# SodFace's Lawn Journal - Ottawa



## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Link to 2021 journal

Here we are in 2022 and summer is roaring in here with temps over 30C already. Beating all-time records the past few days after a cold spring sorta before now.

Developments last year related to lawn:
-Did a patio, stone beds, shed base, and driveway framing last year which caused some damage
-Ended up sodding part of the side yard with the gate and laying flagstones to step on and keep feet off the grass
-Gate ended up being too low and killed some grass in that area from open+closing and being exposed in the winter
-Downspout in back pooled in one area which is slowly recovering

Developments from this year related to lawn:
-Had deck redone in April which caused a tonne of traffic damage to the lawn all around that area. Some is recovering and some might be a fall seeding project...we'll see
-expanded river rock on the one side of the house as even the shade tolerant grass was doing badly
-expanded river rock beside deck...same issue with shade

Front wider side


Side into back


Tree looking beautiful


Back


Problem area where downspout was detached from buried pipe December to March


Problem area next to deck


Deck is sweet now though


What I have done so far:
-Seeded some spots around the edge of the driveway that got harmed by salt/shoveling/plow/whatever winter did to it. PRG and KBG
-Cut 2 times
-Dropped what I think was nearly 1lb of N from Scott's Fall 32-0-10(?). I blame my new Scott's Elite spreader which is a TONNE better than my crummy Scott's spreader. Found a deep discount online and jumped on it. I just stared at it and slowed down as it spread the fert so nicely...ran out part way and needed to add a bit more for even coverage. Did a good water the next morning.
-Sprayed some Biffen for mosquitoes which are bad already
-Fixed some dog spots with pro plugger
-Put in a Maple tree in the corner...will grab a pic next time.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

deck and stone look awesome. really nice


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## Nismo (Jul 4, 2019)

I bet you those problem spots are already looking a ton better after the rain we got on sunday and monday.

Love the privacy screen / glass on the deck. All the light, none of the nosy neighbours.


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## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

It was looking grim for the rain this Spring until the last two weeks. I'm doing my own ET tracking and so far so good. At first it was looking like I'd water MORE but right now I'm just cruising along, updating the spreadsheet without a worry.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

doverosx said:


> It was looking grim for the rain this Spring until the last two weeks. I'm doing my own ET tracking and so far so good. At first it was looking like I'd water MORE but right now I'm just cruising along, updating the spreadsheet without a worry.


yeah ive only used 33k liters so far.. lol


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Ok so first had to get through a crazy storm ("Derecho") that caused destruction to property, life, and electrical infrastructure. We only dealt with a 48hr power outage and no real damage so I count us extremely fortunate. Some areas near to me look post-apocalyptic. 170K houses without power in a city of 1 million! Hope the scary weather events are in the past for us for at least awhile.


On to the lawn...
My pro-plugged spots are looking OK and the damaged area near downspout has started healing.



Front is looking...pretty damn good. Minus the spot I spilled some 2-stroke gas+oil mix...oops...any way to promote healing besides the soak I gave it? Time? 



From above is nice too...


Back is decent. Wife snapped a pic of me "in action" mowing the backyard. 



Besides mowing I spot sprayed some areas with roundup and 3-way to rid myself of some weeds. Second app of Bifen already...the mosquitoes are FIERCE this year so far.


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## Chuuurles (Nov 23, 2020)

Looks good, I was wondering how our Ottawa lawn peeps were fairing after the storm. Glad to hear you are mostly fine.

Everything looks great Mr. Sodface! I am thinking, the gas damage at the front will be gone in no time


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## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

Another survivor! The outages were sporadic in my area "stonebridge" just south of "Old Barrhaven". I had a brown-out but never noticed a light flicker because I'm obsessed with UPSes, etc. A residue of being a systems administrator I guess lol.

Meanwhile a block around me and there were widespread outages, including my workplace. I'll post up some pictures that happened 50m from NAVCanada's TSC; north of the airport. Glad to see your lawn is really kicking butt! I have some salt death areas to deal with but I'm just going to push it and pray for lateral spread.


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## Nismo (Jul 4, 2019)

Lawn looks beautiful man. What a turn around from the stressed out trampled look after the work was done on the deck. Told ya she would bounce back with a vengeance.

We got power back Friday evening. 6 days running off the genny. I'm so happy to not have to listen or tend to that hungry loud beast for a while. At least till the next stupid storm.


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## yardnutz (Jul 11, 2018)

SodFace said:


> Link to 2021 journal
> 
> What I have done so far:
> -Seeded some spots around the edge of the driveway that got harmed by salt/shoveling/plow/whatever winter did to it. PRG and KBG
> ...


I see you sprayed Bifen. Do you mean Bifen XTS? I am also looking to spray app all round my house and lawn. What advise can you give and directions.

Thank you in advance


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## yardnutz (Jul 11, 2018)

Nice lawn by the way!


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

yardnutz said:


> SodFace said:
> 
> 
> > Link to 2021 journal
> ...


Bifen I/T is what I use. https://www.seedworldusa.com/products/bifen-i-t-1-pint

I have referenced this video before seems pretty to the point on how to mix and where to spray: 




Basics are:
1. Fill sprayer halfway with water - fit with fine spray tip
2. Add 1oz of the Bifenthrin per 1gallon (manual says for mosquitos use 0.6-1oz / gallon)
3. Fill rest of way (I mix 1 or 2 gallons for myself)
4. Shake up and let sit for ~20mins
5. Start spraying vertical surfaces from ground up about 1.5 metres or so. The video I linked above shows pretty much how I go around and spray my house, fence, behind shed and in hiding places they like, etc. Leftover product gets sprayed on the grass at a quick speed until gone. I don't really focus on doing my grass.

Only thing I'll say to avoid spraying besides obvious(food plants, flowers to save bees, etc) is avoid spraying windows. I go around them nice and close to get the creepy crawlies but I find the residue it leaves makes the window look dirty.


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Looking good and feeling plush. Not much to report besides grass is looking better and better and I haven't needed to water thanks to rain!





Stealing the "foot shot"...love doing the barefoot walk on the lawn.


There's some nice looking lawns around me and some not so nice ones. Look at this beauty getting it's first cut since last summer. Shitty corded mower would make it like 15cm and grind to a halt. Took duder so long. I guess I should be happy the tick habitat is gone until 2-3 weeks from now.


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

doverosx said:


> Another survivor! The outages were sporadic in my area "stonebridge" just south of "Old Barrhaven". I had a brown-out but never noticed a light flicker because I'm obsessed with UPSes, etc. A residue of being a systems administrator I guess lol.
> 
> Meanwhile a block around me and there were widespread outages, including my workplace. I'll post up some pictures that happened 50m from NAVCanada's TSC; north of the airport. Glad to see your lawn is really kicking butt! I have some salt death areas to deal with but I'm just going to push it and pray for lateral spread.


Missed your reply...
Ha Stonebridge! We moved here from Halfmoon Bay in Barrhaven! And I work in tech too.

Yea so many areas near me hit bad. Glad we all survived!


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## Nismo (Jul 4, 2019)

SodFace said:


>


"Don't mind me… just feeding the bees" - Duder 2022


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## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

An electric mower to boot. Fantastic!


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Nismo said:


> SodFace said:
> 
> 
> >
> ...


Taking "No Mow May" to the next level. Why stop at May? Why ever mow?


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## Nismo (Jul 4, 2019)

SodFace said:


> Taking "No Mow May" to the next level. Why stop at May? Why ever mow?


Maybe his weeds don't identify as weeds???


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Not much to add besides mowing and spraying for bugs. Gonna lay some organic fert before next rainfall.

Best thing so far is I haven't had to water much as the rain has been good this spring.







Some "improvement" pics

Damage from downspout melting snow in cold - early spring and now:



Damage side of deck from tramping - early spring and now:


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Should note the above 2 problem areas had no work done to them. Just KBG doing what it does best


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## doverosx (Aug 7, 2019)

Those areas will be filled in by Fall for sure if we can keep up our generous precipitation and heat breaks that we've been getting. All of the "low input" lawns around me have been doing fairly well considering how little water and fertilizer they use.


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Quick update.

Everything is growing great now - got about 0.5lb N worth of Home Hardware Nature's Best 5-7-7 down a couple weeks ago. Good thing is the dog spots are less visible...the lawn was needing Nitrogen bad.

Going to start dropping regular amounts of fert in smaller doses all through the fall. Maybe tomorrow will be the first drop of SynAgri's 24-6-12 - found it at Home Hardware for $59.99/25kg. Prodiamine is on the radar as well.

Here's the general picture update:

Nextdoor neighbour sodded after paver work was done. Looking good up front.


Back is greener thanks to some fert. Needs more.




I dropped a little bit of seed. Both trees in the back I am getting rid of the rings of mulch and soiled/seeded/peat mossed/mesotrione'd.

"Fun" pic - the relationship with my one next door neighbour in a picture. I do not know why she hates us so but here we are . 


Yes she mulched just the one side. Yes it is with mulch I do not buy(black). I decided instead of buying a bag of mulch to match that I'd just re-seed that whole part right up to the tree. Look how bad that grass looks anyway. One last try to get it nice and green before I rip it all out and do alternative landscaping. Removed mulch, scalped, topsoil, seed(Award KBG and Evolution PRG from OntarioSeedCompany), peat moss, and a hopefully accurate dose of mesotrione.


Thanks @Nismo for the push to give the front yard next to crazy neighbour one last try.


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Today put down about 0.5lb/N per 1000sqft of the SynAgri 24-6-12 fert. Also put down a 3 month rate of prodiamine...leaving a wide berth around the seeded areas which are covered a bit with mesotrione. Timed it well as when I was finishing spraying I was getting rained on. Should get nearly 20mm of rain today.


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## Nismo (Jul 4, 2019)

SodFace said:


> Thanks @Nismo for the push to give the front yard next to crazy neighbour one last try.


Ha! No worries bud. I'm hoping it greens up and looks amazing. A wise man once told me "if it pisses off crazy neighbour its an added bonus" and I'm all about messing with stupid people. They bring it upon themselves really.


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

Wondering how this tree will look pruned...


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Babameca said:


> Wondering how this tree will look pruned...


 :twisted:


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