25 October 2023 - Hmm, what have we here??

28 October - Potential realized:

8 November - Perennial Rye experiment to fill in the rest of the yard for winter:

17 November - (I hate carptet grass):

6 January 2024 - Drainage still an issue. Not even dormant yet...

16 January 2024 - A little deep south ice storm:

14 February 2024 - Dormancy was short lived. Added sand/dirt mix in three places:

18 February 2024 - The Rye is doing alright, but still too much clover for my liking:

19 February 2024 - Waiting on a full green up. Currently too much Poa and clover, but chose not to do a fall pre em do to how young the grass was. I did apply a Stonewall 0-0-7 on 2/12 so we'll see how that does for the spring and summer. Exciting times!

 

I'm still using an older EGO. It only goes down to 1.5" but honestly that's about all my unleveled lawn can handle.
On the plus side, I can mow before work and during kids' (soon to be two!) naptime without worrying about waking anyone up.

At any rate, I'm really excited about this conversion:

 

Your journey does really mirror mine. But I think you are doing better. We'll see how this summer goes.

 

105 degree temps certainly helped. Seriously, the average temp for the entire month of August was 90.1
So I just watered that small area maybe 1-2x/week and cut very often.

 

Still a fair amount of Poa, Clover, and yellow wood sorrel, but the Bermuda should start winning out soon. Added a small dose of 25-0-2 weed and feed on 3/13. 4.5 lbs over about 2,500 ft.

 

A patch of PRG that I’m definitely NOT spraying out…

 

3/14
Broadcast sprayed MSM Turf
.5 grams across 2,000 ft (front and back combined).

3/16
Applied Air-8 liquid in back over roughly 2200 square ft
8 oz in hose end then filled with water.

Picture from 3/18:

 

Applying Green Max this Sunday in between rains. The Clover is taking a bit of a hit from MSM and some of the Poa has met its demise via Glyphosate and hand pulling.

Trying a little experiment with bagged clippings where I dump and spread them over a low spot filled with Clover.
Will it amend the soil adding nitrogen and eliminating the clover? Will it help with leveling? I’ll continue to add to it and spread.

PRG looking decent all things considered…

 

looking good!

 

Finally figured out how to mod my Ego that only went down to 1.5”

Now I can scalp and really promote some growth! Notch 2 could be as low as 1” which I’d be stoked about. Hope to level in a month or two. It’s still been in the mid 40s way down here.

3/23:
Applied 5 lbs of Green Max 27-0-2
And 2 lbs of 13-13-13 across 2800 ft.
Watered it in.
Planted three areas of southern wildflowers
Did some leveling in front and back. Play sand and compost/manure.

Any guesses as to what HOC this is?

 

Late October 2022

17 months later:

Now the real fun begins…

 

Hey, I have the same lawnmower. The lowest notch at # 1 is at 1.5 inches. With the center pattern for the blade insert, I can't figure out how to mod it to go lower. Washers/spacers won't work because of that issue. I'd be much appreciated if you could share the process you used to lower yours. PM me if you have time, Thanks!

 

Absolutely! It was easier than I thought it would be.
All I did was move the front wheels to the back the I replaced the front wheels with 6” wheels from Amazon.
Set of 2 Wheel Kits for Push... Amazon.com

All you’ll need is a flat screwdriver and a socket wrench. 13 mm?
I didn’t even need the parts that came with the wheels. Enjoy!

 

The recent scalp motivated me to knock off some of the high spots and move that dirt into low areas. And the terribly inconsistent grade along the back fence has always bothered me.

mid to upper 80s will help it all fill in!

 

I would love to level some areas but it just seems like a lot of work.

 

The lack of an edge was killing me.
Bermuda is looking decent after first maintenance cut following scalp. 1”??
Fewer weeds finally!

 

Doing my best to level out the areas that need it the most. Play sand was 28% off at HD. 9:4 mix of sand to .5-.5-.5 compost/manure.

 

Got in a cut yesterday before receiving over 1” of rain this morning.
While the Bermuda is off to the races on the left near the blue star, I went ahead and bought 5 lbs of common from Hancock for the other highlighted problem areas.

Grass is filling in nicely after the spot leveling, but more to come this weekend.

 

We just got that rain over here in Florida. But it was 5 inches!

 

Just 40-50 miles SE of us received 7-9”. Just the way it goes. I was thrilled we didn’t get wash out conditions.

 

Another mow on 4/11.
Putting more sand down today/tomorrow.
Need to spray Talstar tomorrow too.

Picture from morning of 4/12:

 

More leveling on 4/13
It’s filling in…
Discovered what I think is gray leaf spot a couple of weeks ago.
Treated with Disease Ex. It greened up when I didn’t cut for six days, but the brown spots are visible again in the most recent picture (4/29).

 

1.38” at the nearby airport
Sprayed Talstar P and Nyguard IGR everywhere.
Followed with spot spraying Image kills Nutsedge.

I wish the color was more consistent!!
Needs iron?? My main fert right now is Green Max.

 

Soil test? I dont suppose some iron would hurt. Looks like its coming along though. Amazing how similar our grass is. My bermuda is filling in super quick.

 

I might get a soil test next February.
Crazy idea, I wonder if the street light hitting a certain spot affects color...
Beautiful haze this morning with all of the fog.
The good news is, where there's turf, there are fewer weeds than last summer/fall.
Can't wait to see the bare dirt fill in. Might plug, might even seed, might just fert and mow.
---
The brown is Gray Leaf Spot. Yuck. I've applied Disease Ex twice now. It reappeared when I mowed the green off the top yesterday.

 

I find it always looks worse up close. But at least there is progress.

 

I’m two days post mow and wondering why I have these lighter spots.
possibly the result of stunted growth due to spot spraying?
Used Trimec then Image kills Nutsedge.

Hoping I’m past this phase soon.

 

Raised HOC for recovery purposes. Disease looks better. Herbicide damage too.
Kind of like it a bit more at notch 3. Need to measure, but it's probably around 1.25"
I could cut it every day right now with soil temp well into the 80s and spoon feeding doing its thing.
Planted a few plugs yesterday that mostly disentigrated, though it should work just as well. Added sand and water on top.
I'm seeing some young VBW and a few areas of either crab or carpet grass, which I will treat with a Celsius packet soon.
Lastly, the most compacted area that I desperately want to fill in is looking good. There is much less goose grass this year, which leads me to think that the pre emergent is working, and who knows, maybe the Air 8 too...

 

We had strong winds last night at the house, and 1.11" of rain was reported at the nearby airport.
Dropped 4 lbs of 20.5-0-0 at 6:30 yesterday evening and got a mow in this morning.
Need to address a few problem areas soon concerning weeds.
Fairly pleased with the expansion of the bermuda since last fall, which I really just started pushing about 6 weeks ago.
Just went 11 days between fert applications and mowing every 2-3 days again.

Cleaned up a bit this morning.

 

Dew!
And bermuda "farming" progress.

6 APRIL

8 MAY

14 MAY

 

Mowed, broadcasted Celsius (first time using it), hand pulled some weeds, which was really easy with a garden shovel after all the rain.
Sticking with notch 3. About 1.25”
The color is much more even so far this year, and the grass is overall healthier, thicker, and with fewer weeds. Expanding laterally is still the top priority so I’ll hold off on PGR for now.