Well I'm already bad at updating. Anyway, I spent a long time removing as much crabgrass and other weeds as possible over a few days. I did use roundup on a few areas as well. I scalped (down to 3/4", lowest my mower goes), some dethatching in areas, put down some top soil in a few places that needed it, applied a full bag of Scott's Soil Builder, seeded with 8lbs of RPR, 1.5lbs of CRF, 1.5lbs TTTF, 1.5lbs of another PRG, and covered with peat moss.

Why all the varieties? A couple of reasons. 1) I over seeded with the first three in the spring so I wanted some connection to the colour, etc 2) I have some more heavily shaded areas where I applied more of the CRF for instance 3) I had the seed and wanted to get rid of it. I plan on doing a similar mix in the back.

My biggest issue so far has been squirrels! My god they are the worst. They've been making at least 10 holes per day in my 900sq/ft yard. I've also noticed ant activity in one area as well. So in 900sq/ft I have heavy shaded areas, giant Cedar tree, another large tree, crazy squirrels, ants, and a massive crabgrass outbreak. Not exactly a perfect situation. Regardless I'm trying.

Few pics:

Just some irrigation changes. It's all DIY and done years ago, so doing my best to improve it without spending $. This is the backyard which is behind schedule.


Front yard a few days after finishing. You can see the "fluffed" soil where the squirrels have been.




These pictures are a few days old. Today is day 5 and germination has begun in earnest.

 

Just a general update. Just over 8 days from seed down in the front and things are coming in quite well. The squirrels have made a lot of holes so I will try to reseed some of them.

Unfortunately we have rain scheduled for the next few days so while that's good for the front, it means I can't really do anything to the back which I'm already behind schedule for. As soon as it dries up I'll be rushing to scalp, seed, peat moss back there. It won't had as long before frost as I'd like, but it should get 5-6 weeks hopefully!

I'll probably cut the front grass at 1 3/4" later this week once it dries up too. Following this I will apply some N at .25lbs/1000 as advised. I hope it will start to fill in over the next few weeks.

 

The weather forecast has seemed extremely bad lately. It keeps calling for rain, so I hold off on doing work, no rain, so I run the sprinklers, an hour later downpour when it says it isn't going to rain. Fun!

Anyway cut the back low, did some dethatching before the rain. I plan on finishing up and seeding Wednesday.

Front yard plan is to cut, fert and possibly touch up some seed. Need to sharpen my blade first.

I might try some Critter Ritter and see if it helps with the damn squirrels!

 

Following...you have a nice project going. I find that fighting certain battles head on is sometimes not worth it. You must have a stockpile of acorns or other food buried in the lawn, that the squirrels are feasting on. In addition to applying something to the turf that would discourage them, I would give them an alternative by setting up a bird feeder in some lesser maintained corner of the yard. You will see some nice birds and keep the critters happy, so they may not invade the lawn so much.

 

Following...you have a nice project going. I find that fighting certain battles head on is sometimes not worth it. You must have a stockpile of acorns or other food buried in the lawn, that the squirrels are feasting on. In addition to applying something to the turf that would discourage them, I would give them an alternative by setting up a bird feeder in some lesser maintained corner of the yard. You will see some nice birds and keep the critters happy, so they may not invade the lawn so much.

I second the having a bid feeder advice. Hard to tell from the recent pics ...do you have rear or side neighbours? I don't have rear ones and use 45 degree bird feeder mounts on my back fence to dangle them over the rear conservation area. No gross seedy mess in my yard and I get birds. If this isn't the case then put it in a corner you don't mind the grass below getting kinda gross(seed pieces, bird poop, etc).

Nice journal btw!

 

Following...you have a nice project going. I find that fighting certain battles head on is sometimes not worth it. You must have a stockpile of acorns or other food buried in the lawn, that the squirrels are feasting on. In addition to applying something to the turf that would discourage them, I would give them an alternative by setting up a bird feeder in some lesser maintained corner of the yard. You will see some nice birds and keep the critters happy, so they may not invade the lawn so much.

Nice to have a follower! Your points about the squirrels at really good and I didn't even think of them. I'll definitely think about the bird feeder or something similar.

I just wanted to update with a few pics so there is some tracking of the progress.

I saw this in one are of the newly seeded are this morning. I've never really seen/dealt with fungus before, but it seems this could have been spiders too? Regardless is was almost completely gone later in the day so not really worrying about it right now.


A couple of the current growth, 10 DAS.





As mentioned planning to cut and fert tomorrow and see about adding seed if I feel it's necessary. Everything looks better after a fresh cut.

Definitely some weeds in there still. I'll have to check if I can spray or just hand pull. Crabgrass is going to die in the not too distant future anyway.

 

That one is a fungus. If you take a picture of the same area, we might be able to id.

 

That one is a fungus. If you take a picture of the same area, we might be able to id.

Thanks, good to know! If it's there in the morning still I'll take a picture. I'm assuming the area was just a little too wet + higher temps and more humidity then I expected. It was mostly gone by the end of the day so hopefully it's not back tomorrow.

 

So yes, it looks like a fungus has taken over. I've noticed a few spots. I think it's been too wet, hot and humid. Based on the Fungus ID thread I believe it is pythium blight. Not sure what to do exactly other then let it dry out, and maybe remove the affected areas. Fungicide isn't available usually up here so I will need to look into it further.

 

First two are fungus and last one is a spiderweb.

The fungus doesnt look like dollar spot, the next two in the list are brown patch or PB. I'm leaning towards PB. Does it feel oily?

Your best course of action is to reduce the irrigation. Let it dry up a bit. It is a fine line with it getting too dry to harm the young grass. For sure avoid the late evening irrigation so it doesn't sit overnight too wet.

Weather for me looks like it is going to warm up more, so more of a challenge. Keep an eye on these areas because it spreads and kills quickly. If you have more seeds, drop some in the impacted areas.

 

@g-man thanks for the comments. I keep forgetting to check if it feels "oily", but I will check it once I'm back home today. Do you suggest that I rip out the fungus areas and then re-seed? Or just re-seed where the fungus is? I'm assuming option #1. I've got some updates on it below.

@SodFace sorry I missed your comment before. Yes, I have neighbours on all sides, the back is just very mature/protected which is nice. My neighbours on the one side have a bird feeder so I don't think it would be an issue.

So updates. Let me start with the front since that's what I've been showing mostly.

I haven't watered in approx 36hours, fungus pretty much dries up during the day, but I still see some evidence of it this morning. It's overcast today, and the forecast is calling for some rain, so I think I will just continue to hold off on any watering for right now. If the rain doesn't happen I will re-think the plan. As mentioned above I am contemplating just ripping out the fungus affected areas. It's probably around 5sqft I would say, so not a huge area right now.

I bought some balanced 16-16-16 fertilizer which I'm planning to put down, plus maybe some Scott's Ultrafeed which has Urea. I'm not in the best location to get specialized fertilizers like Urea, but I may make the drive out to get some in the next week or so. Probably a good 1.5hr journey.

This was the fungus this morning after not watering for a day. A few areas like this.




I've mentioned it before but the front yard is just problem after problem. The squirrels are one thing, but I also have a huge ant problem in one area since seeding. I put some ant killer on yesterday. There are a lot more than the pictures.




I also have broadleaf weeds, creeping charlie (or other clover), crabgrass, and other fun things. I'm thinking of using an iron based weed killer to spot spray the broadleaf ones at least. The crabgrass I'll pull or leave until frost. The clover I'll probably just leave for a bit. I used the borox trick to kill clover earlier this year and it worked really well, but obviously some survived and is fighting back now. Overall I need to get a pre-emergent down for next year. I don't think I'll do anything this fall, but over the winter I will have to plan according and order something.




But, after all that doom and gloom I did cut the front yard yesterday at 1 3/4". (I'll be honest that's a bit of an assumption based on the lawnmowers manual. I'm assuming that each HOC level is even in height) I was, and plan on going back to, 1 1/4" eventually.






I'm sure I'm missing something to update in the front, but I can't think of anything right now so moving on to the back.

Yesterday I finished dethactching, cut as low as possible again, added a little soil to areas where I moved irrigation, put down 9lbs of RPR, 1.5lbs of other PRG, 1.5lbs of CRF and 1.5lbs of TTTF. All of the 1.5lbs seeds used up what I had, and I used them in the shaded areas mostly. I rolled, added peat moss and started watering.

Honestly, the backyard should be an easier task compared to the front. After spraying for weeds earlier this year the weed situation is much better than the front. The yard is also very well protected due to mature trees, bushes and fences so it doesn't have the constant weed seed bombardment of the front yard. I'd say 80% of it also gets a "good+" amount of sun so with some basic attention it should be possible to have something really nice there. The other 20% is very shaded, 90%+ shade throughout the day, some parts 100%, so that's going to be a challenge. Also there seems to be a lot less animal digging in the back for the most part too. Now some pictures:

Ready for seed.




Peat moss down and ready for water.



OK, I think that's enough typing for today!

 

Tiny update. Rained today so not much watering of the back. On the second DAS back there. I thought the squirrels weren't as bad there but that's not true so fun.

I didn't see any further fungus in the front today, so I ripped out the dead grass and left it for now. I plan on adding some seed to the thin areas on Sunday as it's easier for me to manage the watering during the week.

I cut the front at 1 1/4" tonight.

 

Quick update. The backyard has started to germinate. I've found that the RPR germinates at around 5 DAS, both the front and back had the same timeline. So now just watering and waiting until I can do the first cut. Tonnes of a squirrel holes, especially in the areas with new soil. Trying to be "zen" about it right now and worry about fixing them later. Will the RPR do any spreading in the future? I guess I'll find out haha.

Front yard is looking good. I've been very bad about tracking applications so I need to get caught up on that. I put down some 16-16-16 fert, and a little Scott's ultrafeed as I mentioned. I need to double check the calculations but it probably worked out to more like .3 or .35 lbs/1k sq ft of N. I also put down 9.5lbs of pelletized hen manure a few days after as well (we don't have Milo) and some Humic Acid and Kelp. I'm thinking of driving to get some Urea on Wednesday.

In the front I've also setup scheduled watering now as well so that should help take some of the management off of my plate. The lawn stands out from all the others in the neighbourhood because it's so green, lol. I plan on filling in some of the bare spots with seed today and manually watering.

Hot and humid today so not great. Hopefully today is the last day!

Oh, and I haven't seen any fungus in the last few days so hopefully that has been rectified already.

 

I feel your pain about the Squirrels. I'm on Hamilton Mountain.
I've watched them for some time now and I see them digging mostly in fresh soil. I have a theory that they dig up those areas hoping to find another Squirrels cash. If the area they go to isn't too big try chicken wire till it grows in. It's the only thing that's worked for me. Those buggers are persistent.

 

I feel your pain about the Squirrels. I'm on Hamilton Mountain.
I've watched them for some time now and I see them digging mostly in fresh soil. I have a theory that they dig up those areas hoping to find another Squirrels cash. If the area they go to isn't too big try chicken wire till it grows in. It's the only thing that's worked for me. Those buggers are persistent.

That's a really good idea when I'm trying to fix a small area... and there will be a lot of fixing with these damn squirrels, lol.

 

OK, update time. I've struggled to find time to post an update with life and a sick toddler, but I'm finally getting to it now.

I'll start with the front yard. Huge improvement over the season, even though there is a lot more to go. There were some bare areas after the overseed from mid-August, so parts of the lawn where the bare areas were I added more seed. Today is 5 DAS so germination is just starting. RPR is like clock work with its timing to germinate it seems!

So originally I was mowing the entire front at 1 1/4", but because of the overseeding I didn't cut that area so it's a little funny looking right now. I should be able to cut the newly seeded area sometime next week, not sure I've I'll cut it at 1 3/4" first like I did the first time, or go right to 1 1/4" to make it easier.

Another thing is weeds. They are coming. I have to double check the labels but I think mid next week I can spray, at least the areas where I didn't over seed again. Broadleaf, crabgrass and clover are the main issues. The crabgrass is really the one I need to think about. They are still small and easy to pull, but there are a lot. I could spray, but the worst area is the newly overseeded area, so that is weeks away anyway, and then frost is right around the corner. I'm thinking of just pulling and waiting until next year to use a pre-emergent.

I did make the trek to get Urea, so I've got that on hand now. This week on the front I put down:

.75lbs of 16-16-16
.625lbs of 46-0-0
4lbs of 5-3-2 (hen manure)

I did a small application the week before too, but I forgot to track it. Oops! I also sprayed Humic Acid and Kelp somewhere in there too. Like I said it's been a bit hard to keep things organized.

The backyard has been cut one now at 1 3/4". I don't know if I can go any lower back there as there are a lot of dips and bumps, so scalping is a real danger. Levelling hopefully in the cards for next year. There are some bare spots for sure, and one area where apparently the sprinklers don't hit (I thought I checked everything!), but for this year I just plan on cutting, fertilizing, and spraying for weeds. No fertilizing yet, but probably after the next cut.

My number one issue continues to be squirrels! The front has been as bad, but the morning after my first cut of the back I found over 20 holes all over the lawn. Grrrrrrrrr!

One thought I've had regarding my overseeding is I wonder if I've been watering TOO much. Based on some of the other journals I've read the watering they've done seems to be less. Thoughts for next year.

Picture time! Front yard first.

A few days before the latest cut, you can see some bare spots on the near corner. It's always been a problem area. Also any kind of wind and the sprinklers miss it so during seeding it was much harder to keep it moist.


A few pics after a fresh cut. The difference since the spring is crazy.







You can see the bare areas that I have overseeded on this picture



Now for the back. The difference in colour especially from before I seeded to now is very very evident.





And squirrel damage!



Weed control, cutting, fertilizing, that's basically my plan now until the end of the season.

 

Just got home and a bunch of the reseeded areas in the front have holes. I meant to mention in the previous post that I regret a little not looking into a KBG option more closely. The RPR might fill in some holes next year, but KBG seems like it would have been a better bet. I might look into it for next year, something to think about over the winter.

 

Ugh, the fungus is back. Basically in the same areas as before. Cool and rainy type day today. I'll just let the areas dry out as that should help. The issue is definitely where I overseeded again and therefore watered more.

 

Watering is a tricky issue. I think with the seed type you have, and the germination, you can dial it back a lot. Should help.

 

Watering is a tricky issue. I think with the seed type you have, and the germination, you can dial it back a lot. Should help.

Thanks. Ya that's what I did originally when I had the fungus, then I reseeded a few areas and it came back. Planning to cut way back on the watering now. It was a cool and wet weekend and I didn't see any further fungus so it seems like the heat was the real issue.

I cut the front and back today. It was probably a little early for the new germination in the front, and the soil was a little wet (grass was dry) but we had visitors coming and wanted to make it look somewhat cleaned up. I started cutting the back at 1 3/4" like I planned and did not like it, lol. So I cut it to 1 1/4". Scalped a few places but it's a work in progress back there.

This week I plan on doing nitrogen and spraying for weeds in the front as I'm close enough to 3 weeks after germination on most of it. In the back I'll start fert, compost, etc. Of course I'll cut both front and back when necessary too.

 

OK, I've been very bad at updating this. I've gotten busy and also think I went a little too hard with the lawn for awhile and needed a mental break haha.

Not too much to update. I've been doing basic maintenance. The front I've been fertilizing, and sprayed most of it for weeds. I touched up some seed so I didn't spray that area yet. I might do that this week. I've been cutting at 1 1/4", but not as often as I'd like/should have.

The back is being cut at 1 3/4". I haven't sprayed for weeds yet. The back is behind the front on purpose so right now it's just keeping it looking OK until next spring when I can hopefully improve it.

I forgot to add I oversprayed a few spots in the front with post-emergent, so the grass did not like that, but seems to be recovering OK since then. I don't plan on spaying any that portion again so should be good now.

A few pics of the front:

 

Looks good!

 

Looks good!

Thanks! The difference from the spring before I started is huge, and in comparison to the lawns around me it really stands out like a green beacon haha. Not where I want it to be yet, but next year I'm hoping to get it to thicken it up and try pre-emergents for the first time to fight crabgrass as much as possible.

I meant to mention in the previous update I've started a "Turfgrass Management" course at the University of Guelph. I'm hoping it gives me some more insight into all things lawns.

 

Not too much to report. I've mostly been cutting and adding Urea every couple of weeks, sometimes with some hen manure as I find it helps with spreading it evenly. I did spot spray some weeds in an area I over seeded later, but overall my weed situation is pretty minimal, especially when compared to the rest of the neighbourhood. I plan on trying pre-m next spring as well.

The temperature is getting colder here, getting into the single digits (mid 40's F) at night so I'm cutting back on watering, but the grass is still growing well. Today is going to be around 20C (68F) and sunny so still some nice days. I'll be away next week so planning on getting a family member to cut at least the front to keep things going. The last time I left it without getting cut (although it was for a month) I came back to a disaster!

A few pics of the front:

 

I thought I'd update, although there isn't much to update, lol. I was applying N at .5lbs/1ksqft but stopped that about 2 weeks ago. I did a very light spray of N with some Kelp a few days ago more so just to try it out then anything else.

I've had a few weeds pop up lately, clover and broadleaf, so I mixed up a couple of 1litre spray bottles of Borox and Killex and just did a spot spray which should take care of them.

My irrigation is still open, but the temps look like they are going to drop in the next week or two so I'll be blowing it out soon most likely. Definitely later then others in my area, but it hasn't been that cold. It has been raining quite a bit lately but the forecast doesn't show much in the next week so I might be turning the sprinklers on once or twice still.

I plan on doing another drop of N in the next few weeks. I've been taking a course at GTI and it was mentioned to do N once the turf has stopped growing, and the air temp is below 10C consistently. It's supposed to help with root growth before the winter. So we shall see.

Not much to report on the back. I have basically just been letting it do its thing. Definitely an improvement, but next year I will take it more seriously like the front.

A few recent pictures!

And full sun where things never look as good! To be fair the bottom of this picture is one of the areas that struggles.

Just as a comparison though, here is what this area looked like in the spring: