Welcome to TLF. That prep looks great. Congrats on the baby grass.

 

Beautiful front lawn

 

Welcome to TLF. That prep looks great. Congrats on the baby grass.

Thanks for the welcome... glad I found this place... now I can tell my wife that there are others just as crazy about their grass

 

Beautiful front lawn

Thanks.. it's coming a long.. still repairing the battle scars from the landscaping...

 

Hey lawn gals and guys. Thought I would share my recent Reno of my backyard.

Welcome to TLF! That's a big quick reno!

Looks like a good set of preparation tasks.

On the 23rd I covered half with peat moss.. I did not have enough to do it all.

Oooh, cool! An accidental "with peat moss" vs. "no peat moss" experiment, with what looks like very similar environmental conditions (full sun) for both areas.

I'm very curious as to if you end up experiencing much of a difference between the two areas in terms of speed of germination, completeness (thickness) of germination, and how it looks going into winter (say 60 days after seed-down) between the two areas.

Just finished a big landscaping job, so I got to this late... here's to hoping for a few more weeks of good weather. Try to get the back to look like the front.

There's a hidden implication that you're a landscaper for your day job? (Or is the "big landscaping job" a different project you did at your home?) Is lawn installation a regular (daily?) activity for you in the fall?

 

Hey lawn gals and guys. Thought I would share my recent Reno of my backyard.

Welcome to TLF! That's a big quick reno!

Looks like a good set of preparation tasks.

On the 23rd I covered half with peat moss.. I did not have enough to do it all.

Oooh, cool! An accidental "with peat moss" vs. "no peat moss" experiment, with what looks like very similar environmental conditions (full sun) for both areas.

I'm very curious as to if you end up experiencing much of a difference between the two areas in terms of speed of germination, completeness (thickness) of germination, and how it looks going into winter (say 60 days after seed-down) between the two areas.

Just finished a big landscaping job, so I got to this late... here's to hoping for a few more weeks of good weather. Try to get the back to look like the front.

There's a hidden implication that you're a landscaper for your day job? (Or is the "big landscaping job" a different project you did at your home?) Is lawn installation a regular (daily?) activity for you in the fall?

Yes I did it quite quickly for the size.. having a tractor and all the attachments really helped... I have used slit seeders before and was going to for this, but thought about trying what I had. I think it may work better and was easier on the body.

Yes, very accidental. The stores around me ran out of peat moss... so far they look very similar up close. The peatmoss looks better from far since it has a darker back drop.

Nope, not a landscaper for my day job. I did do all the landscaping at my last house, but this property is too big so I hired it out... glad I did. Took 3 guys 4 weeks to do... all the gardens, big patio, deck, trees etc. They just got finished and so I was waiting to seed the areas they damaged with the excavator and the Reno at once... that was probably a bad idea since it cost me a few weeks.

Cheers

Stu

 

Lots of progress today... 8 days after seed down.. weather shows mostly 60-65F highs for the next two week with a couple of days to 70F. A fair bit of rain too. Hopefully this will be long enough to establish a mostly PRG and creeping fescue mix with some KBG.

Heading out for business for the week. Hoping for big things when I get back.

 

Just another quick update. This is from day 11. Definitely getting fuller but can see some thinner areas. Will I have to over seed a bunch in the spring?

 

Lawn Gurus

This Saturday will be day 15 after seed down and about 9 days after first sprouts. I put down starter fert at seed down. When should I start spoon feeding. I have a 25 kg bag of 16-16-16 that I had intended to use for this purpose throwing down at 2lbs per 1000. Any advice would be appreciated.

Weather for the next 7 days will be 60-75 degrees then it looks to drop into the low 50s after that.

Thanks,

 

Fertilizer at 9days from germination is too soon in my opinion since you already applied starter at seed down. I would wait to 3-4weeks post germination.

 

Fertilizer at 9days from germination is too soon in my opinion since you already applied starter at seed down. I would wait to 3-4weeks post germination.

Thanks Gman. Yes I thought this was too soon, so another two weeks or so. Is the 16-16-16 good at 2lbs per 1000. This would be .32 lbs per 1000 of n, p and k.

Thanks

Stu

 

If it was me I'd stay away from the balanced fert for this fall and use AS or urea. There are studies that show that late season k can increase the chances of snow mold.

 

If it was me I'd stay away from the balanced fert for this fall and use AS or urea. There are studies that show that late season k can increase the chances of snow mold.

Interesting. I did not know that.. I have Urea too...

 

Alright.. now at Day 14.. quite happy with the progress.. now seeing a bunch of little sprouts coming up in between.. KBG? I did have 20% KBG in the mix...

 

At Day 22.. had three days in the 70s this past week which helped, but the warm weather is done now.. only 50 today and for the next 2 weeks high 40s.. so this might be the best it gets.. going to mow with my electric mower tomorrow..

 

The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.

 

The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.

Thanks Scagfreedom,

It is looking good, but from straight down is still quite thin. I am sure it will thicken more, and in the spring I will overseed heavily with more Turf Quailty Perrenenial Rye... I am really happy with this seed. I had some seed get spread into my thicker turf at the boundary and there was even a ton of little lime green sprouts coming up in there. I am surprised the seed even got to the soil as I did nothing to that area.

I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow to mow, so I got out there with my electric mower this afternoon.. took forever since it is only 18" wide. But I was shocked when the flap on the back of the mower striped the new grass.. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow...

Cheers !

 

The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.

Thanks Scagfreedom,

It is looking good, but from straight down is still quite thin. I am sure it will thicken more, and in the spring I will overseed heavily with more Turf Quailty Perrenenial Rye... I am really happy with this seed. I had some seed get spread into my thicker turf at the boundary and there was even a ton of little lime green sprouts coming up in there. I am surprised the seed even got to the soil as I did nothing to that area.

I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow to mow, so I got out there with my electric mower this afternoon.. took forever since it is only 18" wide. But I was shocked when the flap on the back of the mower striped the new grass.. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow...

Cheers !

Curious if in the spring whether it makes sense to spread more rye grass or work on getting the kbg to spread into the thin areas. Judging by the dark green you have in the established lawn I would guess that is mostly ***? Seems like you will have a major color difference if you establish more rye grass.

 

In general KBG is difficult to overseed into existing turf, and even harder in the spring since germination times are so long... the Color you see in the pics is more due to the fact that this is new grass than the fact that it is PRG.. I am sure this will darken up. Perhaps not as blue, but I don't think the difference will be much..

 

It looks really good

 

It looks really good

Thanks!

 

Here is day 23.... was warmer than expected today... maybe 60F in the sun.. looking even a little better.. put down .32 lb of N per 1000 sqft on the little buggers and watered in..

Also could not help throwing in a pic of the front. This is the best it has ever looked.. mowed 3 times today to get it from 3.25" to 2 5/8"

 

Here is day 23.... was warmer than expected today... maybe 60F in the sun.. looking even a little better.. put down .32 lb of N per 1000 sqft on the little buggers and watered in..

Also could not help throwing in a pic of the front. This is the best it has ever looked.. mowed 3 times today to get it from 3.25" to 2 5/8"

What seed cultivators do you have in your front lawn? Your turf color is incredible

 

Hey Scagfreedom48z.. not sure about the front.. it was the sod the builder put down... I have overseeded with KBG before, although I have no idea how much took..

It looks darker blue in the picture than real life....

 

Day 29... cut at 2" or so with electric mower.. this is the 2nd cut. Looking alright.. a little thin in spots, but I can fix that next year.. I can see the bluegrass sprout coming in.. tiny little guys compared to the prg that already has several tillers..

happy so far considering the late start and the fact we have already had snow..