# Andy's 2020 renovation/ lawn journal



## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Hello everyone,

New member here. Starting the third and final phase of renovating my yard. This section is 24k sq ft of weeds and bumps. Yesterday I sprayed the first round of glyphosate. Will spray again next week and bag all the clippings. Area will be leveled with a harley rake attachment and will be installing 11 zones of irrigation. Plan to have a bewitched monostand and will be picking up seed soon.


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## jrubb42 (Jun 20, 2019)

You're right up the road from me - but have a tad bit more square footage :lol:

I'll be following you're journey. I'll be renovating 6k this fall!


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Round 2 of glyphosate went down this evening. It's been 4 days since the first round and I'm able to see all the stripes I missed. :shock: This time I used the tow behind and went over it twice in opposite directions and also used soft water. Hoping to scalp it down this weekend and transplant some of the spruce trees.





Also received a shipment of sprinkler parts. Will source the rest locally. Went with the K-rain heads this time, they appear to be just as well built as the hunter PGP I used for the rest of my yard.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Scalped it down today, will throw the bagger on tomorrow and collect all the clippings. Next step is to use the Harley rake to knock down all the high spots and fill in the low spots. Also need to remove three tree stumps. Would like to transplant some of the spruce trees but forecast highs in the 90s all week might prevent that.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Picked up seed today from Twin City Seed.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

Wow! 24k! What a Reno. I'm renovating 4K and am stressing about that. Can you bring your Harley rake down to the Chicago suburbs?! Jokes obviously. Stressing about the best way to level my lawn. Best of luck, I'll be following along with Jrubb.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

I wish it was my harley rake... it would have been done by now.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Little bit more progress today. Started with removing tree stumps, didnt make to much of a mess and got most the roots.



Next, a couple passes in opposite directions with the harley rake to get a rough grade. I wont be reel mowing this but still want it smooth so I'm not bouncing around on the zero turn.









The painful part of this process is raking all of the debris that is left over. I want to pull a drag around to smooth it out more but it will pile up all of the dead vegetation and leave clumps everywhere. Didnt make much progress raking while its 92 degrees.



The rest of the yard is struggling with the hot sunny days. Moved the HOC to 3.75"


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## Justmatson (Apr 4, 2020)

WOW! 
I bet that is going to look amazing once you get that established.

Is the rest of your yard kbg?

I see an empty field next to you, do you have neighbors at all?


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

@Justmatson most of my backyard in that pic is an Everglade Kbg monostand plus some grassy weeds. My front and side yards were a spring renovation 5 years ago of Seed superstore nomix. I overseeded it heavily that fall with a blend of kbg so it is a majority of kbg. I have neighbors on both sides, the field you see is their property. They only use part of it for lawn and let the rest grow wild. When I bought the house only my front yard and a few passes around the back were mowed, the rest looked like that field. Hopefully the bewitched performs well and I can renovate the rest of the yard to match.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Started my irrigation project for the Reno area today. Rented a trencher and trenched around 1500 ft. Laid 1500 ft of 1" poly pipe and was about 100' short. Only managed to get 5 of the 11 zones done and buried plus filled in the trench back to my main. Looks like I'll be working on through the week after my regular job.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Long time no post. Been busy finishing sprinkler install, raking, fallowing and spraying roundup. Seeded the whole area yesterday at 3lbs per k and sprayed 4 oz of tenacity. Did not apply any starter but do plan to drop milorganite at bag rate this weekend. 








The rest of the yard is starting to perk up after some rain and cooler temps.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

@Andy87MN

Looking awesome. And looks like a tremendous amount of work! Wishing you the best.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks,

Glad to be done with the heavy lifting. Now I just have to hope for no washouts.


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## occamsrzr (Apr 27, 2020)

Amazing work here and awesome property! Best of luck. Weather has been great for early August seeding. Will be following.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

After multiple thunderstorms the last few days I can see signs of life. Yesterday (day 6) I was able to spot a few areas of germination. Today after the sun has been out I came home to find most the area has germinated. I do have some washout areas but will wait until the weekend to see what needs to be seeded again. Dropping 10 bags of menards brand milo on it today.


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## Zcape35 (Sep 17, 2019)

Great job, it's certainly a large project! You must've had some long days out there.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks @Zcape35 , definitely lots of hours spent back there. But like most of us on the forum it's a hobby I enjoy. Looking forward to 400' long stripes next year when it blends in with the rest of the lawn.


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## Zcape35 (Sep 17, 2019)

Andy87MN said:


> Thanks @Zcape35 , definitely lots of hours spent back there. But like most of us on the forum it's a hobby I enjoy. Looking forward to 400' long stripes next year when it blends in with the rest of the lawn.


That will be tricky I'd think to keep them straight. I only have about 130' and I have to use string to guide me. :lol:


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Day 10 progress pics. Had another inch of rain yesterday over a few rounds of storms. Looks like a green fuzz in person.






Upgraded my tow behind sprayer this evening. Wasn't able to test it out but appears to be a big improvement over the original.

Original 2 nozzle



New 5 nozzle


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Slow and steady, 15 DAG. Shaded area on the treeline doing the best. Areas that look bare in the photos have enough plants to fill in on their own. Sprout and pout coming to an end hopefully.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

Holy smokes, man!! What awesome coverage! You been mowing already? See what look to be tire tracks in that new lawn.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

No mowing yet, the tracks are from spraying tenacity at seed down. Made little traps for the seed during the few storms I've had.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

Andy87MN said:


> Made little traps for the seed during the few storms I've had.


Ha! I imagine unintentionally, but you may just be onto something! Only a matter of time before someone reads this journal and thinks "what if..."

Great work, @Andy87MN !!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Andy, that looks pretty good. It should fill in once you start with nitrogen.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

First mow was yesterday. Didnt take any off on a majority of it but needed to mulch some leaves. Also have a family of moles that have been tunneling along the back tree line. Dropped 50 lbs of 17-17-17 on it. The nitrogen is uncoated urea. Will do another 50 lbs of the same fertilizer next week and then start straight urea apps weekly. Overall pretty happy with it. Need to spray another round of tenacity to take care of the weeds that have been popping up like crazy.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Great coverage.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks @g-man , what do you think about the difference under the oak tree? This area seems to be out of sprout and pout and has a darker color. My only guess is more organic matter in the soil from the leaves over the years.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

And more shade that keeps the area moist.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Pic from yesterday, 48 DAG. Lots of broadleaf showing up so I decided to make my second app of tenacity. Also mixed in 32 ounces of ferromec ac. Thunderstorm came out of no where within an hour after applying. I'll give it a week and see if it's working or not. Overall its filling in well and I consider it a success.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Pic from a few days ago, growth has slowed and color is fading. Winterized the sprinklers and mulched some leaves. Still have some tenacity bleaching on the undesirables. 


Current state of the lawn


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Thats too much tenacity bleaching. Keep that white stuff out of TLF. It is too early for it.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

Lol, hopefully I can still get my final app of urea down.


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

2021 update

Renovation looked pretty rough coming out of winter and the cool dry spring didn't help it get started. I fed it 50lbs urea in April to get it going and 320lbs milo a few weeks ago. Cut it last week and today. We finally had some warm Temps and some rain and it sprung to life. Along the trees is the best part, thick and weed free. The rest will need to fill in and I'll spray the weeds after a few more mows. Cut at 2.5 inches this evening. Overall I'm happy with it. (Still some spots growing out of snow mold)


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## Andy87MN (Jun 21, 2020)

1 year update. Threw some seed down on some of the trouble spots. App of disease ex last weekend. This area gets a lot of shade and stays wet, started seeing some signs a few weeks back but it is bouncing back pretty well.


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