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Harts' 2021 Lawn Journal (NEW HOUSE, NEW LAWN)

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36K views 188 replies 40 participants last post by  Harts  
#1 ·
A new year and a new lawn. 2021 is going to be very exciting but also very challenging. Since moving in December, I haven't had the chance to measure the new space, but I am expecting it to be somewhere around 30k between the front and back.

As a point of reference I am approx. 40 minutes north of my old house and the difference in weather is fascinating - there is barely any snow left at my old house, meanwhile I still have a few inches left where I am now.

LINKS TO PREVIOUS JOURNALS:​

I am also now on Instagram - Reel Low Canadian - and will be posting more videos and photos than I will here.

As you can see in the photos below, the previous owners had a service take decent care of their lawn. We have been under snow cover since the latter part of December, but I do know there are a lot of weeds and bad grasses. This is going to be a multi-year project since we plan on having a pool installed in 2022. As a result, I won't be taking on any renos this year. I do hope that I can convince my wife to spend the money on irrigation, but we haven't had that discussion yet.

SPRING 2021:

1) I will be power raking and scalping and preparation for reel mowing - yes I plan on mowing with my GM1000. And yes, I know this is going to take me a LONG time to do

2) Pre-M will go down some time in April

3) I will be puling cores for a soil test as soon as the ground allows me to do so

Since I don't anticipate being able to manually irrigate the backyard, I will be timing all of my apps with the weather. I am confident I will be able to irrigate the front.

Realtor photos taken Sept. 2020:













 
#6 ·
Stuofsci02 said:
Congrats... I was not too far from your place today (Georgetown). Will be there tomorrow too. I'm looking forward to your new adventure....
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Hopefully when things clear up and you're in the area, you can come up and see the place and mow my lawn.
 
#8 ·
Harts said:
Stuofsci02 said:
Congrats... I was not too far from your place today (Georgetown). Will be there tomorrow too. I'm looking forward to your new adventure....
Click to expand...
Hopefully when things clear up and you're in the area, you can come up and see the place and mow my lawn.
Click to expand...
Haha.... Not sure I am up for 30,000 sqft with a Gm1000... Perhaps just a section :)
 
#11 ·
After a couple of days in the 50s last week, the last of the snow is gone and the damage from the Winter has shown its ugly head. Vole damage, snow mold, tire tracks from my old man driving the moving truck and a lot of bumpy surfaces.

The temps have gone back down so it will be another few weeks before I can pull cores for my soil test and start breathing new life into this lawn.









 
#14 ·
@bernstem not this year. Our hope is that we will be getting a pool next year. I'm going to wait and also have them do some levelling for me. I also don't have irrigation at the moment - something I hope to get with the pool.

This year is going to be about bringing out the best with what is there. I'm going to destroy it with a power rake in a couple of weeks and then drop serious N.

I'd also like to show that you don't always need elite cultivars to have the best lawn on the block. That's my challenge this season.

My wife is on board with everything, but it's going to be a process.

@Sinclair what happened with that other new KBG type you text me about a few months ago. What was that called? And I'm likely leaning toward a ***/Champion GQ blend. There is still time to sway my decision.

And when are you coming over to cut my grass?????
 
#16 ·
Sinclair said:
Blue Velvet - it's the Pickseed Midnight variety. I'm not sure exactly how different it is from regular Midnight.

Say the time and I'm there. Are you planning to take the front down under 1" right out of the gate?
Click to expand...
Power rake, scalp and reel mow. That's the plan. I'm not even going to give it a chance to grow this Spring. BUT, after walking the lawn the last couple of days....it is going to be a roller coaster. It is the furthest thing from flat.
 
#18 ·
Not sure if it was you @Harts but those garden beds look nicely edged already.

The good thing about your lawn is the amount of open space. You won't have shade to deal with. This looks like a great place for 100% bluegrass. Pretty much any cultivar you choose is going to do well. I don't see a reason to deal with the brown PRG stalks if you don't have to.

Also wonder if you'd be able to level out the ditch by the road?
 
#20 ·
SNOWBOB11 said:
Not sure if it was you @Harts but those garden beds look nicely edged already.

The good thing about your lawn is the amount of open space. You won't have shade to deal with. This looks like a great place for 100% bluegrass. Pretty much any cultivar you choose is going to do well. I don't see a reason to deal with the brown PRG stalks if you don't have to.

Also wonder if you'd be able to level out the ditch by the road?
Click to expand...
The previous owner had a landscaper who did everything. He did a wonderful job with the garden beds. Those will be much easier to maintain since I won't have to fix anything.

The ditch, I'm assuming is city property and acts as a culvert, taking water across the front of my house and diverting it into a pond across the street. It would also take a lot is soil - my house sits about 10 feet above street level. It's not ideal as u also have a huge hump in the front where the septic is. Buts it's big and wide open, so mowing should be easier than before. No fences!

Not a drop of shade in the backyard all day. The front gets morning shade only. The reason why I'd also plant prg is for the quick germination. I've yet to get to know my neighbours and as of right now, I'm hesitant to nuke everything and have the yard sit brown for a few weeks, inviting inquiring minds. Everyone so far seems very environmentally conscious (except the guy beside me. He seems pretty down to earth). I need to feel the community out this year when I'm spraying every other week.

I'm still a year a way from doing anything drastic. When the time comes, I'll be leaning on @SNOWBOB11, @Stuofsci02, @Sinclair along with the guys in US for input. I may still go 100% kbg. We'll see.
 
#22 ·
The weather is starting to trend more to the mild side with consecutive days in the mid to high 50s coming up this weekend into early next week. I wasn't planning any major work until early April but it is looking as though Spring might come a little early - although I wouldn't rule out the possibility of one more snow fall.

I started tracking my soil temperature last night. The first reading came in at 41F. I'll continue to check this daily.

I am contemplating renting the power rake this weekend since the weather is going to cooperate. Either way, I need to rake the entire lawn and give it a cut with the rotary at the very least.
 
B
#23 ·
just itching to work on the lawn. i've been doing home renos inside finished the enitre basement for the last 6 weeks so i'm getting excited to get outside and start working on the new property too.

you find a tractor yet?

i have a lead on a 2020 husqavarna ts 248g with 20 hrs on it. might have to jump on it, be a little work horse for me to get things going here, i'm not at the fairway mower readiness yet lol.
 
#24 ·
BBLOCK said:
just itching to work on the lawn. i've been doing home renos inside finished the enitre basement for the last 6 weeks so i'm getting excited to get outside and start working on the new property too.

you find a tractor yet?

i have a lead on a 2020 husqavarna ts 248g with 20 hrs on it. might have to jump on it, be a little work horse for me to get things going here, i'm not at the fairway mower readiness yet lol.
Click to expand...
I just started looking. I finally got the green light to get one after my wife watched me try to cut the front with my rotary on Sunday.
 
#25 ·
I finally got around to measuring my property yesterday. I have a total of 38,500sf broken down as follows:

1) 2,000
2) 10,500
3) 26,000



We have had really warm temps in the 50s and 60s the last week. This past weekend I hand raked the front (#2 in the photo above) and ran over it with my rotary. It looks much better than a week ago:

Before:



After:



The weather is going to go back down into the 30s and 40s starting this weekend, so I'm still a few weeks away from getting any applications down.

I will be sending my soil off to Waypoint tomorrow.
 
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