# MJR12284 Backyard Reno Part 2 (NJ)



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Time to finish the job. After renovating the right half of my back yard last fall, I'm back to reno the left half. My Journal for Part 1 of the Backyard Reno is linked below.

I'll start with a picture of what the yard looked like shortly before we bought the property. Not too appealing to say the least.



Aside from this general ugliness, the main problem with our backyard was that it is on a bit of a slope. I've never calculated the angle of the slope itself (I'll admit I actually don't know how to do that), but the left side was partially steep. The yard does flatten out a good bit before you reach the fence at the back edge of our property.

We also had this natural rock wall running smack dab through the middle of the yard. We have no idea the original purpose of the wall (maybe a wall for a barn, or a subdivider for two properties), and while we originally thought it added some interesting, natural aesthetic appeal to the yard (and/or a conversation piece), we decided this spring to have it removed, along with four approximately 80 feet tall trees that were either diseased, damaged, or dying in some fashion. (Ps. These tree guys were absolute ninjas! Crazy work they do!)

After removing the trees and rock wall, we had a landscaping company come in with some equipment and grade the left side so it was not as steep. They also helped bury underground some of the larger rocks from the rock wall (I made sure to have them bury the rocks several feet deep to avoid any issues with growing grass in that area in the future). They also spread about 15 yards of soil to help level/smooth out that side a bit more too.

Here are some Before/During/After pics of the area. (Please excuse the oddly positioned piece of wood fence above the rock wall; a temporary measure to keep our dog from climbing into our neighbor's property - as she's attempting to do in the pictured below :lol


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Here are the details for my reno:

I'm using the same mix of seed I used for Part 1 of the reno on the right side: 80/20 TTTF/KBG which I purchased from The Hogan Company.

TTTF = Titanium 2LS, Rebounder, Firewall, Paramount (80%)
KBG = Blue Note, NuGlade, Midnight, Legend (20%)

The area is 3,000 square feet. It will be interesting to see how this left side compares to my reno from last year on the right side. The left side gets full sun all day whereas the right side only gets sun until about 1 pm due to some tree cover on that side of my property.

Timeline:

July 31 - 1st Round Gly (6oz/M) with AMS (1 Tablespoon)
August 7 - Scalp and 2nd Round Gly
August 14 - Spread top soil over bare areas
August 29 - SEED DOWN

I first used my SunJoe tiller to rough up the top 1/2 inch or so of soil. After fallowing for several weeks, the ground was pretty hard and difficult to rough up with a rake. The SunJoe was a true life/back saver. Easily the MVP of the reno thus far. I then spent a lot of time using my Level Lawn to smooth everything out and get rid of rocks/clumps that were on the surface.

I then spread 18 lbs of seed using my Scott's spreader. I first put the spreader on setting 5 and did north/south and east/west passes. I then set it on setting 7 and did a diagonal pass through the area to finish it off. I then raked and rolled the seed and spray Tenacity at the 4oz/acre rate. Then spread 6 bales of Peat Moss. Ran the sprinklers for about 40 minutes to give it a good soak.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Sigh. Hurricane Ida almost completely washed out the backyard. I didn't get any pics but there were fairly deep ruts/rivers (some at least 2-3 inches) from the almost 6 inches of rain we got here. I went out last night and tried to rake everything out/knock down the Peat Moss piles as smooth as possible. Ida hit us only 3 days after my original seed down date and given the amount of washout, I decided to essentially start over last night and spread about 18 lbs of seed. I don't have access to a roller anymore so I won't be able to roll in the seed as I did the first time around. Oh well. This morning I went out and spread a few more bales of Peat Moss. This is why you purchase extra seed for your reno!


----------



## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Good luck with the 2nd seeding! I hope everything works out better then the first. We also got 6 inches from Ida. Hit me on day 6 after seed down.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

I am a bit late updating this journal, but I have a good excuse: We just got home yesterday from the hospital with Baby Boy #2 born on Friday 9/3!

My fears about washout from Hurricane Ida may have been a bit premature. I came home on Sunday (DAS 7) to see some very decent germ from my initial seed down date (August 29). Much more so than I had expected. Combined with the new germ I am expecting from the additional seed I threw down on 9/3, there should be even more germ over the next couple days here.

I will count DAG from here.


----------



## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

Congrats on the little one! The grass coming in is just a bonus to the happy life!


----------



## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Congrats on your baby boy! And the baby grass!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Thank you @jskierko and @kman6234! Lots of new babies to welcome to our house lol!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 5 
DAS 7 (from 2nd seeding) 
DAS 12 (from 1st seeding)

Amazing what some *light* rain will do for a reno. The grass really took off from yesterday's light rain shower and it looks like some really good, even germination throughout. I've continued to be diligent with the watering since this side of the backyard gets full sun and in addition today was exceptionally windy. I'm happy with the progress thus far. I think things will really take off over the next week or so here as day time temps are expected to be in the 80s the next week or so.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 14
DAS 16 (from 2nd seeding) 
DAS 21 (from 1st seeding)

Very happy with the progress since last week. I mowed yesterday with my manual reel mower down to about 2 inches. It seemed the lawn thickened up considerably since yesterday. I'm not sure if we attribute that to the mowing or I'm just at that stage of the reno where we start to see tillering. Some top down photos of the "average" and "best" sections below. Likely doing 1st spoon feeding of Urea tomorrow.


----------



## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

Congrats on the baby boy hopefully all is well. Fantastic germination I don't think you could of asked for any better.


----------



## JP900++ (Aug 24, 2018)

Congratulations... on everything!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks @M32075 and @JP900++! Compared to my front yard KBG reno this looks like a fully established lawn already! Very pleased with the progress thus far.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 16

2nd mow with manual reel.
Applied 0.25lb/K Urea.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 21

3rd mow with manual reel.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

I'm a day behind updating this:

DAG 26

Applied 0.25lb/K Urea. (Wanted to do this on Sept 28 but rained all day here and I didn't get out in the yard)

4th Mow (1st with rotary)


----------



## kman6234 (Jul 29, 2021)

Looks great! Congratulations!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks @kman6234!

Some pics from today:


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 28

Applied:

1 oz/1k Propiconzole
0.38 oz/1k Azoxy (1 oz total)
Watered in immediately.


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 31

Applied:
0.35lb/1k Urea
6oz/1k RGS


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 34

5th Mow
Applied 0.25lb/1k Urea


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 36

6th Mow. Looking good!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 40

7th Mow. Spoon feeding tomorrow.


----------



## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

Looks great. Love the footprints!


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 41

Applied 0.25lb/1k Urea


----------



## MJR12284 (Jun 21, 2020)

DAG 47

8th Mow. Really happy with how the lawn is looking today.


----------

