# TC's Lawn Journal - My DIY Yard Makeover



## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Hello, my name is Tony and this is my Lawn Journal.

Kinda sounds like a Lawn Addict Anonymous introduction doesn't it. Where should I start? From the beginning I guess.

In the Spring of 2012 my wife and I bought a house North of Atlanta. The house, in an older neighborhood, was built in the mid 60's. It's a traditional southern brick home, 5-4 and a Door we call them. Five windows on the second floor, 4 on the main, and front door in the middle. Just like all of the other houses around here. Being older, the neighborhood vegetation is what you might call "established". In other words, we moved into a forest!



My wife and I have two children who, back when we bought the house, were 3 and 4. One of the things we considered before buying the house was the lack of space where the kids could safely play outside. The front yard was only trees and English Ivy, with a token strip of grass near the street. In the above picture, it was more moss than grass. The backyard is even worse with a hill with even more trees and more ivy. The trees I'm ok with, but the ivy not so much. If you live in the South and have English Ivy, then you know you also have snakes. The local poisonous bad guy is the Copperhead, and I wanted none of them around my kids. The ivy would go immediately.

Probably like many here, I was always outside playing with friends as a youngster. If I wasn't playing in the yard, I was helping my father with yard work. Cutting the grass in the Summer, and raking leaves in the Fall was the schedule. Dad was pretty handy, so when trees needed falling, I helped with that too. Pulled on the rope to coax the tree in the right direction, held the logs for cutting, dragged the branches to the burn pile, carried and stacked the split firewood. All of these skills would come in handy. Just like I grew up, these were the things I wanted for my children too.

Fast forward to 2012, our new yard would support none of those things. Time for a complete makeover, so here we go.



Living IN a Forest does have its positives. Here is a picture from the backyard. Each Spring and Fall our backyard is the local deer nursery. But with that comes hungry mouths to feed. They will absolutely destroy Hostas and any other yummy vegetation.



I don't have a lot of pictures of how it used to look, but here's one after most of the ivy was mowed, but before many of the trees were removed.



The front yard had a continuous grade from the large privacy berm down to the circle drive in front of the house. I wanted to soften if not completely flatten the front yard so the kids could kick a soccer ball around or throw a Frisbee. A retaining wall would be needed to accomplish this.

Notice the burned out tree stump in the picture below. It was one of our largest trees and it snapped like a twig about 12 feet up when straight line winds came through. Luckily the tree came down across the front yard missing the house.



Did I mention we have trees on the property? Here's me on acorn cleanup. I really don't know, and I've looked up why, but the trees produced insane amounts of acorns the year this picture was taken. The blower has since been upgraded as well.



Hopefully I've given you the reader an idea of what I started with.

*Now time for the fun!*

Enjoy!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Yes, that's me, remember I mentioned helping Dad with Tree work. Not long after moving in, I upgraded all of my tree gear to professional grade. This tree had to be taken down in pieces because it was intertwined with trees I wanted to keep.



This was the beginning of my lawn leveling. Messing around one day, I parked the Jeep on our front privacy berm which would be removed next.



Time for some grading. It helps to have a friend who owns a couple of skid steers and is willing to let you use one for an extended period.





Ooops! Blew the Bead on the tire. Had to disassemble the track to even get to the problem. I tried the ratchet approach first, but in the end I had to use the old starter fluid trick to reset the bead.





I had to work this stump from all angles to get it out. The skid steer could barely lift it, so instead I just shoved it around when I needed it moved out of the way.



The shade in this picture will be dealt with in the future. Not to worry, my grass is going to have the sunlight it needs. Remember the lumberjack picture above. Notice the container grown tomatoes in the background. I had to put them on the driveway to get enough sunlight. I'll have to open up the canopy a little more for them too.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Bought a new to me JD X300 to help with the the next steps.



Another workhorse of this project is my Ohio Steel garden trailer, OUTSTANDING PRODUCT. This hauler combined with the John Deere were key pieces of equipment the rest of the way. I cannot say enough about the utility of both during this project.



Getting closer to final grading, but I still needed to cut in the retaining wall. In this picture you can see the DIY Land Plane that I made. I drove in endless circles on the John Deere, my neighbors had to think I had gone mad. I modeled the land plane after a road leveler, complete with ripping tines.





I no longer had the Skid Steer, so I had to cut in the retaining wall with the trencher. That made for some fun maneuvering, and left a ton of dirt that would be removed by a lot of my own manual labor.



Flags to mark where future sprinkler heads were planned.



Retaining wall footing being dug. Note the Red Georgia Clay, that's going to be crap on a soil test.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

When I was cutting in for the retaining wall with the trencher, I nicked the water main for the house. At the time, I thought it was one of the sprinkler lines I planned to keep. Boy was I surprised when I started the repair, cutting into the line, only to shoot a water geyser 20 feet in the air. I was happy to see it had already been converted to PVC, but I wasn't happy to learn it was the main the hard way.





I lost weight and got stronger all through this project. Each one of those Blocks is 80lbs.











Sprinklers are going in, and notice the pile of topsoil that needs to be spread. In total there were 3 loads to amend the soil.





The sprinkler manifold wasn't so bad that it warranted a complete redo, but had to reroute to make room for the 3 new zones.



Final final grading is beginning. Sod is coming in days!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

It's SOD Day!

Wait, what? I have a Charity golf tournament I cannot back out of. Not ideal, but I guess these 7 pallets of Zoysia are getting worked tomorrow.





I used a couple of sections of pvc pipe to bend smooth arcs to follow when cutting in the flower bed edging.











Wasn't getting enough water to this area, had to add a sprinkler head.







As if it wasn't bad enough that my wife's friends decided to punk her on her 50th with obnoxious yard decorations, the guy put 50 Pink Flamingos up on that same section that is struggling to take hold! If it wasn't 2am when they were put out I would've chased the guy down the street. Secretly, I did like the TLF connection.



So that was a long story to tell, and I'm not sure what took more time, the yard or these posts.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Here's the finale for your enjoyment!


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

Well done, sir. Are you mowing that with the x300?


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

N LA Hacker said:


> Well done, sir. Are you mowing that with the x300?


No, at this point I have gone through the full progression. I knew I wanted a reel mower, but when I laid the sod I was using a Honda Harmony rotary. Pretty quickly I picked up a McLane off of Craigslist. It improved my cut, but without a front roller I had some occasional scalps. Then this December the Weeks Auction happened. Now I have two JD greens mowers, a 180SL & a 220SL, and a Jacobsen. Check out the link in my signature for my 220SL rebuild.

From not enough to a few too many.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Soil Test results are in. These results are from the University of Georgia Extension Services Lab. A reminder that my lawn is Zeon Zoysia (pH 6.0 - 7.0), and the foundation layers of the yard are Georgia clay.

When I was initially reading about planting Zoysia, there are cautions not to apply Lime without a soil test. Assuming that I didn't want to raise the ph, I was afraid of anything that might bias in a positive direction.

Zeon Tech Sheet

I'm very happy that, as suggested, I got a soil test. An example is that last growing season, I made an application of Ammonium Sulfate fertilizer. I read great things about this fertilizer type as a great Nitrogen source, but one of the things it does is lower the ph. Remembering that there are cautions about Lime and ph, I through I was being conservative. Based on these results, that is the opposite of what my lawn needed.

Initial research indicates that as I attempt to raise the ph, I'll need to keep an eye on the Calcium and Magnesium levels and their ratio.

I wish that there was a little more detail in these test results, but I'm happy to start with something.

I welcome feedback.

Cheers!


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

That lawn is just amazing.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Austinite said:


> That lawn is just amazing.


@Austinite Thank you, there was and still is a lot of hard work involved, but now I'm enjoying it more than I imagined.

She's asleep these days, but I'm anxiously waiting for April to roll around.



Here is a link to the following shared Google Sheet. Save a copy, and edit the values in the Blue cells for your city of choice. There is a second tab for Cool Season grasses, and a sheet that will chart weekly data if you really want to play.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

As a fellow Zeon Zoysia and Georgia friend I am very thrilled to have come accross your diary. Great looking yard


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

raymond said:


> As a fellow Zeon Zoysia and Georgia friend I am very thrilled to have come accross your diary. Great looking yard


@raymond Thank you Sir! I think I've seen your Zoysia, looks nice and healthy. Keep up the good work!


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## GA_Fescue_Man (Jan 7, 2019)

Yard looks wonderful! Really nice job on the renovation.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

GA_Fescue_Man said:


> Yard looks wonderful! Really nice job on the renovation.


@GA_Fescue_Man Thanks!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

@raymond @OD on Grass 


In this first image, you can see the green-up that is underway. I went ahead and made a light scalp cut, setting for a 5/8" HOC, and dropping the groomer down to around 3/8". The thatch being removed is pretty moist, so most of the time the reel had trouble ejecting the clippings all the way into the catcher. I emptied the catcher after every return pass. This first cut removed about 2 wheelbarrows of clippings.

I'm trying to ease my way down to a light scalp without putting the groomer into the soil. So after examining the cut, I decided to drop the HOC to 3/8" & groomer 1/4". This second cut was made diagonally. The lower cut obviously cleaned out more material, but I think there is another pass required at an even lower HOC and a tad lower groomer height. In the following picture, the darker areas are very close to the desired height with good thatch removal. I will probably go to a 1/4" HOC & groomer 1/8". I'm trying to get this done before we get more rain, temps are expected in the high 60's for the next few days.


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## OD on Grass (Nov 1, 2018)

Gorgeous! I seem to be at a stand still on the zoysia bible as far as contributions from TLF but this is helpful for sure! Thanks!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Took another wack at it, 1/4" HOC & groomer about 1/8". Got two more wheelbarrow loads out during the cut, then ran the sweeper over at a very low setting. I would guess this is another 1 1/2 WB, so 3 1/2 WB loads total. I would say this is as low as I'm going to go this Spring, now to have patience and let her wake up.

I need to get some Calcitic Lime down soon to attack the pH from my soil test.


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## dtillman5 (Jul 20, 2017)

Awesome job! Tons of work is paying off!


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Forget the Zeon (I have it as well yours looks great), just the tree trimming, retaining wall, and leveling in my amateur opinion EASILY adds 50k to the value of your home.

You've basically added acreage to your lot in a sense because it's now usable space.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Put the kids to work, and planted the retaining wall flowerbed.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Nice spring project. Planning on putting a drip line on that strip?


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

@raymond , I'm going to keep an eye on it, but there is so much water that drains across the yard to the wall and then down that I think the ground will be plenty moist. I plan to add elephant ear plants soon. They should enjoy the moist soil.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Easter Weekend, she's finally Awake! This is to mark it on the 2019 calendar for reference.



Last week, I did put down an application of Virgo Weed and Feed that I had lying around. If you follow Turf Growth Potential and MLSN, then those practices say you don't yet need N on a warm season turf this early in the season.

I'm seeing good growth throughout the lawn. This spot in particular was struggling to recover from being scalped.



My Dad also had some extra seedlings. These were transplanted to pots yesterday, and are enjoying some full sun, and what should be the first Warm week here in Atlanta.

A side project soon to get some time will be the fencing of the garden area and planting of these seedlings and more planting.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Austinite said:
> 
> 
> > That lawn is just amazing.
> ...


Thanks for the chart!!


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

My body hurts looking at the renovation pics. Excellent work.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Austinite said:
> 
> 
> > That lawn is just amazing.
> ...


Link works just fine but won't let me edit as it says I have to ask for permission to do so???


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

ctrav said:


> TonyC said:
> 
> 
> > Austinite said:
> ...


That's because you're attempting to work with my sheet. You need to Make a Copy. Under the File drop-down menu, select Make a Copy. It will put it in Your Google Drive cloud drive. Then you can edit Your version.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

TonyC said:


> ctrav said:
> 
> 
> > TonyC said:
> ...


Ok I will give it a shot...


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

@TonyC 
Just read your journal. Big project you took on but you did a great job. Well planned and you did everything properly and didn't cut corners. You have a beautiful home!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Shindoman said:


> @TonyC
> Just read your journal. Big project you took on but you did a great job. Well planned and you did everything properly and didn't cut corners. You have a beautiful home!


Thank you very much! :thumbup:


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Not sure if this is a picture of my Japanese Maple, or the grass, but I love this angle.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I would envy that pic as well...outstanding lawn!


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Not sure if this is a picture of my Japanese Maple, or the grass, but I love this angle.


Looking good, sir. Green up is comperable to my yard


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## Crabbychas (Apr 25, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Not sure if this is a picture of my Japanese Maple, or the grass, but I love this angle.


Do you know what kind you have? I had never heard of them till I saw this picture the other day but now I'm in love


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Crabbychas said:


> TonyC said:
> 
> 
> > Not sure if this is a picture of my Japanese Maple, or the grass, but I love this angle.
> ...


I don't know for sure but it is similar in description to the Emperor, Sumi Nagashi, and Bloodgood varieties.

The leaves transition through the year. Red, Green & Purple, and then Red again in the Fall.

Ours is a very mature tree, 18ft or so, many are sold in large pots at the nurseries.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

After a weekend of rain and warmer temperatures, I'm seeing much better grow-in. I'm trying to give some of the thinner areas more time at a longer blade length to soak up the sunlight. A Tip of the Hat to @thesouthernreelmower and similar to his methods, here's a picture of what I call "Cutting in the Collar".


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@TonyC thats a nice looking fairway you've got there...


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> @TonyC thats a nice looking fairway you've got there...


I guess it's a fairway, and not a green. BUT do have plans to practice my chipping to it this week, Charity Golf Tournament this weekend.


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## thesouthernreelmower (Aug 28, 2018)

Looks great


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Brackin4au said:
> 
> 
> > @TonyC thats a nice looking fairway you've got there...
> ...


Yeah, just looks more like a fairway because of the stripes. I actually like the fairway/rough look more for lawns. Versus a super short green. I love this picture.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Bambi and Squirrel are on the unwanted list, so I dug a few post holes in the rain today. Going to add a little electricity next. I don't expect any fence jumpers, but will extend upwards with wire if needed, we have lazy deer that feed on Hostas and Geraniums.

On the lawn side I found a Brown Patch spot. I hit it with the spray bottle as soon as I saw it. I guess we're going Fungicide after this rain leaves the area.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

It's HOT in Atlanta!

We were away for the Memorial Day weekend, in other words I wasn't able to obsess over grass, which was great for my lawn. The more I leave it alone the better it does. :lol: Read that somewhere around these parts too.

Observing the 1/3 rule and not wanting to scorch it I fell back to height #2 on the rotary.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Looks awesome and I agree sometimes more is less!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Put the Jake to 'er today.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Heck yeah! Tony, it's looking super premo :thumbup:


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Thanks @ctrav and @raymond !

Now if I can just get my trouble spots figured out. Might start reaching out to TLF for some help on those.

Cheers!


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## ThomasPI (May 18, 2019)

Nice job !


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Tightened her up with a 1/2" HOC and the groomer somewhere around 3/16", definitely pulled some dead material out.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Nicely done Tony...


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Thanks @ctrav, I needed a new cell background. :lol:


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

TonyC said:


> Thanks @ctrav, I needed a new cell background. :lol:


Great idea...now I can dump the wife and kids for my lawn


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Admittedly, I'm late getting a Spring application of fungicide down, and this area is holding more than average water. Looks like and outbreak of Black Algae.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Getting ready for some more Spring rain, I was able to drop the HOC to 9/16" and use the groomer to remove another cart of dead material. It wasn't all that straightforward, keep reading below...



*FULL STOP!* - The Jake decided to eat itself! On my first lap of the yard, the clippings deflector shield got pulled into the cutting blades. Lucky for me, the reel wasn't damaged, and I so just happen to have a replacement that I can pull from my SALVAGE Jake. There is not a lot of clearance between the shield and the reel. The shield had been remounted in it's previous life as a greens mower, so I'm guessing that it was loose and not aligned properly which is why it got snagged by the cutting blade, _lesson learned the hard way._


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Just wanted to say the level of detail and attention is greatly appreciated. Tremendous effort and results!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

@Darth_V8r , Thanks, it has been fun!

Here's a little update.

My Zoysia is creeping into the beds, so it was time to re-cut the live edge. I used the pieces I cut out to fill in some spots in the backyard. If I get some good growth from those pieces, I'll do a write-up on that process. You can see the dirt screen on the cart. It makes a great work table and lets the dirt fall into the cart then the rocks are easily captured and end up in a bucket.



Testing the sprinklers for the first time this season resulted in an unwanted water fountain. Repaired, and photo taken for future reference.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Looking good man!! Say, when you gunna sell me one of your reels?? &#128513;


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Thanks @raymond , Trust me there's pressure to do just that.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

By the way, the live edge is looking &#128076;

I was late to the scalp game this spring (ended up taking way longer than I wanted it to). Your lawn has much better color and green up than what I am seeing right see now


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

raymond said:


> By the way, the live edge is looking 👌
> 
> I was late to the scalp game this spring (ended up taking way longer than I wanted it to). Your lawn has much better color and green up than what I am seeing right see now


I'm happy to stop by and put the reel and the groomer to yours. Headed to your Journal next.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Got tired of watch my grass grow, so it was time for another equipment upgrade.

Here's my new DIY 5 gal bucket carry-all & tool rack.



Living on an acre, I'm often 50+ yards from the tools I keep in the garage or 
basement shop. So I like to grab the tools I'll need and throw them into the trailer or a bucket to haul around. This combo works great, but there are times when I just want a quick runabout or am out only using the tractor.

The JD X300 is a very capable lawn tractor, but the side molded cup holder/pocket is abysmal for anything more than a can for a drink, and maybe a utility knife, It doesn't have a 3 point setup, so there really isn't a reasonable Carry-All setup for it. So without the additional cart, I'm very limited in the tools I can carry. This had me wanting to mount something on the X300 for a while now.

I haven't committed to drilling additional tool holders, but it's my plan to drill and router holes/slots for screwdrivers, pliers, a hammer or two. I'm toying with making a cutout where different drop in mini racks might give me different options. I'm also planning for the obligatory coffee/can/bottle cup holder. Might even mount a bottle opener to be over the top obnoxious, and of course it will be painted Green when finished.

The wood is 3/4" ply. And the 5 gal is a standard HD bucket. The wing nuts and no head bolts are being used as nothing more than pegs that drop into the accessory mounts in the rear fender, and are not bolted on. The down braces have slots that slide over the top edge of the rear subframe.

Here I'm using it to carry important resources.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Update: Drilled, routed, and jigged a little.

Tested some spacing and hole sizes.



Most of what I want to carry is there. Might add a few more attachments, then it will be time for paint.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Last season I got a little heavy handed with the herbicide. I was waiting to see if the area would bounce back, but I really gave it a gut punch and even though there were some green tips this Spring it just wasn't coming back so I plugged it today.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Mid season HOC reset. I've been a little lazy this season, trying to stay around 3/4" HOC. This weekend I took multiple cuts to take 'er down to 5/8", and dropped the groomer to something around 1/4". That really brought up the dead material. I'm considering a USGA sand leveling, so this is also thinning the turf for that process.


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

*3/10/2021* - Recordkeeping, First Mow of 2021 - HOC 5/8, Groomer 3/8



*3/11/2021* - Sun Joe w/Scarifier blade set at 0, single pass. I'm really happy with this result, enough of the dead material was removed to open things up, but not tear things up. I will probably make a second pass before what comes next.



*3/18/2021* - 10 yrds of Top Dressing showed up today. A little early I know, but I'd like to get it spread before being out of town for Spring Break.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Rock and roll man. Good to see an update. Lawn looks awesome. I've sure top dressing was tough work. Did you use a hand leveling type rake or pull something behind your riding mower Connor style?


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

@raymond I'm in a Hold on top dressing, and it looks like it will have to wait until after Spring Break. Knowing I was a little early, I was hesitant to put it down in the front yet. I went ahead and took delivery because the company said, if I can have a driver there today? And I thought better to have it than want it. With the typical heavy March rains there hasn't been a good window of opportunity, but my backyard has always been treated as my test plot, so I did put a few wheelbarrows down there (600sqft.). That topdressing got pushed around just a bit by runoff.

Again due to the rain, I have a fair bit (much more than what's in this picture) of left over clippings that I need to deal with first. I'll have to rake or broom them to break them up. The SunJoe on +5 might be an option. I'd like to use the JD lawn tractor and sweeper, but I need to wait until we can dry out a little, or I'll just end up tearing up the turf. When I do top-dress, I plan to use my infield drag behind the JDLT (which might also be an option to break up the clippings).

The good news is the lawn is growing now, so it will only be a few weeks and I can get more aggressive with it.


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## Brewdawg (May 21, 2019)

Wow. You've earned every single beer you enjoy (and Slap Fight is a good one) while sitting out there and enjoying your reno!


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Brewdawg said:


> Wow. You've earned every single beer you enjoy (and Slap Fight is a good one) while sitting out there and enjoying your reno!


Thank you! Looking forward to getting out in the yard as things warn up.

Go Dawgs!


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