# Lawn Burgundy's Bermuda Lawn Journal



## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Hi all, 
We just moved into a new home and I have always liked gardening but was never really motivated nor did I enjoy mowing. But after watching @wardconnor and @OD on Grass and @ryanknorr and the lawn care nut on YouTube. I got the bug to make improvements to the grass and eventually go reel low. And now I am enjoying the mow.

This is what the house looked like during construction.


I still am using a rotary but I recently purchased a manual reel for the front yard. My neighbor came outside when I was first using it (who doesn't care for his grass at all) and said "so the self propelled mower was just too easy for you?" It made me laugh and I basically challenged him to step his game up! 
I've been doing some weeding manually and via liquid applications and the lawn seems to be responding well. With a new born and a 4yo It's been tough to get as many mows in as I would like but I think I've been managing well. All of the neighbors use a lawn service and/or a mowing crew and think I am insane but the DIY speaks to itself as one neighbor asked what I was doing to the lawn since our house was the last to be completed and had the "youngest lawn" so that made me feel like I was on the right track. 
As far as fertilizer treatments I have only put down some starter fertilizer early this season and a couple milorganite applications, but the lawn is responding well. 
I recently scalped to about an 1" in the front and realized I was in dire need of a sand level job to get to my desired HOC. 
Anyway here are some photos of how it currently looks. I wanted to say thanks to everyone on this site and all of the creators making videos that are very entertaining and informative, I hope to bring you all along on my lawn journey.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Looking good! Manual reel owners unite! If yours is a neighborhood with lots of walkers, prepare to pause frequently to respond to comments and questions. Subscribed.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

dubyadubya87 said:


> Looking good! Manual reel owners unite! If yours is a neighborhood with lots of walkers, prepare to pause frequently to respond to comments and questions. Subscribed.


@dubyadubya87 yea man these manual reel mowers are no joke, I seem to be getting a washboard cut effect on the side yard I don't know if that's due to the reel skipping over the uneven ground or it just not cutting evenly have you experienced this?


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

From time to time, yes, it does the same to me. I've gotten into the habit of double-cutting, which seems to offset it. I'll do a complete circuit or pass on an area, then reverse my path, at least with half of the width of the mower. Yes, it reduces my already paltry 16" cut to 10" or so, but I find I don't notice the ripple as much.
I've seen the skipping sometimes on uneven portions of my zoysia lawn and with it still trying to fill in from seeding, has resulted in me raising to 1" from .75".


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

The First step to a make my lawn better is to have better control over when and how to water. 
I upgraded the hunter system that the builder installed to the B-hyve mainly because of the WiFi and manual control option just in case the internet machine is down :lol: But the ability to input soil type and slope, have it calculate if soak cycles are needed etc, and it syncs with local radar and can auto delay watering to save some $$. for 99$ on amazon i couldn't go wrong. 
So far I love it!


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

Looking good. It will look even better next year as the turf matures.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

HungrySoutherner said:


> Looking good. It will look even better next year as the turf matures.


thanks @HungrySoutherner ! the last mow in the back i was noticing how thick the lawn was, the rotary was even floating over certain areas never experienced that before. :?


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So i just applied Quinclorac and sulfentrazone last evening while the temps were cool and it had ample time to dry before random rains came in overnight and into the morning. So it might have suppressed the effects of the Quinclorac since it didn't hit the 24hr minimum for irrigation rainfall, we will see how it does. I might need to do another application in a couple of weeks. There is always a lot more weeds than you realize once you start reallllly looking for them.


I went and looked at a Tru-Cut C-27 and made a deal with @Jrocket and should be picking it up this weekend! 
i'm Super excited about that!
His Zeon Zoysia backyard is amazing! and that masport rotarola mower is a trip! Solidly built and i love that one touch height adjustment and it lays down some serious stripes! kudos to him and all the effort that he puts into his yard, it shows. 
Here is the Reel in question. excited to be part of the POWER reel family also now!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Wow less than 24hrs later sulfentrazone doing its thing on the nutsedge that's impressive!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So I brought the tru-cut home last night within 30 seconds had a neighbor ride by on his bike and ask what the heck is that? It made me laugh, then I went right at the lawn and did a double cut on the entire 15k sqft. Lawn really needs a sand level! I don't know if it was excitement or adrenaline but I wasn't as exhausted as I usually am with the rotary, I attribute it to the power of the mower pulling me rather than me pushing it. 
The lawn looks great and it maneuvers surprisingly well around all the trees (eventually they will be in a mulch bed so the effort will be much less) 
The cut quality between the rotary and the reel is night and day it took off more grass than I expected but overall extremely pleased. 
I finished after it was dark so i didn't get to see the finished product until this morning and I am impressed. I see a lot of sand and sweat in my future!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Balx going down


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## OD on Grass (Nov 1, 2018)

Welcome to the addiction!


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## thompwa (Aug 26, 2019)

Nice! You're committed now!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

thompwa said:


> Nice! You're committed now!


 :lol: 
I Thought I was committed when I was doing manual reel passes every 2 days on the front, going reel low is an addiction that's for sure. Now to get a level lawn tool or borrow an ATV and a drag I really don't want to wheelbarrow that around the backyard that will take forever


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## thompwa (Aug 26, 2019)

STRES said:


> thompwa said:
> 
> 
> > Nice! You're committed now!
> ...


Ha! A manual reel, that's dedicated. Now you're committed!

Yeah, a gorilla cart may be a good next investment haha. You can borrow my drag if you want. It's 10' but it will turn pretty sharp with a riding mower or an atv. Not ideal for a lawn with a lot of obstacles or elevation change but if you want to check it out you can.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

thompwa said:


> STRES said:
> 
> 
> > thompwa said:
> ...


That would be awesome! I appreciate that, yea the back has a lot of elevation change but something is better than nothing worse case I could hand pull the drag around the front. since it is much smaller I bet my neighbor would let me borrow his riding mower for a case of brew or something. i need to let the bank account recover from the Reel Mower purchase so it is up in the air if it will happen this year or not, but here is to trying.

How is your sand leveling looking? the offer is still open if you want to borrow the manual push reel mower for your yard while the grass grows in through the sand.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Couple of golden hour morning pics, love the way Bermuda looks with a little bit of dew on it.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)




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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So slight setback, self imposed though
We had a tree replaced by the local nursery and while they were delivering we had them install a few more. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.









They managed to rip out 15ft of PVC and a sprinkler head in the process, and dripped hydraulic fluid on the yard in a few areas, but they ran to Lowe's and had me sorted in no time, so I can't complain that's good service and they didn't have to do it honestly since I was directing them where to dig. But it was appreciated for sure 
The soil is definitely compacted where the bobcat was driving back n forth, and there are small rocks all over where they were digging.

Since this is only in certain areas and I don't want to rent an aerator would a product like air-8 help here? 
Needless to say I'm glad I didn't get rid of the rotary so I can use it on the backyard and the side yard guess I'll have to settle for the reel cut in just the front for a bit.


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## thompwa (Aug 26, 2019)

STRES said:


> So slight setback, self imposed though
> We had a tree replaced by the local nursery and while they were delivering we had them install a few more. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.
> 
> 
> ...


Ouch! Yeah I bet that was hard to watch haha.

I'm not sure if liquid aeration will really buy you too much in this case but it also wouldn't hurt. After the next good rain it might be worth going out with a pitchfork, or something with long tines, and using that like a divot tool to fix the worst of the ruts and loosen that soil up.

The price we pay for progress sometimes haha

I'm still on the mend from my sand leveling but it's looking better. Finally got the HOC back down to 5/8". It finally filled in enough that I went over it with the reel and stayed mostly out of the sand. I figure it's going to be the end of summer before I get total coverage again in a couple areas.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

thompwa said:


> STRES said:
> 
> 
> > So slight setback, self imposed though
> ...


Yea i was bummed the rest of the day, oh well it is, what it is. i was still bummed so i scalped the front to 3/4 so i can maintain at 1" or so... i want at least one section to be green :bd: 
Got some Air8 coming to see if that helps those and a few really hard packed clay areas i can probably get away with 80% of the yard with the reel ill see how it goes.

We really like the trees, so as long as they live we will be ok the grass will recover just a little bit more work is all, need to grab some sand for the sprinkler repair to help set it and the surrounding sod in place a bit better though that area is a mess.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Here is a Different view from the bobcat tracks leading to the backyard, looks like i might try some AIR-8 and RGS i aerated ~2 months ago but the main entry area is so compacted i cant get a screwdriver down more than 1/4-1/2''. 
Since the fence is north facing i'm also seeing some algae growth on the shady areas, might have to wait until fall/winter to install a drain for the AC condensate drain to push water out and into the swale also. one thing at a time i suppose...


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Take solace in that devastating line of demarcation between you and your neighbor.


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## Brou (Jun 18, 2020)

Sheesh, looks like the neighbor glypho'd their lawn.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

dubyadubya87 said:


> Take solace in that devastating line of demarcation between you and your neighbor.


Yea it's a pretty good domination line and that does make it hurt a little bit less :lol:


Kamauxx said:


> Sheesh, looks like the neighbor glypho'd their lawn.


Yea that's the difference between "lawn care" Company and actual Lawn care plus I've been telling him to take it low for months and I think he finally decided to scalp and start over. 
Hopefully he puts out some fertilizer and fires the company all together.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Applied N-Ext "compaction cure" last evening (RGS & Air-8) watered it in and finally got a decent rain overnight I will probably wait a week then throw out the 0-0-2 micro green and see how the lawn responds to that. 
I might try some sand leveling in the front to see how that goes.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So somehow I was able to convince my builder that they did a horrible job on the sod large gaps etc. so I proposed a solution either you can hire your laborer to come out with some sand or you can just drop off 1 ton of mason sand and I can do it, do the math and let me know what you want to do.
Surprisingly they dropped off a ton of mason sand. 

So instead of spot leveling I decided to level the front area as it needed it badly (as does the rest) but I figured this would be a good introduction to leveling and to see if I wanted to tackle the rest of the 15ksqft over the next few years since I know this will be an ongoing process.

I will try to add daily pictures as this progresses.




Day 1 after watering in.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

How many irrigation cycles/waterings in the two days after brushing it in? The bermuda 'ate' it up quick!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

dubyadubya87 said:


> How many irrigation cycles/waterings in the two days after brushing it in? The bermuda 'ate' it up quick!


Just one irrigation run at 10 Min (no rain yet) but i walked around and did some spot watering to push in heavy area's the big difference was using the push broom it just dropped below the leaves real quick.

I almost feel like i could mow already :lol:


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## Brou (Jun 18, 2020)

That's the quickest turn around I've ever seen. :thumbup:


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Kamauxx said:


> That's the quickest turn around I've ever seen. :thumbup:


I think the angle of the picture is making it look better than it is
This is what most of the lawn looks like from above
Regardless I am pleased and amazed that it can eat so much sand


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So I was at cycle gear getting a new tube put in my front motorcycle tire and saw a pack of grips from pro taper for 10$ so I figured I would give it a try 
Seems to have worked out quite well. 




So much better feel of the grips no more crazy hard plastic, I mowed with it yesterday, and it made a world of difference! plus at 10$ easy to replace and you can find them anywhere


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Nice grips! You ought to be able to take it off some sweet jumps now.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Trying out the natural edges in the backyard


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

First time I've ever had stripes :thumbup:


Super cool sunset just had to share


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Sweet stripes, that's a good feeling of accomplishment.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Great progress! You're hooked now! Be sure to stay on top of the lubrication on your TruCut. You'll be glad you did.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

@tcorbitt20 i will that's the first thing I did once I got it, needs a clutch adjustment and a good alignment of reel to bed knife I just can't seem to get it to cut evenly across the length these are surely finicky to align


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

STRES said:


> @tcorbitt20 i will that's the first thing I did once I got it, needs a clutch adjustment and a good alignment of reel to bed knife I just can't seem to get it to cut evenly across the length these are surely finicky to align


Yes, they are! The best thing I've done is to get it as close as I can (maybe even a little bit tight), then lock down the bolts and backlap with 120 grit. I'm sure that's not the best way, but it's the best way I can make it work.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Nice lawn. I did alot of single track riding in my day. I like the bike grip touch. But if you want something alittle better and maybe a smidge cheaper, and that inner thing rubber stop at the inside of the grip, you should check out ESI silicone grips.

They wont chew your hands up when your sweating and they will absorb sweat. The silicone grips are a million miles head of the rubber ones.

Sorry for side tracking lol Keep up the good work, enjoy the new house!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Adjusted the reel to bedknife since I was getting pretty uneven cuts took some advice and made the contact a little tighter and it seemed to help, much better cut quality now, I won't say I figured out the tru cut adjustment yet but I'm getting closer. 
And some pictures, because who doesn't like pictures


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Dialing it in, looks good!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So its been a while since I posted, dormant Bermuda and no lawn care items can do that to a guy. But a ton of work has been done to the yard and the grass is starting to come back to life. 
to start things off i scalped the yard to 5/8'' on 03-14-21


i was getting great early green up before the neighbors. 04-08-21


i then went and bought a new Toy! super excited!

then the real work started... 
so i added some concrete to store my tools a bit better outside and there was a sprinkler just creating a soggy mess in the area so i relocated it and added the concrete pad myself. 

i also had a sprinkler that was just spraying the garbage cans and we plan to add a shed so i moved it out also. i also replaced all the standard spray heads with rainbird RVAN nozzles. 

i was tired of navigating around the 40+ trees we added and the fence so we decided to add a landscape bed along the perimeter of the yard. 
i rented a bed re-definer and a sod cutter, we ended up removing about 2,500 SQft of bermuda Sod. 



Is this the correct way to check for grubs? :lol: 

we then hauled in some mulch to finish the job. 
Left rear

Right Rear

Center rear

Birds eye view

some friends we made along the way

as for the front i have been maintaining it at 3/4'' 
needless to say now that i can navigate more easily and quicker the rear will begin to look more like the front this year. 

all in all we are very happy with how it all turned out.


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

That's a lot of mulch! Looks great.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Another Update:
The Boss allowed me to get a couple more goodies to make this year even easier for both of us.
:thumbup: 






It is on now!! :mrgreen:


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Sbcgenii said:


> That's a lot of mulch! Looks great.


Thanks! I don't want to see another bag of mulch for a while...


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Dude! You've been busy! Looking good.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So a few things have happened since my last post, got my soil test in, 

as you can see the PH was quite high and was pretty critically low on the NPK so after consulting with a few people, I got a plan in place, 1-1-1 at .5lbs/M monthly for the NPK and 5lbs of Sulfur & 1lb citric acid/M monthly to bring the ph down.

I also decided to jump in on the PGR train. 
made sure to use dye on my first app to make sure the application was even. 
went down at .25 Fl oz/M





Ended up raising 6 sprinkler heads, and swapping out all the nozzles to get better coverage throughout. still some dialing in to do but overall i can tell i'll be getting better/more even coverage, cheap yet effective upgrade, possibly the cheapest lawn upgrade yet.



obligatory sunset picture

i also decided to take a 3hr drive to Montgomery and purchase a GM1000 from @chadh







He ended up, tossing in the V-Belts so after it wasn't engaging drive consistently I decided to dive in and change the belts, and after some finagling by moving the motor forward, all works as expected now. I also greased all the Zerks and gave her a bath and a quick backlapping. She is cutting like butter now.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Nice stripes!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So i decided to tackle a leveling project, in preparation i decided to aerate and collect the cores.
i ended up doing a double pass, so that was a lot of work. 









I also put down .75 per 1K of 13-13-13 to stimulate growth along with being in rebound from my PGR. 
and scalped the best i could wit the time i had beforehand


I used this calculator to estimate the amount of sand to get, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...o 5T or 25T shipments so i opted for the 25T Feel free to download and use it it was given to me by someone so I might as well pass it forward


after getting rained out on day 1, I kept at it and I am still waiting for the sand to dry enough to spread well. 
lots of pain killers and sunscreen later here are the preliminary results.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Small update, 
Front was a much lighter application than the rear, rear needed a ton of work.


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## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

Now that you're done spreading are you pretty happy with how the calculator you posted worked out?


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Amoo316 said:


> Now that you're done spreading are you pretty happy with how the calculator you posted worked out?


Yea it was pretty accurate, I only needed 20T but had to get 25T due to the supplier's requirements. and I had a neighbor that wanted some so it worked out.


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## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

Lawn Burgundy said:


> Amoo316 said:
> 
> 
> > Now that you're done spreading are you pretty happy with how the calculator you posted worked out?
> ...


Cool thanks, I just wanted to see if you were happy with the amounts before recommending the spreadsheet to others.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

One weekish update


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

2w Update





Also, got some new parts for the GM, having fun with the renovation
Old covers





Refurbished Covers (ebay)





New Belts for the drive and reel & air filter spark plug kit



new SS screws and washers along with some SS rivnuts for the ones that were missing or stripped. 
feeling much more solid and refreshed now.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

got a nice mow in recently, also got a few PGR apps in and some 15-15-15 down in preparation for the 4th 


Did another round of sand leveling this year added a few more trees crazy to see the overall transition,
Before:



early this year:



had some fun floods in the early spring then drought ever since...





fixing the previous sand storage area


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## Dono1183 (Oct 11, 2021)

Looking great man. It's come a long way!


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

More updates… 300 bags of mulch and some arborvitae's, boxwoods, 2 crepe myrtles, and hydrangeas later…


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Dono1183 said:


> Looking great man. It's come a long way!


Appreciate it, it's been a labor of "love"


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Wow, total transformation.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

dubyadubya87 said:


> Wow, total transformation.


Thanks man, been a long road especially doing it myself with the help of my wife and the occasional "help" from two little kiddos. Hopefully we can stop working on it soon and actually enjoy it for once.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

been a while since i've updated. lawn is doing well this year dealing with a bit of DS but seem to have it under "control"







Been utilizing PGR a lot this year cutting at once a week while spoon feeding yearly total of about .75lb/1k of NPK in a 1-1-1 ratio. not a lot of clippings, mowing once a week so living the dream there...



Dollar Spot was increasing weather and PGR related I'm assuming so i decided to give it the ol scalp and scarify. since it was getting too thick and it needed the airflow TBH.


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

[*]That look's like green sprinkles from your donut. Not Grass clipping's.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

Buffalolawny said:


> [*]That look's like green sprinkles from your donut. Not Grass clipping's.


Like I said, living the PGR dream


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