# Skiwhe 2018 Lawn Journal



## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

I too like the idea of having a dedicated thread to document my progress of recovering my backyard from a pool install over the winter. Maybe my journey can help some others and I'm sure there will be some great suggestions from you guys that I haven't even about.

My yard looked really nice in 2017, but in October 2017 they started digging for our pool. I took what precautions I could by having the heavy equipment come in to the backyard through a neighbors cattle farm that butts up against our neighborhood. In the below [grainy] video, you can tell I have some browning going on in right where the pool was going in, I had a sprinkler issue that wasn't worth messing with since the pool was going in.








I did allow some smaller trucks and trailers to use my side gate and that caused more damage in my front and side yard than I had hoped it would. I have put down some sand to level out the ruts on part of the side yard, but I still need to add some more.



One side of the pool deck was about a 14" above the grade of the yard, so we had 6 yards of topsoil brought in and my wife and I put down sod. When we put the sod down, the ground was wet and we had more rain in the forecast, so I made the decision to put the sod down anyway to try to keep from losing my soil. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not. The sod was so lumpy and it was so wet underneath, I couldn't do anything to flatten it out, so I just waited for spring and hoped for the best. Once the soil dried and the bermuda started taking hold in the soil, it seemed fine, but really bumpy. There was no way to mow it with a reel at all. I have smoothed it out with plenty of sand and it seems to be fairly flat now. I have taken the reel over it once since adding the sand and it seems like it will be okay once all the grass grows back in. This photo below was just after adding sand, but before I ran the mat over it. It has since grown in about 80%. Hopefully it wont take much longer to fill in all the way.



On the other side of the pool deck is a huge bare spot where the backhoe sat to dig the entire pool. There is a lot of small rock and bare dirt here. I haven't done anything to this side of the pool deck except add a few squares of leftover sod, fertilize and water. I am hoping it will grow in over the spring.



My last project area is the very back of my sodded area of the lawn. We live on an acre and only the first 50' of backyard was sodded by the builder. After the pool was put in, we had the sprinkler guys come out and redesign the system. I had them move the sprinklers out 10' and put them on a 360° rotation. This increases my watered area by nearly 5K SqFt. This area is all natural vegetation, so I am working on getting bermuda to grown in that area. So far I have done the lazy man's seeding of the area, meaning I scalped it and put seed out. I had a soil test done on that soil which said I needed lots of nitrogen and phosphorus. I have added a 50 lb bag of nitrogen over that area (probably way too much, but I got a little carried away) and about 1/2 bag of phosphorus. Seeding this way may sound like a long shot, but I tested my theory of doing this lazy version of seeding in a 10' x 10' area last year where one of my septic sprayers is and the bermuda came in and took over. I have been able to spray the weeds that weren't choked out and have a nice little area of bermuda there now. We will see if it will work again on the 5K area - if not, I'll come back with a tiller and do it the "right" way.


This is the expanded area. I'll try to get a better photo tomorrow.

Any feedback is welcome. I'm open to ideas and questions.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Anxious to follow your progress! Looks great so far! :thumbsup:


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## PHXCobra (Mar 20, 2018)

Looking good.

Is that some sort of pre-fab pool? I've never seen it done that way before.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

You left us hanging on that video! Man, that's some brutal dirt you have there. Looked to me like it went from topsoil to red clay, then kaolin/limestone/hard a$$ rock. You know you have a hard subsurface when they have to bring in a jackhammer to dig a hole :lol:

@PHXCobra Fiberglass inserts are usually dropped in the hole with associated piping for the jets/skimmer attached before they do the backfilling.


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> You left us hanging on that video! Man, that's some brutal dirt you have there. Looked to me like it went from topsoil to red clay, then kaolin/limestone/hard a$$ rock. You know you have a hard subsurface when they have to bring in a jackhammer to dig a hole :lol:


I did leave you hanging, sorry. The more complete video is here: 



 this video includes them pouring the deck. Not much more to it though.

We have very little dirt. It is solid limestone about 1-2 ft down. In fact we live one mile from a limestone quarry. That is the reason I went with a fiberglass pool, the quarry blasts every day which creates a small earthquake at my house. I was afraid that a gunite pool would crack over time with the constant blasting nearby. Some of the other neighbors have gunite, so I guess we will know eventually.


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

Last night's rain (we got 0.3") sure helped the front lawn spread over the sand some more. So it inspired me to get out today and get some work done on the front. First, I crosscut with the reel, then "vacuumed" with the rotary. I decided to put down some 21-0-0 (nitrogen) and some liquid iron (just to make my neighbor mad😃). Should be good for a few days on the front.

This photo is 3 1/2 weeks after sanding.



I have been having issues with an armadillo tearing up my lawn over the last couple of weeks. I moved the trap to one of his holes he dug under the fence last night. I forgot to check the cage this morning before work and he got away! The trap has been reset, lucky for me, he's not very smart, so I suspect he will be back.


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

Four weeks after applying sand the lawn has filled in beautifully. We have got 1" of rain today so far today, with lots more in the forecast. After today, I need a week of warm, sunny weather for it to fill out completely.


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## Killbuzz (Apr 30, 2017)

@skiwhe I'm loving the rain we're getting. Much needed!


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

skiwhe said:


> Four weeks after applying sand the lawn has filled in beautifully. We have got 1" of rain today so far today, with lots more in the forecast. After today, I need a week of warm, sunny weather for it to fill out completely.


Looks great!


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## Alan (Apr 23, 2017)

Flynt2799 said:
 

> skiwhe said:
> 
> 
> > Four weeks after applying sand the lawn has filled in beautifully. We have got 1" of rain today so far today, with lots more in the forecast. After today, I need a week of warm, sunny weather for it to fill out completely.
> ...


+1 Sure does.


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

I finally caught this guy. He's been tearing up the lawn for nearly 3 weeks. 
Sorry it's not a very good photo.


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## raldridge2315 (Jul 1, 2017)

'Possom on a half shell.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Hopefully you took him for a long ride. What was the bait?


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Hopefully you took him for a long ride. What was the bait?


No bait. They don't respond to any baiting as they only want to eat things they dig up. Luckily they aren't smart. A well-placed trap along a fence line is all it takes to catch them. I took him about 7 miles away and let him go near a rock quarry. I figure he can dig there all he wants.


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## skiwhe (Apr 18, 2017)

The two major areas around the pool are really starting to fill in. It actually looks much better in person than these photos show.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Looking really nice. It's really trying when you're waiting for those bare spots to fill in. The only thing that is keeping me sane and reminding me that my work is worth it is to look back at pictures that I've taken over the past few months, and seeing the growth progression.


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