# 2022 Backyard Renovation - 10K KBG, SE PA



## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

I came to this website just trying to identify the grass in my backyard and now here we are doing a full renovation.

Background: We moved into this house in October of last year and a few weeks ago finally had some time to start taking a closer look at my lawn. I originally posted in the warm season lawns forum because I thought that's what I had, but the more I learned about those grasses, the less confident I was that I had some type of Zoysia. Two days ago I made the nimbleweed identification (and got 3 other opinions to be sure) with the help of the virginia tech weed ID page. Yesterday I almost bought a bottle of Pylex when I decided to renovate after talking it over with the local siteone guys. The reasoning is that so much will be dead on this lawn after killing the nimbleweed that a full reno just makes more sense. Plus I would like the lawn to have a consistent color. KBG because I like the color and texture and the way it grows. The back of the house faces south and gets full sun (some parts have shade in morning/evening as the sun moves through the trees). Will probably cut it at 2-3" for this year and next spring. Irrigation is via impact sprinklers and hoses (I am currently dialing that in).

Seed is going to be a blend of KBG, ordered yesterday:
20lbs Blue Note 
25lbs Quantum Leap
25lbs 365ss​
I havent settled on the final ratio but I plan to mix all the blue note and quantnum leap with 5-10lbs of the 365ss. Then I will have over 50lbs of seed for ~9500 sqft. I have another area (not pictured) that I'm going to seed with just the 365ss.

*The Plan *
Kill everything when the glyphosate arrives (Monday/Tues)
Get results of soil test (next week)
Rake/peel away the dead grass/weeds (Next weekend, depending on kill)
Fill in/level holes, ruts, stump depressions
Fallow + Glyphosate applications as needed 
rake top 1/4" to ready for seed
Soil amendments as needed/recommended 
Seed + Tackifier + hydro mulch + selective herbicide (Target: late August/early September)​


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Watered the weed fields today to make sure they're ready for glyphosate. Trimmed back some lower hanging branches. Thinking about ordering more seed.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Ordered 50lbs more of blue note. Gly coming tomorrow. Soil test came back good (for the most part-details coming soon).


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

*OK, I sprayed down the roundup last night! *We're doing the fenced in area (main focus) but I'm slowly burning down the overgrown areas you can see in these pictures as well. I sprayed the nimblewill that is absolutely covering the area down by the creek (can be seen in two of the pictures).

The lawn is very thick and deep. HOC is 3-4" and in some locations *where there are low spots, there is 5+" of nimblewill.* Hopefully my sprays overlapped enough for good coverage, I used 4 x 4Gal applications at 8% concentration over this area. enclosed area is 10,000 sqft and adding the sides brings us to ~15K depending on where we draw the lines. Hot day today (90F) and tomorrow (96F). Planning to resume irrigation tomorrow morning and wait at least 7 days before trying to start raking up these weeds. In addition to @g-man 's renovation guide and this forum, I've been following the lawn renovation guides published by the CSU extension https://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/garden/07241.pdf and my state's extension https://extension.psu.edu/renovation-of-lawns . Also a google search for 'lawn renovation pdf' turns up some great guides put together by these Ag extensions.

I also ordered the 4-zone orbit B-Hyve to coordinate *irrigation*. I have two hose spigots and enough water pressure that I can run two zones with two impact sprinklers simultaneously (total of 4). I plan to have 8 total impact sprinklers and 4 zones (2 per). If anyone has advice for watering during this phase, let me know! For the kill through the fallowing phase I'm just planning to run during the AM, depending on the rain and ET estimates.

I'm working with my landscaper and we are planning to bring in *topsoil for leveling* after killing off these weeds. in addition to the 2-3 depressed areas from old tree stumps there are ruts and holes throughout the yard. It looks smooth from far away but up close is a different story. @JerseyGreens would you recommend the asphalt roller method? I'm not doing a full topsoil cover like you did, but I would like some compaction on the topsoil to keep it in place.

Along the way *I am rehabbing the existing artificial putting green. *I was originally just going to resand it, but there is enough moss and organic matter in it that I'm going to do a more thorough cleaning before resanding. I plan to scrape up what I can with a putty knife then use a power broom after. If anyone has recommendations on this part (especially cleaning agents), let me know!

Backpack spraying the whole area was a pain, so I'll probably pick up the Chapin 12Gal push sprayer (and boom) before seed-down day as I'm planning to spray tenacity at the minimum.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

I would only recommend the asphalt roller if you plan on bringing a significant amount of topsoil for any depressed areas. They also have hand operated ones which may work better in your case.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

JerseyGreens said:


> I would only recommend the asphalt roller if you plan on bringing a significant amount of topsoil for any depressed areas. They also have hand operated ones which may work better in your case.


Thanks! In that case I'll probably go with the hand-operated plate compactor or the more traditional lawn roller


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Soil test results from Friday, lawn is starting to look good and brown. Touched up a few of the greenest parts this morning


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Seed pictures


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Been a while since I've updated, I'll get some more pictures tomorrow.

Landscapers scalped last Tuesday (8/16), but they left a lot of thatch and stuff on. I have an electric dethatcher coming tomorrow so I'm planning to use that over the next week to expose more dirt, then rent an aerator for a day.

Moss is taking over the yard, even in areas of full sun. They do not seem to be affected by the glyphosate. I put down 5lbs of ferrous sulphate yesterday to help kill off the moss before physically removing it.

Also cleaned off the putting green with a power broom and added 250lbs of infill, will likely need 250 or 400 more lbs to act puttable.

Sprayed penterra, seems to help a little with the water but the soil is still mushy-moist in many areas (even after a week of no rain). Likely due to springs in the area. Hopefully getting this thatch up and aeration will help evaporation. Soil is not as clay dominated as I thought but it depends on the place (lower area beyond the fence near the creek has more clay). Still pulling plugs and testing every so often.

I also cleared some brush on the upper area beyond the fence. I'm going to do grass for ~6ft from the curb and then wildflower from there to the fence, replacing the brush and thorny weeds that were there. Once the brush is clear I'll get some topsoil on top of the cleared dirt. I'm going to bury my brush at the low point of the hill (maybe 30ft from the pictures) and then put some sand and soil on top of it. This is much easier for me than taking it to a dump (no truck) or shredding it (no shredder).


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Planning a busy extended weekend:

Friday Afternoon:
- Dethatch
- reserve aerator rental & pick up yard cart + tarps + mattock

Saturday;
- Dethatch
- remove tops of two old, decaying, flush-cut stumps (mattock or rent grinder)
- Identify low spots with marking paint

Sunday:
- rent aerator
- Aerate aggressively (~5 passes)

Monday:
- 5 Yd masons sand being delivered
- Mix sand (80%) & dirt to fill in ruts/divots
- Mix sand as topdressing with aerator plugs and level with leveling rake

If time permits
- Dethatch & aerate beyond the fence areas (lower priority areas)
- Misc. tree pruning
- Buy more putting green infill & put down

My goal is to get into a place by Tuesday where I don't need to do any more work before putting seed down


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Dethatched and first pass at aeration done! Will get a few more passes in before the end of the day


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## macattack (Nov 2, 2020)

Some hard looking work going on there. Making me look bad. I am struggling to renovate the 300 sq ft hellstrip in front of the house. I'll gladly pay the landscape company to aerate, no means of picking it up, and they do it for only $65. Some day when i have a trailer. That ground looks really wet. Is it pulling clean cores? Good luck.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

@macattack yup, pulling clean cores. I irrigated a little before aerating (maybe .2 to .4 in) but there are underground springs in the area that contribute to soil moisture. There are a lot of ruts and dips in the lawn that I want to smooth out, and when I saw the approach @Pete1313 took with aeration during his Reno, I wanted to try something similar (albeit at 1/3 or 1/4 the scale). I'm planning to dump sand all around (like @wardconnor minus the ATV) then mix with the plugs as I go over all of it with the leveling rake.

With 300 sqft you might be able to tackle that with a manual aerator in a half day. Plus you'll be able to do it how you want it done rather than what's most efficient for the landscaper's bottom line


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Sand!


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Apologies for slow updates here, I had to travel for work and was very busy. The sand was a lot of work to do by hand two weekends ago, but I got some help to finish smoothing and incorporating. There were torrential downpours here last week so some of the sand ended up washing out to low areas. Happy I didn't seed last weekend and the good news is that I got my seed down yesterday.









Have a pretty good weather day today with light steady rain - a little lucky on that for sure!



I'll post pictures of the backyard itself later!


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Yesterday:
Used the verticutting attachment on my electric dethatcher to cut a little into the top layer of dirt (maybe 1/8 on average), trying to run perpendicular to any slope.

put down ~50lbs of my KBG seed mix using the 50lb lesco spreader.

50lbs of the starter fertilizer

Applied the straw blankets to the steepest slopes.

Put down 400lbs of seed starter pellets (green hydromulch) by hand (they didn't fit through the spreader)

Today I put down wildflower seed in the area you can see to the right of the putting green, sectioned off by the white flags. It's the lowest point in the fenced in backyard and usually pretty wet. I put the thatch from the old lawn down there and layered on sand and topsoil before putting the seed on.

A lot of water today but the rain has stayed light to moderate. The pellets are doing a good job of soaking it up.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Rain just went to heavy after a solid 1/2 to 3/4 had fallen throughout the day.

Little rivers forming


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Raked and broadcasted ~15lbs more seed earlier last week. Also broadcasted ~20lbs 24-0-5 slow release fertilizer and ~30lbs eagle fungicide.

Reset irrigation and got it tuned in this weekend. Very good weather this past week with no downpours and avg temps in the 70s.

Seeing a lot of germination this morning! Some sprouts are white but im assuming this is from areas I may have gone heavier with the tenacity. They look to be growing fine regardless.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Lawn is coming in very well in some places, others are suffering from washout pretty bad. It doesn’t help that parts are permanently soggy (due to springs/underground water). I’m pretty busy with work so not much time to tweak things but the plan is to do more nitrogen then try to get in a cut or two with a fiskars reel before winter.

treating front lawn with N too and trying to kill clover with three way (not pictured)


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Overdue Update - Fall has definitely arrived!

I'm really happy with the upper half of the lawn, which is coming in really well. The biggest issue areas are in front of the putting green and the top of the little hill above it. Once the ground gets saturated during a rain, the water is channeled through those spots so complete washouts have been occurring there with any heavy rain. I think I am going to try and transplant plugs from other areas into that area in the hope that it can fill in better (than just re-seeding) in the spring. Area in concern is maybe 700sqft. In the upper half I'm wondering if I have some nitrogen burn from the spray applications - I probably overlapped and I did leave it on the leaf ~4hrs before irrigating. Pictures in the post below.

10/8
Sprayed 5lbs Urea (0.29lb N/M)​Sprayed Clearys 3336 (Thiophanate-methyl) fungicide on the lower half @ 4oz / M​10/15
Removed straw blankets​First cut @ 1.5" with Fiskars reel​Sprayed 5 lbs urea (0.29lb N/M)​(plan) 10/22
Second cut​another spoon feeding of N​TBD - transplant plugs into washout area​
Irrigation: No supplemental water on the bottom zone (putting green & below), no water anywhere day of or day after rain. Running 15m twice a day otherwise on the upper zones, but may drop all irrigation as we move into November.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Is this burn?









Upper Area 1 









Upper area 2









Lower area 1 (some wash at top of hill)









Lower area 2 (most washout)









Fall is here!


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