[BXMurphy]

Man, I hate this place. I thought I was doing pretty good with my lawn until I saw pictures of everybody else's lawn.

Sharp, crisp edging. Deep, deep uniform blue carpets of luxurious curb appeal. Stripes of dizzying designs. Double fat, zig zag, even a vertigo-inducing spiral design. Yeah, even pretty mulch beds with shrubs and flowers.

Last year, I locked down a lawn that would look like Grammy's. You know, salt damage by the sidewalk and driveway. All sorts of different color grasses and heights. I spot treated and got my watering and mowing down. I sprinkled Kentucky Bluegrass over some bare spots and hit the whole lawn with Tenacity. @g-man had me worried about all that white grass but I smiled in anticipation of THIS year.

Boy, that Prodiamine is a WONDER! Got it down just right. Timing... amount... dye... PERFECT! No crabgrass! Cool!

Sure, there is some lettuce-looking crap that I can easily handle. Yes, yes... something that isn't crabgrass but looks like it is here and there. I can handle that. But what is killing me... what is driving me NUTS is... what I did last year.

Those spots I sprinkled Kentucky Bluegrass over last year? They are starting to fill in and... WOW! Does that look good, Good, GOOD or what?!! And to top it all off...

I am noticing seed heads on some of the shorter grass that my mower doesn't chop off at 2.5 inches or so. What's that? Poa Annua? Poa Trivialis?

Beats me! Last year? I didn't care. This year?? I've been reading The Lawn Forum for a year. Getting the basics down. Drooling over your lawn and... hating every stinkin' blade of grass in my hodge-podge of Grammy's grass.

I wish had I never learned what a good lawn looked like. This place... it's a love/hate thing, you know?

 

[chrisben]

Haha, so would you way you're tier 1 moving to tier 2, or tier 2 moving to tier 3?

 

[BXMurphy]

Haha, so would you way you're tier 1 moving to tier 2, or tier 2 moving to tier 3?

I just read @Ridgerunner's latest SIMPLE, EASY Method for soil management - and understood much of it.

I'm at Tier Shoot Me.

I'll tell you, though... until I do a renovation, I don't think I would call myself a Tier 3. And I don't think I would attempt a reno until after two seasons of keeping out the weeds AND getting a lawn successfully through the summer in a healthy, green state.

I'm itching to pull the trigger but does waiting for two seasons of solid maintenance sound about right to you?

 

[g-man]

@BXMurphy so far, what have you done to your lawn this year? Any nitrogen? Soil test? Could you post pictures of how it looks like?

 

[BXMurphy]

Thanks, G. I'll get some pictures up.

I just saw a pix of your lawn. Gorgeous! I also saw a pix of a Boston gentleman's lawn with clumps of dark green as he contemplates what to do for the winter. Mine isn't that bad (it was last year, though!) but I can see where he has that Grammy Lawn look like mine does.

I've been carefully following the TLF recommendations for a year. Milo on the major holidays. Soil test last fall 6-7 weeks after Independence Day Milo. Tenacity on 9/8/17 just because... ( I remember you chiding me at my rate: 1.5 teaspoons over 2,500 SF).

I get a kick out of how careful I was in measuring out my kelp, humic acid, yucca, molasses, and SLES. I have been putting that down every weekend since last year... just because. I'm careful with the shampoo but the rest of the stuff I have found won't hurt anything.

Urea nitrogen blitz worked wonders for spring. Will do first fertilizer this year of Milo on Memorial Day. Soil test said I need 15 pounds potassium. I put down 5.5 pounds so far and gulped after reading @Ridgerunner say 1 pound every 30 days is better.

I think I've been doing pretty good but, boy, after seeing yours and everybody else's lawn... I am so jealous! I'm probably Tier 1.5.

It is a lot of fun to get outside.

This place is pretty cool. I just never knew what I didn't know like... the three numbers on the bag of fertilizer.

What percentage of the people shopping at the big box hardware store would you figure don't know even that? 90%?

 

[JohnP]

So much truth in one thread. It's a scratch that the more you itch the worse it gets.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The 1#/30 is just a guideline not a hard rule. Plus I was referring mostly to P applications. 5.5 lbs is a lot of product assuming it's 5.5 lbs of SOP, it shouldn't be too detrimental. I do want to see what your potassium Base saturation levels are next year.

 

[BXMurphy]

So much truth in one thread. It's a scratch that the more you itch the worse it gets.

Yes, yes... it is so horrible.

They say that you really don't need a renovation unless something like 50% of your lawn is weeds. That's nice when you say it fast. But, what happens when you get rid of all that lettuce-looking stuff and you are just down to grassy weeds?

Man, I'll bet my lawn is 75% grassy mess and I don't even know it! Now I have to figure out grass identification. Or... just burn it all down and start from scratch.

See what I mean? I am a tortured man.

 

[BXMurphy]

The 1#/30 is just a guideline not a hard rule. Plus I was referring mostly to P applications. 5.5 lbs is a lot of product assuming it's 5.5 lbs of SOP, it shouldn't be too detrimental. I do want to see what your potassium Base saturation levels are next year.

Yes! The base. The "bank" that you wrote about. I am all about banking the good stuff.

Potassium is a salt, of course. I put my 5.5 pounds down in two apps a week apart and waited for a good slug of rain between each. It will be fine, I am sure. No P for me as it is not needed.

Really, really good work you did on your thread. That EASY, SIMPLE Method ties it all up nicely. I would say that you were done except for answering questions from "nerds."

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that there is not a more complete explanation of soil management to be found anywhere else on the Internet than what you posted there.

Edit: LAWN soil management as you so properly pointed out in your post.

 

[JohnP]

@BXMurphy so I've decided that I won't do a full reno until we have in ground sprinklers, and I won't pay for that until all the flower beds are built & established, and we're just making progress on those this year. Changing layout of the grass along with it.

So I figure that gives me a couple seasons of learning and maintenance and trying things before I shock the old ladies in the neighborhood with a dirt pit.

 

[BXMurphy]

...shock the old ladies in the neighborhood with a dirt pit.

Watch this...

As it turns out, I am a real estate broker. I had a buyer for one of my listings. That buyer had to sell their house in order to buy my listing.

The buyer was over-priced on the sale of their house (all sellers are, aren't they?) and I had to get that buyer/seller down to a reasonable price so that their house would sell and my listing would close.

Now, that buyer (who had to sell their house) for my listing spruced up their curb appeal but Google showed a complete MESS from five years ago. I pointed that out to them saying that a buyer for their house might not even show up given what Google is showing.

They complained to Google about the old picture and Google blurred their house out like it was a crime scene or something!

The deal fell through. <sigh>

Moral of the story? Don't have a dirt pit when Google comes by if you plan to sell your house.