# Burge303's Lawn Journal



## Burge303 (Aug 13, 2020)

First time posting, but have been lurking/reading/studying the last couple of weeks. Long-story short, I live in Denver and have owned my house with my wife since 2014. My dad always had the nicest yard on the block, and I thought I knew what I was doing until grubs and bad irrigation design (prior owner) got the best of me. Now, I find myself going down the rabbit hole of knowledge pertaining to yard care and am excited to finally quiet my retired neighbors who always ask why my grass isn't as green as theirs lol. Can't wait to win this silent competition next year! Without further ado, below are some pictures of my problem areas over the last several years. Only focusing on the front yard as we have a pup (Ted) and 5 chickens that call the backyard home:

*2015:*













*2016:*

Spring:



Summer:





Fall:







*2017:*

Sping: Lesson learned in grub damage...



Summer: Clearly took a holiday from yard work; yikes. The white stuff in the lawn was my failed attempt at throwing down some seed mid July and laying some cheap yard cloth from HD on top of it.





Fall:



*2018:*

Spring (late June/early July):







Sprinkler project (found some buried and cut off heads that needed reviving):











Fall (late August): Feeling pretty proud of myself here (if only I knew):









*2019:* We took a sabbatical from yard work.

*2020:* Let the games begin!

Spring: Feeling rejuvenated after the sabbatical and ready to put in some work. Back to the same old tricks of planting grass seed in the spring, throwing some top soil on it, and watering. No education, no skill, no game plan to go by.











Summer: No pictures, but needless to say my spring work would not be considered a success.

*RENO:* after countless failed attempts the investigator in me found this site and the rest is history. Started the light reno on 8/17. Will post pictures and updates on that in a follow up post.

If you've read this far that is amazing! Looking forward to my new project and learning a ton as a go. For anybody that has advice to throw at me, consider me a catchers mit!


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

Why do you think your spring attempt was a failure?

I have had great success with throwing dirt down, put seed down, and cover with a bit more dirt. It is all about getting enough water.

What grass are you trying to grow? KBG?


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## Burge303 (Aug 13, 2020)

Agreed. I think the primary culprit was that the irrigation was off on the corner section, and my soil was super depleted of nutrients. I also put down crappy KBG seed that I bought from HD and it sprouted a bunch of purslane and crowded out any growth in the section by the fence/tree. Admittedly, I didn't put down Tenacity or hand pick very well once things started germinating, so shame on me. Ultimately, I finally smarted up and got a soil test done earlier this month (although I went with Mysoil Testing, which I now come to realize not many people on the forum recommend) and it enlightened me to the fact that the front yard was severely depleted in N and some other micro nutrients (see below analysis). As you'll see once I start the reno update here, I added an additional sprinkler head to the yard to hit the front corner better, and have a much better game plan for feeding/fertilizing going forward.

On the seeds, I am planting KBG from a local turf supply company here in Littleton. It's a Colorado KBG and what they use for their sod. At some point I might eventually nuke the whole yard as some of my original reseeding projects brought in what I think is K31 and it just doesn't feel or look as nice.



One thing that is crazy is the difference with the backyard. I guess all the pooping the chickens are doing around the yard is paying off!


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

I have been told chicken poop makes grass grow like crazy. Sounds like it is true.

If you are trying to spot seed KBG, that indeed can be very difficult. It is much easier with TTTF. Considering your location and low humidity, I think TTTF might work well for you but KBG is awesome too. I love the look and feel of TTTF but the humidity where I am just makes it useless from June 1st to about August 15th.

Mixing both TTTF and KBG works very well, too. Maybe use TTTF when you are spot seeding and let the KBG creep in on its own.


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## Burge303 (Aug 13, 2020)

Here's what I'll be putting down:


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