Hey! Kicking off my 2019 lawn journal with a spring clean up.
I live in Atlanta and have a Zeon Zoysia yard, around 9k square feet total, in the front and side of the house. I also have around 1k Bermuda grass in the back yard (this hasn't been made a priority and I hope to replace with Zeon in the future).
In years past I've maintained at 2.5-3 inches. I don't currently have a in ground sprinkler system, which has been it difficult in years past during any summer droughts, but I am installing a sprinkler system myself this spring.
Today i started scalping with my Rotary. Took it down to around .75 inches. With how thick the Zoysia is taking it down is a process...! The color is a lot cleaner for the grass that has been long established vs sod that I layed last year which looks discolored.
More to come as I finish the scalping. And more to come as I look to big a new mower this spring.
Lawn continuing to green up so I'm feeling the pressure to finish scalping. It's the first time ive ever scalped and it's been a crazy amount of work. Continuing to fight the good fight. Once scalping is done I'll be turning attention to my sprinkler install
I had a chance to do some spot leveling today in a few areas. I may have gone a little heavy, but hopefully didn't smother the grass too bad that it won't pop up. Also, as you can see in the background, the grass is greening up nice. Project pics:
Spent the afternoon trimming a few bushes in the front. Some of these guys got quite a haircut! You can see some don't look too good and are pretty twiggy... they didn't look good before the trim and I'm hoping they'll bounce back with some fert.
Used my new Ryobi hedger, worked fine once I got the batteries charged.
Here's a look at our garden. Slow start from seeds since the indoor early plantings did not survive the transplants. I think our new garden boxes turned out nice though.
Here's a look at our garden. Slow start from seeds since the indoor early plantings did not survive the transplants. I think our new garden boxes turned out nice though.
@TN Hawkeye - ha, fair enough thought. Since we cut an 8 foot timber in fourths we had enough wood to where it hung on top and under the box (like a footing or anchor since it's on a slight slope). I didn't want to put it all underneath since I thought I might considering drilling into the post to put dowels for a lightweight fence if needed in the future (eg. Squirrel prevention).
Trenches where the tap off the supply would go into an on/off valve then into the backflow preventer.
Next we removed an existing coupling. It was a lucky coincidence find on day one. We expect there had been a prior break in the pipe. Given the pitch from where the supply connected on the street with the main and into the basement I'm not surprised there had been a break.
Getting the tee on the pipe was a huge pain and was the hardest part of the day given the pitch of the hill and trying to pipes to line up straight so that the threads screw correctly. In the end we got it with zero leaks.
Finally, we ended the day testing the GPM with the 5 gallon test. We estimated 9 GPM compared to 5 GPM testes previously at the spigot. 45 PSI, tested at spigot only. Good stuff!
Day 3 and 'Phase 1' come to a close. I need a weekend from my weekend. Phase 2 will come in the next few weeks where I'll install drip for our garden. Phase 3 will need to wait until later in the summer when I have more time where the zones will be trenched.
We started the day by finishing trenching.
We then measured, cutt, and glued together the rest of the pipe. All went well except for a drip valve which kept leaking even under pressure, which we ended up cutting out. I wish I had put in a coupling around the backflow preventer but I suppose I'll roll the dice for a freeze crack in the future. We did get everything at or under 1 food deep.
And the final product, all the soil and grass back.
Finished up the day by changing out the oil on the HRX.
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