# BDalton - Front Yard Journal



## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Should have started this a long time ago. But I'll try to catch you up. Bought house in spring 2018. Brownsburg, IN (Indy area). Lawn is a contractor grade northern mix.

First year was spent knocking down weeds and fertilizing to try to thicken it up. Fall have me the first chance to aerate/overseed and try to get it looking a bit better. I think I probably used a blend from Executurf (a local supplier). Was pretty new to lawn care, so only really knew what I had picked up from LawnCareNut and some other Tubers.

Landscaping needed serious help as well…


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Starting landscaping…


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Amazing what you can fit in a Prius. Yes, the tree was in there!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

By the fall had first signs of domination. Attached text is from my neighbor lady.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Out with the old and in with the new. Had been using a Simplicity rider initially. Actually decent mowers that stripe great from the factory, but it was too big for my lawn. 
The wife got me a Timemaster and Big League striper for Christmas!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Still very dormant mid march. April 11 was the first time testing out the Timemaster.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Added some exterior lighting. Pic makes it look more drastic than it really is.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Amazing the difference a month makes. This is April 23, 2019.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

July 18 - showing some stress, but significantly better than the non-irrigated neighbors!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Got a soil test done. I think the high pH is the root cause of some other issues. Either way, plenty to work on. I put 40# of sulfur on the lawn in 2 separate treatments over the remainder of the summer months.

Should have mentioned earlier, front yard is about 3,500sqft and back yard is about 4,500sqft.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Oct. 25, 2019.

Picked up this little gem from a local golf course that was changing hands. Not too bad for a $200 find.

The original intent was just to do the little side piece with it. It's a bit shy of 500sqft. First started cutting around 1".


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Hanging in there for November 6 in Indiana.

The bare spot is a stump from Pear tree that went down before we bought the house. It annoys me having the hump and bare spot from it.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

First cut of 2020 on January 3. Probably not recommended, but I was bored.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Another comical text from the neighbor…


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

March 5, 2020

The wife was distracted with upcoming birth of our daughter, so I saw the perfect opportunity to take the Greensmaster to the entire front yard. The side piece just wasn't big enough to scratch the itch.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Future mowing helper.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

April 1

It's adjusting the the change in cutting height surprisingly well. This is at about 1".


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

April 5

Small patch in foreground is some fescue. The reel mowing unfortunately doesn't really phase it.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

May 4

The reel mowing is exposing some serious splotchyness color-wise. Darker spots reveal where overseeded newer grass varieties have taken hold. This haunts me for the next 2 years.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

May 13


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

June 24

Baby's first mow. She fell asleep within the first few passes.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Nov. 8

End of the 2020 season.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

April 16, 2021

Started off the year by nuking a couple areas of what I originally thought were poa. I think it may have actually some creeping bent. Either way it was lime green and annoyed the hell out of me.

I replanted with some of Executurf's perennial rye, as I wanted it to come in quickly for a spring repair. Also thought KBG might be tough on the shaded, north side of house.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

May 21

Filling back in!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

June 19

Significant color difference between the old and new. This marked the beginning of the end for this yard.

Unfortunately it took me another whole year to muster up the courage for a reno on the slope. Instead I used this year to reno the backyard which I continue to mow with the Timemaster. Maybe I'll include that in a future journal, but I changed it to GCI TTTF with about 10% Bewitched. My goal in the back is minimal irrigation and inputs overall. The front takes enough of my time keeping up with the reel mowing.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

July 15

Another shot that really shows the differences in color throughout the lawn.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 22

The secret to a great lawn!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

The remainder of 2021 was mainly consumed by the reno on my backyard. Front yard stayed in maintenance mode knowing that I really needed to bite the bullet and reno it.

April 3, 2022

More spots of what I believe to be creeping bent.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

May 11


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

May 14

Current domination status. Keep in mind these are still essentially the same grasses planted early 2000s.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

July 14 - D Day

This is probably the worst it's looked in the last couple years. Knowing that a reno was coming I laid off the maintenance and water a bit. Add to that it was a ridiculously dry June for us.

First round of glypho went down today. Seed choice is SS1100 (mazama, midnight, and bluebank).


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

Getting prepared.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

July 20

Drying down. Still has some nice stripes!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

July 28

After at least one more round of glypho it's pretty dead. Dropped the GM down to do some scalping. Not pleased about clipping the reel on the driveway and dinging up my 7 month old 8-blade. Ouch.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 2

Put down 5 yards of soil. Had more rocks and mulch in it than I would prefer, but just had to deal with it. Also used the SunJoe to knock down a few high spots (like where the tree was). While I didn't get it perfectly level, it should be an improvement. The main goal was to reduce the number of big undulations across the entire area.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 4

Had a big rain yesterday that caused some issues. Will need to do some repairs while I continue to fallow. This is the reason I have nervous about this reno for a long time.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 11

Saw a break in weather coming so I got to work. Fixed a few last humps and bumps, rolled, made some grooves with SunJoe scarifier, seed down, rolled, sprayed azoxy/propiconazole combo, starter at about .25#N, peat moss, spread some slopemaster, watered with a little Hydratain, then started the real watering. It was a long day.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 14

Had a brief downpour today that caused some runoff along the property lines. Could have been a lot worse, I'll take it.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 17 - 6 DAS

There's life!


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 18 - 7 DAS

It's widespread too. A sigh of relief, and much quicker than I was expecting.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 19 - 8 DAS

The yard actually has a green haze again! Have managed to dodge some of the area thunderstorms.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 21 - 10 DAS (current day)

It's filling in nicely. Plenty of grass in the .5-1" range. Very few areas that appear to need much additional help or not coming in well.


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

This was going so well until I saw a Purdue license plate. Just kidding! Good to have another reel mowed lawn in Hendricks County! Looking forward to seeing your progress.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

jskierko said:


> This was going so well until I saw a Purdue license plate.


Can't hate too much, I'm sure somewhere along your lawn journey you've referenced a Purdue publication or two! Haha. But seriously, your Bewitched mono looks amazing, nice work! This forum has been a great resource as I've gotten ready for my reno.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 25 - 14 DAS

Seems like progress has slowed a bit, but that may be because I see it everyday. I've backed off on the irrigation a little bit, primarily early morning and late evening cycles that didn't seem to be necessary. It still hasn't really seen more than a tenth or two of actual rain. We have a few 90 degree days upcoming, so I'll probably add a couple minutes here and there as needed. A few spots are a little thin, but overall I'm very happy for being only 2 weeks in.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

August 30 - 19 DAS

Took a couple steps backward last night when we got 2" of rain in a fairly short period of time. Today I spent some time with a leaf rake uncovering baby grass. It was painful getting this aggressive with new grass, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Will definitely have to do some leveling in the future as this created some ridges as it washed dirt and peat down the hill. I don't think a lot could be said for the slopemaster, as that seemed to do plenty of moving along with everything else. Just glad that I had pretty well established grass before this happened. Had this rain happened on day 5, my whole yard would have been in the street.

Started pre-germinating a little bit of seed today to hit a couple weak spots in the near future.


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

This is still looking really good and is way ahead of lots of other renos on a similar timeline. I think you should wait at least 10 days or so before you decide to drop more seed. It looks pretty full to me and once it starts tillering those sparser areas will fill in.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

@jskierko Yeah I'm not planning on going crazy with seed, just want to get a bit more established at the peak of the hill where it's really thin. The irrigation struggles a little bit to keep this area moist without over watering other spots.

Again I'm very pleased with the progress so far, as I've had way better success with this reno than my TTTF last year. The most disappointing thing so far is the amount of leveling that I will be dealing with after some of this wash out.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

September 3 - 23 DAS

I rolled it yesterday North/south with the GM to do a little smoothing and mash down some rocks and mulch from the crappy topsoil. Today after work said 'what the heck' and did a first cut at .75" east/west (middle pic w/ white car) on just the main stage. Didn't take off much, but evened it up a bit. 
After that did a little weasel action on the weak spots and threw out a little bit of pregerm seed and topped with peat. Honestly didn't spend a lot of time on it, as the wife and kid deserve some time too on my one day (OT calls) holiday weekend. We will see what happens…


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

September 8 - 28 DAS

After my last post I put down the rest of the bag of my Claris starter fert at around .25#N. I also put a seeding blanket on the thin strip right down the middle of lawn. I left that on it for a couple days before the grass started pushing it up a bit. Still have some weak areas in various spots, but is thickening up surprisingly quickly. Put my second mow on the main stage today. I already wish I was able to get the lawn a bit more level and smooth, but I was very concerned about weather, erosion and washouts when I did most of the work. Oh well, I'll do what I can with sand leveling in the future. I've cut irrigation back a bit and plan on just coasting now with regular feeding and cutting.


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

Nice even coverage without looking over crowded. This is going to turn out well.


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## BDalton (Dec 11, 2019)

@SNOWBOB11 Yes I'm really happy with the consistency and coverage. After a not-so-great TTTF backyard reno last year I was expecting this to be more of a struggle. I attribute part of the success to 1) using SunJoe scarifier to groove it prior to seeding and 2) cheap Scott's drop spreader to be a bit more precise than flinging tiny KBG seeds everywhere. Also bit the bullet on pricey Lanzie peat spreader.

So far I love the uniform color and texture compared to my old cool season mix.


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## rhart (May 7, 2020)

Things are really looking great. I think the sunjoe is a huge part of the success. Can't wait to see this in about 3 weeks from now.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@BDalton how is the Reno?


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

g-man said:


> @BDalton how is the Reno?


+1, I have been half tempted to drive up to the Burg to check-in personally! Need some updates.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

A Reno wellness check.


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