# From Dirt to Paradise.



## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Well don't let the title fool you, it's not quite paradise...yet. But it has come a tremendous way since we started. My wife and I purchased this home in the summer of 2017 with more or less, a new house on a plain dirt lot. It did have some minor landscaping in the back but nothing that was going to be staying for the long haul.
It was set up odd, and I do believe the intent was to build another home in the back, but the developing party ran out of funds for the project?

Here are a couple photos from when we moved in.























































Right after we moved in was 4th of July, so it seemed appropriate to day drink and put a flag pole in for Merica.










I had a unexpected wrinkle in the plan when my mom asked me to take her chickens in because she wanted to move. Due to the plans for the back yard that were going to be pretty extensive, I opted to put the coop in the front where it wasn't going to be in my way. So I spent a couple long summer evenings making this coop. Roughly the same size as our 1st apartment, :mrgreen:














































2nd order of business was getting a fence up around the place (In southern California it's really unusual not to have fences and walls at the property line, plus we wanted some privacy). The fence ended up taking 2 years to complete due to the sheer volume and cost. But Is easily worth its weight in gold as far as Im concerned. Here are the first 2 major chunks of fencing we did.




























Quick side yard renovation. I built these boxes and placed them in front of the windows. Since this picture was taken the jasmine has really taken off and filled up the lattice.










Also did some palm trees in the front and concrete planter border.



















In the mean time I did what I could with the cabbage patch tall fescue lawn that was back here. The sprinkler system was not designed well and this was the best I could do between poor irrigation and violent gophers. This was never planned to stay long term.










In the middle of all that I also bought a 48 Ford 8n to help clean up the back and get things ready for what was to come.





































Little more fencing now gave us a private back yard.










Next order of business was to get started on a shop. The whole reason we moved in the first place was so I could have some more room. The kind of cash you would need to call a contractor up to just bang this out in a couple weeks is crazy. I had some friends of friends come help me with the concrete since I had no prior experience doing it myself and it was such a large area.



















Removing old back yard dividing fence and trees.



















More fencing.










The building portion was next and after getting a few bids, elected to do that myself. I bought a cheap forklift from a guy down the street and got to work on the frame. I did this part entirely myself in the evenings and weekends when I got home from work. Then once the frame was done I hired 2 guys to come help hang the sheet metal because that was not going to be a 1 person job. These guys were really good and had the thing skinned in no time.





































It quickly became obvious I should have rounded this off if I didn't want trailers dropping a tire in the planter area. It cost me way more than it should have after the fact... live and learn.










Goodbye fescue lawn. This was painful but i was getting to a point where i could start to see it coming together in my head.



















Then I hired a guy with a bobcat to auger out some holes for where the palm trees go, this was a WAY better option then digging by hand. And bought some palms from my neighbor down the street who has a backyard nursery.



















With the trees in and summer coming I started working on a irrigation system. I didn't want to screw around with pop ups in the back yard so I set up these impacts (in hindsight, this was an smart choice) and some drippers for trees










And the last bit of fencing.










Because of the size difference we decided to start the new lawns in the front first. Here is the prep work of removing soil, putting the pop up irrigation in (necessary because of the shape) and gopher mesh. Then Top soil.



















While I was waiting for sod I picked up this little gem off craigslist. Older style John Deere 220 greens mower i think mid 90's but you would never know it, plus the market in this area is slim pickins so take what you can find.










Then the day finally came, sod day. I decided to go with Bull's-eye Bermuda.




























To my surprise, this knit in enough where I couldn't pull it up and started growing pretty fast and by day 8 I was mowing at 5/8". I committed to buy another tool, this thing takes a bit of skill, but is a really nice option compared to a string trimmer.










Here we are about a month later.



















Front looking good, onto the back. Got the concrete border poured and mesh down.



















Had to run a little bit of conduit for the back yard to connect to the controller. I was able to get pretty complete coverage of the whole property with this single 12 valve unit. Public Notice: wifi sprinklers are the cats pajamas.




























And once again, sod day! Here is a time-lapse I took out of my kitchen window.
























Rolled out a bit a couple days later










I actually started mowing this on day 6 (lawn rebel) at 3/4". Since then i skimmed it down to 5/8 to get the crap out of it and am letting it go back to 3/4" now. Here we are couple weeks later. I've been mowing both yards about every 3 days.










This is my new mulch area. Chickens love it.



















Now just to kill off the common Bermuda, put weed barrier down and finish mulching in the planters. This is going to take me some time since im busy racing this time of year and its been about 100 degrees everyday. I figure i can get the rest done in about a dozen saturdays, :mrgreen: .










Im still on the fence if I should over-seed this year or just let it do its thing. Im not sure it will go dormant for more than 2 months here or even at all... The eventual plan is to sand level once it warms up next year and get down to 1/2" or 3/8" if it will tolerate it.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

This is awesome!!!

Beautiful home and lawn!!!

Very well done and very impressive at all of the DIY project's you did! :thumbup:


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## Thor865 (Mar 26, 2018)

Awesome work. Kudos


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

Impressive. Every man needs his own "garage" and "tractor." My dad still has my grandfather's 46 Ford Tractor similar to what you have. Hopefully one day it'll be mine.

Never heard of the gopher mesh. But it makes a ton of sense.

It's your property etc, and this is the United States of America. Do what you want. But I would say you probably do not want to over seed this winter. I'd give it a good winter and growing season next year to establish itself before over seeding. Depending on the variety, and your climate. I wonder if you could keep it from dormancy year round?


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Thank you all for the kind words. Yes we are pretty much settled on just letting it do its thing this year that way it gets good and established and I have an idea of what its dormancy will be here. This week has been super hot and humid, all the sudden this morning we have a mushroom field, and its looking a bit yellow. Im going to hit it with a granular fungicide and probably spray it with some eagle this evening and see what happens. I was watering super heavy in the beginning but had recently cut it back to every other day, funky weather for sure.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Nice field you got there ....just need some lawn paint for the yard lines! Epic

What kind of cars are you building?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

@Ren that has to be one of the coolest properties I have ever seen. You have put a lot of sweat into that place. Looking great. But man you really lost your tan from the early photo installing the fence to when you built the workshop. 😁


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

@jayhawk I have really thought that would be fun to paint them on, but the problem is as we get older im the only one in my group of friends that actually wants to PLAY in the yard. Everybody else just wants to watch games on TV... Im always building something, but the main focus is drag cars, ive got a couple novas and a dragster that I tinker on. Im working on an video edit i made this weekend at the track, ill put it up here somewhere if it turns out.

@TN Hawkeye Thank you! Don't be making fun of my fence guys, they are some of my favorite people! lol. I actually was going to buy the material and do the fence portion myself, but it ended up being more expensive than having them do it for me (they must get the material for pennies on the dollar), plus they bang it out in a couple hours and i would drag it on for a week+.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Front yard was looking pretty epic Saturday night after a fresh cut. I cant wait to sand level this out. Currently .75" HOC


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## wking (Jun 7, 2019)

Ren said:


> Front yard was looking pretty epic Saturday night after a fresh cut. I cant wait to sand level this out. Currently .75" HOC


Dont know if you golf, but man that would be a prime spot for a small little green! Everything is looking top notch.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

If anybody was wondering... it does goes dormant in SoCal. I started seeing some fresh blades pop through this week and gave the front a little scalp at .50". Probably hit the back yard this weekend. Im on the fence if i should rent a power rake and tear up a little material to open it up.









Also got this updated image from above, kind of cool to see it from the sky. I figure this must have been October ish.


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## BobRoss (Jul 3, 2019)

Absolutely amazing!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Post Scalp


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Less than a week of progress since my "scalp", this is the 1st time ive watch bermuda come out of dormancy. Kind of mind blowing how fast it happens. Also decided to spray some over the top weed killer, 15oz of RGS and 30oz of Air8 (i hope this works as advertised since mechanical aeration will be difficult here with the wire mesh under the turf...)


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Greening up nice now. Trying to decide if i should cut again at 1/2" or raise up a bit to maybe 5/8" to keep a little more green leaf.


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## FlaDave (Jul 10, 2018)

Beautiful property you've got there. What a great transformation. As most would say around here it's too early to be tall, Go lower. Lol giving weather permits that.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

FlaDave said:


> Beautiful property you've got there. What a great transformation. As most would say around here it's too early to be tall, Go lower. Lol giving weather permits that.


I took your advice on this one and dropped it even lower. Good call. Grass is very happy to be further abused. Im pretty certain i should have dethached it now. Im sure its not too late, and there just happens to be a nice bluebird power rake on craigslist...

Almost 80 degrees outside today. Think im going to spray some 20-20-20, microgreen and humic down and see what happens. spray and pray.


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## FlaDave (Jul 10, 2018)

Beat it up, You won't regret it.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

We are actually getting rain this week (which is like watching pigs fly out here). Something about real rain, not irrigation, sure makes this stuff grow quick. .475" HOC, probably go lower once its dry. More 20-20-20 mixed with some Hydrotain this weekend if weather allows.


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## The_iHenry (Apr 23, 2019)

Wow looks amazing bud!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Quick update on the lawn, April 1st. Back yard is really running along now. Front yard areas that get partial shade are just now starting to green up. Hottest part of the lawn after a full day in the sun is still only 64.9 degrees. Ive put down 1lb of 20-20-20 last month and am going to transition to straight nitrogen for the rest of the season. Noticed a small amount of dollar spot in the early mornings so I may put down a bit of Eagle 20. Also sprayed some of the SoAg Palm tree spray to see if i notice a difference.


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

Property is looking great this spring! @Ren What is the width of the concrete strip around the driveway? Thinking about doing something similar.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Wiley said:


> Property is looking great this spring! @Ren What is the width of the concrete strip around the driveway? Thinking about doing something similar.


@Wiley Thank you! Ill measure when i get home and shoot you a PM but i believe its 10-12". Im really happy with how the grass is almost flush with the border. I Just want to bring the lawn up a tad so I can mow over the edge and have less edging to do.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Welded my bail bar bracket back together (which decided it had enough after 25 years) so i could get this down to 3/8" right before the last rain we are expecting this week.


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

Looks amazing great job.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Looking good!

Love that backyard!!!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

1-1/2 yards of sand for its first level. This section is about 1300sq ft

Urea


Sand


Water


4 days later



Super excited for 90 plus degrees coming for the next week. It's been in the 60's.


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## AUspicious (Apr 16, 2020)

Wow! That's a fantastic property you have. Great job!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

AUspicious said:


> Wow! That's a fantastic property you have. Great job!


Thank you!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Edit (added this later)


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Watered in my sand project.







Thinking i may have to mow this today. Still pretty sandy, but getting really really long. This was 3/8" last friday, pushing 1-1/2" -2" now in some places. This lawn has never been over 3/4" until this week. Good bye sharp reel...


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

Got a quick trim in with the rotary (as low as it goes, with a couple washers on the shaft, lol) on the front reno project. And also gave the back LOTM a buzz at 3/8". Excited to level this out as well but will probably wait till i can reel the front again (maybe a week or so). Planning to do some more planter work this week.


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)




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## MoeBermuda (May 9, 2019)

Looking good. Congrats on LOTM!


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## Ren (Aug 29, 2019)

So I'm about 3 weeks out from sand now. I have been rotary cutting and its pretty much there.


Last night after rotary cut


Today, first reel cut at 5/8" just to see how it looks


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

Beautiful property and one of the best lawns on TLF! Keep the pics coming!


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