# TeeZygn's Lawn Journal - Sask



## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

First off thanks for the knowledge and expertise I have found here. After two years of lurking on the forum I had to become a member. I am currently laying up plans for my spring 2020 front yard renovation. I am a bit of a Noob both with forum etiquette and lawn care and I welcome any input at anytime. Thanks!

*History of the lawn:* 
Our house was built in 2014. I bought it and moved in late spring 2019. The previous owners did a rough grade and seeded with CIL No-Mix Seed. They did the bare minimum to keep it green. infrequent watering and fertilizers.



With a new baby and moving half way across the country and starting a new job, I only had limited hours/resources to spend on the yard. I chose to use my limited time to bring in black dirt and go with a raised vegetable garden in the back. I bought a garage sale rotary lawn mower and tuned it up to get me through the season.



I also cut a flower bed into the front yard.



.The lawn is very thin and patchy with many weeds of every variety. Right after we moved in (May) I over-seeded with the same CIL Grass Seed the previous owner had used and fertilized. I mowed and watered regularly I also fertilized in in May. We have had a wet and cool summer here so minimal watering has been required. I fertilized again around mid June. I then sprayed herbicide in early July. The lawn has greatly improved and filled out with regular water and mowing but I have weed issues with Canada Thistle, Quack, Clover Dandelion, Foxtail, Mayweed and you get the idea. I have been using a blade screwdriver to pull the taproots on the Dandelion and thistle.

Going into fall here is the state of the front lawn there are still some weed and patchy areas. 


It looks like the former owners did a rough grade of the yard then seeded. The weeds are very bad and we have field behind us and winds that blow in all types of seeds. In spite of those challenges I was able to maintain the lawn decently. The top soil has settled in and I have driven on the lawn both with a dump truck and skid steer. The clay has compacted very badly in some areas giving me patchy growth. The lumps patchy grass and settled soil has left me with an extremely lumpy lawn. I would like to "fill up" the lawn and raise the soil bed a bunch and level it off in a fall renovation. 


Going Forward into 2020: 
Last year I started on my lawn in the middle of may. This year I want to be prepared to hit the ground running and maintain a nice tier 2 lawn.


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## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

Well, we are just starting to get above temperatures during the day, it seems to be a longer cooler spring than normal which means I am getting antsy to do stuff. We are hovering between -15C and 2C right now and have an average of a foot of snow in the yard at this time.

I moved from a 400Sqft yard to 6k Sqft which meant I needed to do a tool haul, I have a spring renovation planned for Mid-May weather permitting. I plan to raise the level of the front lawn and smooth it out using topsoil (Full renovation). (future sand projects planned) I also want to smooth the back yard and overseed.



I have picked up a 4Gal Chapin Pro sprayer, a 1.3 Gal spot sprayer (For Roundup) 6x Hunter PGP Ultra heads, 10x rainbird sprinkler spikes, 50 foot hoses, Tenacity, Surfactant and Dye, Prodiamine, Award KBG seed and evolution PRG, I also have Urea and basic fert. I picked up an echo weed-eater, I still need starter fert, a Gorilla Cart, shovels and rakes. I also need to build a lawn drag. I am also thinking a hose end sprayer so I can apply baby shampoo to the yard as my clay soil does not soak in water very well.

I am getting envious watching everyone else mow and work in thier yards so I started some garden veggies.



I also started working on my greens mower. Its a 2006 John Deere 260B, it hasn't ran is five years and was parked outside under a tree for that time. I picked it up for $150 which is unreal for Canada even in this condition. I started by cleaning the carb and changing the spark plug, it started up but I only let it run for 30 seconds, the engine is good. I am stripping it down cleaning up the body work and replacing parts that need it.





, I have a new carburetor, Ignition system, filters, etc as well as a new bed knife. I still need drive belts and a grass catcher in future if I can find one. The reel is looking super rusty at this point but the steel is good on it and it still has some life so I am going to clean paint and use it for a season or two.





Because I spent so much on other tools and consumables this year I am trying to keep this a bit of a budget rebuild. I can't justify the $400 for a new reel and the $350 for a new grass catcher all at once. The drive system is in great condition, I found a little water in the reel bearing housings but so much grease that nothing was impacted. The front roller bearings felt a little loose as well so I will have to pull drawings and see whats needed to fix that.

Things left to do on the 260B
- figure out how to remove the bed knife (bolts rusted in place) bed knife adjusters are also ceased in place
- Paint the handle bars and polish the knobs, paint some of the frame parts and the reel
- clean engine a little better
- install the new bed knife and fix the adjustor handles or replace 
- oil and grease / reassembly.

I was also looking at the drawings for a the light bar, ($560 option) from John Deere
It appears we have the magnetic flywheel so all we need is the coil which puts out 12VDC and some LED lights and a switch to wire it to. I have a spare 12 VDC regulator from an old scooter I will use.

Here are the Honda part numbers for the coils and flywheel: 
Flywheel - No magnets 3100-ZE0-010
Flywheel - With Magnets - 31100-ZE0-811
Charge / Lamp Coil 12Watt - 31630-ZE1-013
Charge / Lamp Coil 50Watt - 31510-ZE1-721

For the switch I ordered a Honda engine on/off switch I will use for the engine start. I will use the switch up on the controls to control the lights.



More to come on the lawn and tools


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## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

Time to get this all caught up here.

May 7th, Snowed an inch. The plan changed, we are going to topdress and flatten the back yard and side yard and just overseed the front yard. Front yard may be top dressed in fall. I cannot rent or get access to a core aerator so that step will also be skipped from the previous plan. due to the long cold spring I decided to skip a full roundup on the back yard as well and do an overseed. I also got the 260B back together while waiting for things to warm up.





May 9th manual dethatch as I do not have access to a power rake. Fab

May 15th, Frost is down a bit over 2 feet and the surface soil temp is 7 degrees picked up a couple loads of rotted manure / top soil from the north pasture.





May 20th, finished lining the garden with 2x6, this will help keep the weeds from growing on the perimeter and looks much cleaner. Top dressed the first dump truck load of soil into the lawn (the back pile).





May 21st, Soil temp 10 degrees but no preM as I am overseeing all parts off the lawn this year. Finished top dressing the back and side yard. with the second dump truck load of soil. Spray 3-way on weeds that have came up, round up garden and front flower bed.



May 23rd, Test watering system (2GPM heads fitted into the PGP Ultras) calibrate new sprayer and make test passes. Remeasure the lawn to confirm square footage after changing shape of garden.

May 24th, Did a final drag of the lawn, Tenacity down, seed down and starter fertilizer down in that order. Evolution PRG on front lawn overseeded then raked in. no-mix on side yard and back yard along with KBG seed, I think there is enough dirt exposed that the KBG will germinate fine. I have been watering 3 times a day which is the most I can manage as work and seeding have kept me busy.

May 25
May 26 1/2 inch of rain 
May 27 1/2 Inch of rain


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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

Mower is looking good. Nice job.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

This looks like a cool project between the mower and the lawn. Subscribed. :thumbup:


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## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

Thanks everyone for the comments and support. 
Some pictures from June 8th or two weeks after seed down.


The big bald patch where I dumped my dirt


A random patch of new seed





June 10
First mow, I didn't end up using a bagger mower I went over the clippings into directions to chop them into fine pieces and raked up some of the heavier areas lightly.

June 11 
I dropped down granular urea 46 - 0 - 0. I originally tried to melt this product and spray it on but it did not work. This product breaks down over time slowly releasing nitrogen I applied it with my hand spreader and the growth is amazing. We purchase a Super Bee semi-truck of this stuff for our canola so I grabbed a couple 5 gallon pails of it



June 14 
Got in my second Mo and added a splash more urea for good measure. I applied a 3/4 pound per thousand of the granular urea to the front yard. I wanted to test and see if it would burn or how slow the release is my lawn perked up within a couple days so I applied a half pound rate to the backyard.

I plan to do more testing with this product to see how hard I can push and the break down rate.

June 20
We have had rain every day for the last four days, temperatures have been 8 - 20 c the lawn is growing like crazy with the urea I will need to mow again as soon as it dries up. I noticed about 50% of the granular urea has broken down.





I have another product that we spilled while seeding the fields so I brought some home it's a fertilizer blend with some sulphur fines I believe..



I added it to me veggie garden and flower beds which have taken off. Last year i applied liquid phosphorus which worked well but it was very easy to over apply.

Things are progressing well and I am happy, I am still watering twice a day or when ever things seem dry. I am waiting for a break to apply tenacity again as i have lots of broadleaf weeds popping up. I am debating doing a post m application with surfactant as the lawn is thickening up nicely.


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## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

June 27 - Second round of Tenacity, 2oz rate 
Temperatures continue to be cool and wet, I have been spoon feeding urea granular at a .25 lb/1000. I over applied on the back yard and had some pretty bad bleaching but it roasted the weeds.

July 9 - I added some more equipment to the aerosol, the nearest rental depot that has turf equipment is 130 KM or 80 Miles and its over $100/per day per rental so I have been keeping my eye on the classifieds.



Power Rake, I hadn't planned to buy one of these and I ended up bringing home two but they were a good deal haha. This unit has a new Honda Clone engine starts and runs but need a good cleaning and a few little things, I will likely send it to auction and try to make a little money on it. Hopefully I can put that towards a better mower.



This is the Ryan Ren-o-thin model number 544837 power rake, mine has the Briggs engine and the flail blade, you can still buy parts for this machine which I am excited about. I want to fully restore this unit complete and keep it. I like the threaded or infinite height adjustment.
I have no idea if it starts or runs and it is missing the belt cover. I like it because all the covers and parts are made of steel and you don't see build quality like this any more, I have tracked down a manual, OEM paint codes and everything for it. This will likely be a winter project. I do have the handle for it but I have it partially disassembled for transport.



Ryan Aerator, its fairly vintage and does not have easy steer, it starts runs and drives but the handle to raise and lower the transport wheels is broken, I can weld it together. it also needs a good tune up and clean up. It is also missing a couple of the belt covers, I will see if I can track some down. This unit was older than I was looking for but they come up very rarely in my area and are always hugely over priced. I will paint and restore this unit as well, I have yet to find model numbers or manuals on it.

At this point on the lawn I have dropped my mower height, I am cutting around 3 inches. I have an issue where I am generating loads of clippings and my mower can't keep up. I have freshly sharpened blades but my quality of cut is terrible, I will need to invest in a new mower sooner than later, I am looking at a Toro rotary.

I have no dandelions, battling with Canada Thistle, Fireweed, clover and sow Thistle, and Quack Grass. right now the goals is to leave the quack for now as I have to order Quinclorac but battle everything else. I did the screwdriver test after an inch of rain and I was only able to get it in 1/4 to 1 inch so I will need to get the aerator out asap.

Wondering if I should remove cores, more top dressing is planned in future. I was thinking remove in back leave in front.



July 14 - Here is the front yard, I did not top dress it but I have been mowing and spoon feeding and watering properly, its doing decently.




July 14 - Back Yard

I also want to order FAS and Humic for my soil. I am open to any other ideas to loosen soil and get grass to fill in thicker.


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## TeeZygn (Aug 30, 2019)

2021 - Finally getting close to starting another season here, we are USDA hardiness zone 3a. We hit -50c / -55f this winter so it was with great anticipation that I watched the snow melt. we transition from winter to summer and back very quickly so snow mold generally isn't an issue.

March 20 /21 - We have been hovering around freezing going above during the day and below at night. 
We are starting to melt I have been out shoveling down the piles in the front yard to speed things up. 
Here is a shot of the front yard peeking out from under the snow. 

The back yard is starting to come as well and I can already see some vole/mole damage.

March 26/21 - Temperatures have been fluctuating between 5f / -15c and -2c / 28f 
8 Inches of snow today. here s a shot of the backyard. 


I was away from the house for 10 days and got back on April 8

April 8 /21 - Temperatures are around 64f / 18 c which is nearly record breaking for us.

Here is how the lawn looks
Front yard, 

I gave the matted areas a light rake and picked up litter.

Side Yard 

The wind howls through here and blows the snow off so you can see where the lawn got desiccated because it was exposed to the wind. this area was a problem for me last year due to heat and compaction.

Back yard


I have maybe 150sqft of area that has some vole / mole damage, I am not sure which there were above ground nests in it but i see some holes dug into the dirt as well. New shoots are already coming up I might throw down a little soil and seed as the areas feel low and thin. Aside from that I am very pleased at how green and thick things are.

To Do 
- I fixed up and cleaned up the sensation power rake from the earlier post. its running mint. I am going to rake the front and back lawn on the highest setting to perk everything up. 
- Spray prodiamine 
- get the tiller on my veggie garden 
- soil samples
- get out sprayer and mower and get them ready for season.

To Buy 
- Fert for season - polymer coated urea and ammonium sulphate (I bought ferrous sulphate already for FAS spray
- Other fert as per soil sample results 
- mower, I need to get rid of my side discharge and get something that mulches or bags, I have been into the honda dealer and the toro. I am still deciding what to do here. 
- I also want to try some humic acid a local rep carries both grannular and liquid


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## SodFace (Jul 17, 2020)

Following...very interesting!


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