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[PNW][PRG] SOLARSUPLEX Lawn Journal - 2021 Starts on page 7

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20K views 107 replies 13 participants last post by  SOLARSUPLEX  
#1 ·
Hey TLF - Had an ongoing post here but figured it was time to transition to an actual journal in the correct subforum.

My Fiance and I bought our first home at the start of COVID and both immediately commented on how much work the yards needed. I come from a family of DIYers and have always been comfortable around tools and labor.

Here is the rough journey so far.

Start -
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Sifted everything larger than 5/8th" out down a foot deep and more where the bushes and tree was.
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Added a small garden to make up the height difference that was hiding under the bushes. There was previously a bunch of large stones acting as a retaining wall under the bushes. Those are all now in the backyard pending their next purpose in life.
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I'd been toying with the idea of installing irrigation, but after reading through the irrigation tutorial website, i decided it was not in scope for this renovation and started getting to all the work above. Then after i'd ordered my topsoil i started looking at the prices of sprinklers, hoses, fittings, and decided i really should just do the irrigation. I ended up with 2 zones, one that runs along the sidewalk with 4 heads, then another that extends along the brick wall with 3 heads. Coverage is great for the entire front portion and non existant for the side at the moment.

I did not opt to plumb everything into the house or use any valves at the moment, so this is a semi manual below ground irrigation system. I still need to go out and turn them on which is okay with me. I'll change this to a full automated system in the future.

Seed Down on 9/12 with SS9000 blend. This is 3 different PRG varieties:
1. Rake top layer of soil to get fluffy
2. Drop seed at recommended rate with drop spreader (scotts 2000)
3. Rake seed into top layer.
4. Drop starter fert (18-24-6)at recommended rate
5. Roll
6. Cover in 2 bags of peatmoss (I feel this went on rather thick and i'd probably cut back in the future)
7. Water!
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9/17 - Germination


Plans going forward:

9/27 - drop .5lb of this starter fert over the lawn. my calc puts 16%N on 400 sqft a .5 of the bag.
9/27 - drop additional seed in low germination zones

Explore what herbicides I need for the weed that i'm likely going to encounter in my area and have started to see already. Broadleaf are pretty prevalent but i'm sure the topsoil had a surprise seed or two in it so we'll wait and see.

Mow once I get to 2" which is hopefully AFTER i drop the additional seed so the clippings can act as some kind of continued nutrients and help keep water in.

Thats the front... The back is a different story. I've been doing a lot of work back there to just get it liveable since we have a 14 week puppy that gets into everything i cant tear the thing up and go to town on hit just yet.
 
#3 ·
f_l said:
noticed on the other thread you mentioned about walking on it - i would try not to until first mow. but, not the end of the world if you do. ive gotten some weed in my reno that i just hand pick as much as possible. def weeds from top soil that is inevitable.
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Hey @f_l, Thanks for reading through! Noted to not walk on it. I did take a step out the other day to pick up a few rather pieces of bark that had shown up when the peat moss moved a bit. The weeds in the topsoil is pretty irritating because they seem to be germinating better / faster than the grass itself. I found this article (likely posted by gman somewhere) that outlines the timeframes for putting down herbicide after seeding: https://www.agry.purdue.edu/turfnew/tips/2008/04_10delays.html

I dont want to put too much stress on things right away but i also didnt do all this work to end up with a weed filled yard. I'm also just not at the mental point to order tenacity given its expense but i know the one bottle will likely last me a VERY long time given the size of my yards.

Did a spot check with a flashlight tonight on a few areas to check germ and see if i'd developed any super blank patches. I'm actually thinking I seeded a bit on the shy side of the given weight which just means i'll do okay with a bit of a light broadcast in a few weeks. My neighbor told me that he saw a bunch of crows digging around in the lawn today around 10AM which was about 2 hours after i'd run the sprinklers for the first time of the day. At first i thought they'd be eating seed, but now that i've gone out at night i realized how many worms there are in the yard. Thats got to be their target.
 
F
#4 ·
I put Tenacity down and still getting a ton of weeds (especially crabgrass) in my reno. It is quite frustrating and almost dont even believe that tenacity works. but, it may probably be worse without the tenacity. The area I reno'ed was around 1200 sqft and I've just resigned to manually pick weeds until i can put another app of tenacity down (30 days after germination or after 2 mows, whichever is later)

with your front, if you have the time, it might be worth it just manually pick at it as much as possible. maybe think of it as like a 15 min chore everyday haha.

You did a ton of work though! It's gonna turn out great.
 
#6 ·
@f_l

Once i'm able to walk on the yard i'll be out there plucking those little suckers until the sun goes down. I posted in the cool season weed ID thread about the weeds i am seeing come through. They've been suggesting a broadleaf herbicide will tackle them which means i'll have to wait until the lawn is at a point where i can do that. I think i need to take advantage of the growing season while its still around for a couple more months and just push N into the grass and pull the weeds by hand to avoid stressing anything with other chems.

First frost is projected for 10/26 which would give that 9/27 'overseed' about a month to establish. Seeing as i had germ in 5-6 days i'm HOPING 3 weeks of growth is enough to not be a waste. I bought 10lb of seed and used nearly a quarter of it on the yard so i'm okay using a bit more even if it does end up being pointless. Seems the upside is greater than the downside with that course of action.
 
#7 ·
9/18 front update:



Introduction of the back and overall area:

I have a friend that works for a company that provides in depth aerial photography and blueprinting of homes for roofers and siding companies to give customer quotes without having to go on site. He managed to pull a report of my property so i could get slightly better photos from the sky to show the space im working with. Not nearly drone quality but sure beats the public info available on google maps or google earth.

Here is a view that clearly shows the front area prior to anything i'd done. You can see the way that tree took over the front of the home and made any visibility out that front window basically 0.


Here is an overall top view that shows the back and side very well. The grey 'box' on the top right is a 6" raised sand bed that the previous owners had a playset and fake turf on. The smaller white square on it is the turf that i folded up into a cube before i got rid of it. I plan to put 2 raised flower beds in that upper right corner and then extend the lawn throughout that area. If i were to add a shed in the future, that right side near the AC unit is the most likely location.


The backyard was in a slightly better shape when i took possession but still needs a lot of love. Just to see what happened i worked on just that left side over the last few days.

Dethatched every which way with the sunjoe and dropped some seed from a local garden store I picked up. It's 70% PRG and 20% fescue. Topper with a full 2lb it starter fert just because it's what I had. Haven't watered in because we're expecting light rain for the next 48 hours. Yay for the PNW.

Quick snap after that work:


You can see in the top corner there that there is a drain that has been installed because the neighbor behind me is raised up about 2 ft. The neighbor on the left has a raised patio in that corner (visible in the top down shot above) and i suspect the drain is needed during the heavy rain months to avoid the back turning into a swamp as its a bit of a low point. I pulled all the weeds and rocks off it and cleaned out the housing (full of spiders and grime). I' need to figure out what to do with this space when i do put more effort into the back. I might end up just leveling my area best i can with a steep ramp near that fence area with some river rock or something similar.


There is currently no irrigation back here other than the rotary head i've got on a stake rigged up to the garden hose. Whether i trench and plumb something in next spring is up in the air. For now i'll just be playing with the area and trying to get it looking somewhat good while mowing it down rather consistently while i work on building the planters on the right side. You'll also see the single privacy tree in a bucket that a neighbor brought over and just gave me since they saw i was doing a ton of work. I plan to pick up 10-15 of them and put them in the 2" gap that is between the brick wall and the back fence.
 
F
#8 ·
If you don't mind wasting then that works! I have some bare spots in my reno and don't plan on re-seeding - mainly because I am doing KBG and know it won't make it through winter at this late in the game. I'm happy to fix next spring.

the amount of care, detail, and agonizing you put in your 400 front makes me wonder what the 1000 back will be when time comes haha
 
#9 ·
f_l said:
If you don't mind wasting then that works! I have some bare spots in my reno and don't plan on re-seeding - mainly because I am doing KBG and know it won't make it through winter at this late in the game. I'm happy to fix next spring.

the amount of care, detail, and agonizing you put in your 400 front makes me wonder what the 1000 back will be when time comes haha
Click to expand...
Just edited my prior post with a bit more detail about the back if you're intersted!
 
#11 ·
8 Days after seed down
3 days after germination



Blades are looking vibrant compared to the past few days. Hoping they darken up a bit as their about the same color as a tennis ball right now. Looking forward to cutting this but know thats a bit away.

I'm getting very impatient at the moment and want to keep working on the yard. This part is the worst.
 
#12 ·
Found some spiderweb looking spot in the lawn this afternoon. It's been pretty moist for about 2 days now because of rain. I've done very little if any irrigation.

Is this Fungus I should be worried about?





Secondly. When I oversees with more PRG in the thin spots, how do I take the seed into the top layer? Should I rather just place them on and step on them then cover in peat moss?
 
N
#13 ·
Unless it's affecting the grass I wouldn't worry about it. It's just the local PNW fungi saying hi to a their new grass neighbors. The fungi that causes diseases are always present in the soil it's when they overgrow it can become a problem. You see it more often on days with high humidity when the ground stays wet for extended periods of time ie. peat moss during a seeding.
 
#14 ·
Navitron said:
Unless it's affecting the grass I wouldn't worry about it. It's just the local PNW fungi saying hi to a their new grass neighbors. The fungi that causes diseases are always present in the soil it's when they overgrow it can become a problem. You see it more often on days with high humidity when the ground stays wet for extended periods of time ie. peat moss during a seeding.
Click to expand...
Cheers! Glad it's not something I need to take swift action against.
 
N
#16 ·
Yes completely normal the baby grass only has so much energy reserves when it first germinates. As the grass grows the red part will fill with chlorophyll and turn green. It only turns the parts that get light, green with chlorophyll to photosynthesize.

Fun fact all green plants grass, leaves etc. always have those red and orange dark pigments that you usually see in the fall in them. In autumn the trees recycle the chlorophyll into sugars that it store over winter, and we see the true color of leaves without the chlorophyll.
 
#17 ·
Navitron said:
Yes completely normal the baby grass only has so much energy reserves when it first germinates. As the grass grows the red part will fill with chlorophyll and turn green. It only turns the parts that get light, green with chlorophyll to photosynthesize.

Fun fact all green plants grass, leaves etc. always have those red and orange dark pigments that you usually see in the fall in them. In autumn the trees recycle the chlorophyll into sugars that it store over winter, and we see the true color of leaves without the chlorophyll.
Click to expand...
Well there is my botany lesson for the day! This is bringing me back to my earlier college years chlorophyll was the answer to many exam questions.

Thank you and thank god there was no issue with the turf. Can you tell i'm paranoid about fungus and disease?
 
#18 ·
5 DAG



I spent a bit of time with the American Reel mower I picked up and was able to adjust it to the lowest setting. This puts the bedknife just about 1/2" from the ground. Nowhere near ready for first mow yet but went over the back a few times to test the height and surprisingly the one side is fairly level but could use some work in the future.

Yesterday i also swapped 2 the sprinkler heads to rainbird adjustable rotary heads so I can tune back the distance a bit. Now i'm not watering the sidewalk but still getting solid coverage across the yard.

In terms of sand dressing, i've read and seen that if you level with sand once, you cannot continue with topsoil at a later date because that leads to issues with the layering of the ground material. This means i'll likely level with sifted topsoil. With that in mind, how do i fight weed seed that comes in with the top soil since i cant glypho the yard after its been spread.
 
#19 ·
Being the most impatient person ever... We've gotten 1.65" of rain over the last 48 hours according to Rainfall Totals and it stopped coming down for 45 minutes this afternoon. I got out there, loaded up the spreader and dropped more sead across the entire yard and made effort to go over the more bare spots slightly more than the other areas. Then dropped more starter fert (which i know will help the existing grass) but i want the upcoming rain to water that in.

Filled the roller to 40% capacity and went over the entire yard for about 15 minutes to ensure good seed to soil contact. Just hoping some of those seed germinate as i was not able to really rake them into the soil as much as i would have liked.

I meant to do this in a few days but seeing those bare spots was taking a toll on my mental health and the amount of rainfall we've had and in the forecast means I can get by without having to irrigate.

A local has offered to split a bottle of Tenacity which I intend to end of next month as 30 days after germination is suggested.
 
#22 ·
Looks really good! I think it will fill in pretty good before Winter. Just need a few more weeks like this one and your grass will be off to the races! Look like your front faces south? If so, that will help with the moss (already found some on a shady area in my back yard!)
 
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#24 ·
@PNW_TurfNoob Thank you very much! Yepp, front faces South! The west side of my house was just a dirt passage that i since covered in weedblocker and gravel. It was 90% moss before. Running the sunjoe through the east side of the house i feel i could have gone forever and still picked up moss. I've yet to do a full glypho on that side and commit to renovating it. The irrigation doesn't go all the way over there so i'd have to trench and plumb that in also... What fertilizer are you using? I've been trying to do my research on cheapest way to get Urea. I grabbed a 15lb bag of CHS which was something like 29 - 0- 2 for $12. Not the most cost effective compared to some of the guys on here. I've seen people pick up 50lb bags for nearly $15.

@FuzzeWuzze Thats the plan. I'm trying to talk to other shorter kept yard members on their mowing habits and how to train my PRG to stay low. I think that means just mow every day at a lower and lower setting while pushing N.
 
#25 ·
Ordered lapping compound for the reel mower. Big thanks to @jrubb42 on the help getting things dialed in.

Cut at 1.25 with a slightly better cut on the reel. I really need to top dress with soil to get the yard back up to the sidewalk. Everything sunk which was slightly expected after the sifting and irrigation install.

Threw down .2lb / 1000sqft N via a 28% Urea source. Watered in for 10 min zone. I think I'm going to grab another bail of peat moss today and heavily over seed the bare areas with proper covering. I'd just been throwing seed down and I'm fairly sure 90% of it went to the birds. I ordered a few of those shiny pinwheels to hopefully scare them off this time.

 
#26 ·
I use Vigoro 29-0-4 that I get from home depot. It's urea, methylene ureas and is 7% slow release. I've also used milo, but my kids and wife hate the smell, so I'm not sure I'll be using it in the future. Last time I calculated the Vigoro is about $3/lb N. I've not been able to source urea in a big bag locally, but honestly I don't think I need a big bag either given that my lawn is only 4K sqft!

A lot of the advice on this forum can be midwest focused and for HUGE lawns!
 
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