[RyanH]

I also dug a pond, because, well I love backyard ponds and we also needed good clean backfill for the house and I gambled that there was good clean sand in the ground.

This area was always wet in the spring for a few months with about 6 inches of water. The guys years back stopped at that level when they were taking sand/gravel from the property as it was near the water level of the river thats not far from the new pond.

I figured if the low area was wet for a few months it should hold water all year if we dig it down. It was a great gamble and dig and the pond turned out great.

 

[RyanH]

I started doing YouTube videos to document the landscape project that starts with and centers around a pond dig. This video gives a good look at the overall property.

 

[RyanH]

Grabbed some pictures today of the property. Here's the pond current day. Ice came off about 3 weeks ago.

 

[RyanH]

Of course when you see that view, you can't help but think of a grabbing a club and teeing it up.

 

[RyanH]

You know when you do something dumb/crazy landscape related but you just can't help it? I started that strip of grass in the middle of nowhere with no power, water or anything close by. I just wanted to see grass on the property. I'm sure everyone here has the same "problem".

It was torture staring the seed with watering cans filled from a river close by. That was two years ago. Those pictures are of a re seed after I painfully watched it scorch in a dry run and couldn't get enough water to it.

 

[RyanH]

I used a gas water pump and long hoses and did get it back to established. This past summer the turf was really nice and thick as the bluegrass started to take hold and mature. This photo is from 2019 re-established after the drought.

I did learn that KBG is tough when pushed to the limits as in no water and hot sun for 3 weeks straight.

I used 100% KBG

25% Legend
25% Blue Note
25% Arrowhead
25% Bolt

 

[RyanH]

There's a house on the property soon to be complete so I feel spoiled to have running water and electricity. This little patch of grass is a total waste of time and should never have been started 3 years ago, but hey its my little patch of KBG that I've been putting through the ringer and learning from.

I'll green it up again this year for no reason whatsoever, but someday it will be the #1 tee deck that gets the inaugural 9 iron drive taken from.

Here's a picture of some late 2019 tufts of bluegrass starting to spread. No pond on property at this point.

By no means a great "lawn" but I love that late season green in the bluegrasses, even on this wild plot of grass.

 

[RyanH]

Up to date now, and most of the property was ripped up to bury geothermal pipe 5 feet under the surface for the homes heating/cooling system late this past fall.

What we're left with is an empty canvas ready to be worked on.

Here's a few before and after pictures of the old shape of the quarry and whats now been cleaned up.

 

[RyanH]

 

[RyanH]

Here's a view from the house to the end of the property. Going to take lost of prep, shaping, soil, irrigation and seed but you gotta admit it kinda naturally looks like a tiny two hole 150 yard golf course?

 

[RyanH]

Looked at cleaning up around the three dwarf neon blue spruce that I planted as the first thing on the property two and a half years ago.

There's also a natural choke cherry tree in that plot that you can see that I didnt want to move so I kept it there with the spruce.

 

[RyanH]

I didn't want to add too much soil around them and hurt the root system, so I went with a thin layer of topsoil and to get some more nutrients into the area around the trees, I put down a ring of 3 year old compost that I've had stored on the property. Basically pure maple leaf compost. Will probably show pics on that compost set up sometime.

 

[RyanH]

Topped it off with some cedar mulch that we made with wood chipper from cedar on the property.

I put down some fescue. Chewing and creeping. Was looking for a low maintenance area around the trees and I low the way the natural fescue "tufts" itself. Theres some old pasture fescue on the property that grows all year in the sandy rough conditions. Stays small and tame.

This was 10% ryegrass in mix that I didnt want but couldn't get pure fescue.

30% cardinal creeping red fescue
20% compass chewing fescue
20% beacon hard fescue
20% sheeps fescue
10% slider perennial ryegrass

 

[RyanH]

Looking nice. The pond will be a nice centerpiece. PRG/Fine Fescue is often blended together and it looks great cut low if you eventually ge the golf course going.

Thanks, hoping the pond holds up. Water quality has been good, but it's a young pond. Trying to get the eco-system balanced.

 

[RyanH]

Stocking the pond:

 

[RyanH]

Pond through the ice:

 

[RyanH]

Back again. Started some late work on the backyard just recently. The house is pretty much done so next spring will be mostly landscaping. Front of house first then the backyard golf course.

I wanted to snap a few pics before snow flies up here. I had some extra fill moved from one area of the property and started to ramp a green area that id like to become a nice elevated green instead of the flat land that it was. This is an open area where I can pretty much do what I want.

The second green area is much tighter and falls off a slope as we need the bottom of the slope to drain water and it can't be altered. This green is also butting into a hill and is also maybe too close to the house which I may pay for from the wife when the kids smash a window. BUT I need a second green, right?

 

[RyanH]

Here's that future green area that has been raised up with 15 or so loads of fill. Will need more fill and should have some coming next year from another area of property.



This green area is a wide open canvas. I'd like to add some slope and rolls with some mounds off the green in the rough cut areas.

 

[RyanH]

This is the other end of the course, close to house. Its going to be a trickier area to get a green on there with the hard drainage slope to the right and hill to the left.