x per week with .5lbs n/k apps. Getting more used to striping with the Allett.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Looking great :thumbup:


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## tilsonturf (Aug 19, 2019)

Was looking through some security cam footage and grabbed some shots showing the difference from 60 days ago to today.

August 21, 2020


October 14, 2020


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Great transformation. You did the right thing seeding as early as you did. You can pretty much put this on cruise control until the end of the season. This will look even better this time next year.


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