The most important thing I learned from my other renovations was to start early so I did my 1st gly app on 6/11. On 6/25 I scalped everything down with my manual reel mower and am planning on my second gly app tomorrow if the weather cooperates. I’m hoping to do my leveling work next weekend and then continue fallowing until seed down in mid August

 

My second Gly app got delayed due to weather so I’m planning on doing that this coming Saturday. In the meantime I bought a sunjoe and used it to rake the dead grass up.

 

I got my 2nd gly app done yesterday so hopefully that will take care of the rest of the existing grass still green from the 1st App.

I’ll be ordering 8 yards of top soil this week for leveling major low spots from previous trees we had removed.

I also had started test germinating the seed and was surprised to see how fast the after midnight sprouted and established.

 

Was on vacation last week so progress slowed a bit. Hoping to pick it up this weekend. Weather is supposed to be good for the first time in a while too so that’s good. Got 8 yards of topsoil delivered this afternoon and will be going full force tomorrow and Sunday working on leveling. Started to knock down an area where an old tree was. Seems like it’s rotted pretty good and will come out pretty easily. Update on my seed tests… the after midnight is looking so good I’m regretting not getting more seed. Right now I’m planning on 50% Mazama 33% After Midnight & 17% bewitched. Also posting a pic of the croquet field getting mowed at our hotel

 

Went after it hard today. Started at 8ish and worked til 12:30 digging/leveling an old stump area. This was one of the most bumpy areas of the lawn so it felt good to knock that out. I did have to work around a sprinkler line but it wasn’t a big problem. After lunch I worked another few hours spreading the top soil. I will definitely have more than enough. Still have a lot more to spread tomorrow so I can start fallowing for the next three weeks

 

Hit it hard again today and got all but about a yard spread and leveled and rolled. Figured I can use the last yard to fill in any spots that sink over the next week or so. Started to water and fallow. Can’t wait wait for grass babies bc people keep walking by and looking at me like I’m crazy lol.

 

Looks good!! I’m planning on dirt on Saturday. Had to push mine back a week due to my son’s basketball schedule.

 

Nice work!

 

Nice looking reno so far! Excited to see the grow in.

On a side note, After Midnight is the darkest of the elite KBG's I've tested so far. I have 7 plots growing: Bewitched, Everest, Mazama, Award, New Moon, After Midnight and Midnight. I would say Everest is a close second in color.

I've noticed After Midnight has a very slightly wider blade than most the others but should blend nicely in your other culitvars.

Good luck!

 

Awesome thanks for the info on After Midnight…. I’m really excited to see it be a big % of my front lawn

 

Lots of weeds sprouting this week during the fallow. Decided to do a gly app this morning because the weather was going to be good for it. Will continue with the watering starting tomorrow and will do one last app Sunday the 13th. Planning on seed down the 14th

 

Picked up the peat moss and starter fert with tenacity in it this morning. I decided to go with the scotts made for seeding this renovation because I don’t care for spraying really and figured it would save me some time. Also the bag covers 4,000 sq ft and that’s my lawn size. I’m debating on whether I should try and do the whole area in 1 day or divide it in half over 2 days.

 

I have a few spots of clover in my reno area that don’t seem to be dying from the glyphosate apps. Anyone have any experience with that? I have speedzone on hand but it seems like it’s not recommended to spray that before seeding. I’m planning on pushing back my seeding day to Wednesday due to storms in the forecast tomorrow and Tuesday. Anyone ever spray speed zone and seed 3 days later? It wouldn’t be a blanket spray. Maybe I should just rake as much of it out as I can and then just spray it once the KBG is established?

 

I have noticed clover do that. I’m not sure how many areas you have, but maybe spot spray the clover with a heavy dose of glyphosate, and drench each plant. Using a surfactant seems to help it not drip off when spraying to make the entire plant wet.

That should hurt the clover and not affect your reno. Raking whatever you can out before your reno is also a good idea.

In short, spray heavy gly now. Rake it out before seeding. Speedzone after establishment.

Speed zone now seems like it would cause more harm to the reno. Maybe someone else has a better idea, but this is my current plan for my clover. Also, if you are using mesotrione during your reno, that should have a negative effect on any clover that remains.

 

Seed went down today. Overall everything went well and the weather cooperated. I scarified lightly with the sunjoe then spread the seed. Raked it it and then sprayed gly. Let it dry and then rolled and spread the starter fert. Then covered with peat moss. Weather forecast is looking pretty good the next week or so.

 

That is one of the cleanest starts to a reno I have seen, not to mention an absolutely stunning house behind it! Can't wait to see finished product!

Edit: how many bales of peat moss to cover the 4k sq ft?

 

Thank you for the kind words! I ended up using 11 bales of peat moss for 4.2k sq ft. I’ve had good success with my prior renovations using it. Having the spreader is key though. Two years ago I spread it by hand for my 1.7k sq ft back yard reno and it was brutal.

 

Wow! Looks great!!

I’m doing 22k and the cost for Peat at that ratio, I’d be spending $865 on peat alone.

 

Yeah peat has gotten really expensive (like a lot of things I guess). Still seemed like one of the better options for me when looking at price, availability and effectiveness. At one point I priced out seeding blankets but figured it would be better to just throw a bit more seed down if I got a wash out.

 

Beautiful work, that prep looks fantastic! Can't wait to see the results. I'm in NJ as well, planning to put down my seed this weekend.

Picked up 24 bags of peat for 11.5k sqft, hoping that's enough.

 

thanks Greg! Seems like 24 bags for 11.5k sqft is a reasonable estimate. Good luck on your reno!

 

Survived a few minor storms over night and now I seem to be in the clear weather wise. Fingers crossed.

 

Went outside this morning and was surprised to see some germination! 4.5 days for KBG!

 

Congrats!!

 

Very nice!!!

My test pots had 4 day germination with Midnight, NuGlade and Prosperity as a mix and individual also.

 

Yesterday I had to look really close to find sprouts. Today there is a noticeable green haze over some areas and significant sprouts popping up. Will probably call this DAG 0

 

What did you use to level? That amazes me every time I look at this. 😳

 

I basically spread top soil in all my low spots, dug out any high spots and then used the landzie leveling tool to flatten it out best I could. Then I rolled it with my lawn roller and added more soil to any low spots. Then rolled again.

 

DAG 2 … DAS 8

some storms in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully nothing crazy

 

If you can, redirect the downspouts away from the front yard.

 

I have a downspout extender that directs the main downspout into the middle of my driveway. The Belgian block keeps it off the grass and then it flows to the street. We had the driveway redone in the spring and I sprung for the Belgian block with the lawn in mind