[OnyxsLawn]

Hello all!

First time here. My wife and I moved into our first house last fall and all of the landscaping had been severely neglected.
I tried to spread some soil and reseed in the fall but didn't have much luck. So, I've decided to start fresh and write it up.

A few before pics:





Planning all winter I decided to till everything under, level it out, spread some compost, and reseed.

Now that the ground thawed its time to get to work.

Bit of starter fluid and an almost 50 year old tiller started up


...and this is as far as I got before the engine exploded



but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface



More to come once the Tiller is repaired

 

[g-man]

Welcome to TLF. Are you in south bend Indiana?

You side yard looks fairly bad. Normally we recommend against a spring Reno. The summer heat and the weeds make it tough for the lawn to establish. You do have a smallish lawn at 2500sqft. Come up with a plan to keep it watered thru the summer.

We also don't recommend tillering, it just doesn't help. It also makes the lawn bumpy if you don't roll it flaten It. Round up for a few weeks is best. It really makes sure you kill all the weeds at the root.

Do you have seed selected?

Edit: also, call 811. It is free and could save you some headaches.

 

[BXMurphy]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

 

[OnyxsLawn]

Welcome to TLF. Are you in south bend Indiana?

You side yard looks fairly bad. Normally we recommend against a spring Reno. The summer heat and the weeds make it tough for the lawn to establish. You do have a smallish lawn at 2500sqft. Come up with a plan to keep it watered thru the summer.

We also don't recommend tillering, it just doesn't help. It also makes the lawn bumpy if you don't roll it flaten It. Round up for a few weeks is best. It really makes sure you kill all the weeds at the root.

Do you have seed selected?

Edit: also, call 811. It is free and could save you some headaches.

Yup! South Bend, Indiana

i have a sprinkler system on a timer that should keep the lawn well watered. It also doesn't really get warm here until July most years. I thought of waiting till fall but got excited when it got warm for a couple days so i decided to do something about it.

I can see where that recommendation comes from...now. Its gonna take quite a few passes and a lot of raking. luckily its a small yard.

Picked up a TTTF mix and plan on trying that out.

811 came out and marked before I started. Apparently Comcast doesn't bother to report where they have lines buried.

 

[LawnNerd]

I've got the exact same tiller. Those things are a hoss, and would drive through a building if i lost control (which isn't that hard with these...) Reverse on it with the tines going scares me to death!

 

[OnyxsLawn]

Got the engine off the old tiller


I borrowed a friend's front tine tiller and only really managed to dig holes. Doesn't have the power and leveling ability of the rear tine tiller and I find it to be way harder to control.

I've got the exact same tiller. Those things are a hoss, and would drive through a building if i lost control (which isn't that hard with these...) Reverse on it with the tines going scares me to death!

Luckily my reverse doesn't work so I don't have to worry about that.

In the meantime I picked up everything else I need for spring lawn care:





truck load of compost from the city, peat moss, 2 bags milorganite, starter fert with preemergent, grub-ex, and some tall fescue seed.

Also got the cable reburied at a reasonable depth, only after half a dozen calls (and some whiskey and cards) to Comcast to convince them the ground wasn't frozen... It's not thats how the cable got cut :evil: .

New tiller engine and more leveling work to come...

 

[Colonel K0rn]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

:lol: Not holding back on the new guy, are you @BXMurphy.

@OnyxsLawn If you can procure a drag mat, or a pallet to drag around before you seed, and try to get as smooth a bed as you can before you put the seed down, you'll have a much easier time on down the road. Renting a roller will help out too. It would also be prudent to spray down the area with RoundUp, since it only kills plants via foliar contact. You're ok to seed after spraying. It'll just hedge your bets on making sure that the new seedlings don't have to compete with as many weeds during germination. If it was me, I'd be spraying everything you plan to till, and then wait for whatever pops up a week later, and spray again.

FWIW, most spring seedings see about a 30% success rate. Plan on doing another overseeding come fall. You'll be in fine shape this time next year!

 

[BXMurphy]

Not holding back on the new guy, are you @BXMurphy.

Gee, I don't know about that. Aren't you in the farm belt? I figger you should at least be able to do we grow some grass.

Does anybody remember the new guy last year who had a hard time keeping peat moss wet? Now THAT was epic... it was a great thread to follow.

 

[Green]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

That happened to us during sprinkler installation. You'd think they would bury those things deeper than a few inches.

 

[social port]

@OnyxsLawn
1. Your thread title is absolutely awesome.
2. I trust you've heard Colonel K0rn's and g-man's precautions about spring seeding. It looks like you are a man with a plan and are just looking to get things rockin' this spring. I would just mind your expectations and hope for the best.
3. That truckload of compost is beautful.
4. Any idea what went wrong with the fall reseed?

 

[OnyxsLawn]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

:lol: Not holding back on the new guy, are you @BXMurphy.

@OnyxsLawn If you can procure a drag mat, or a pallet to drag around before you seed, and try to get as smooth a bed as you can before you put the seed down, you'll have a much easier time on down the road. Renting a roller will help out too. It would also be prudent to spray down the area with RoundUp, since it only kills plants via foliar contact. You're ok to seed after spraying. It'll just hedge your bets on making sure that the new seedlings don't have to compete with as many weeds during germination. If it was me, I'd be spraying everything you plan to till, and then wait for whatever pops up a week later, and spray again.

FWIW, most spring seedings see about a 30% success rate. Plan on doing another overseeding come fall. You'll be in fine shape this time next year!

I've got a drag mat I made to for leveling and preparing the surface that i'm going to give a shot.
I don't think i want to roll it right now as thats just going to compact everything back down.
I was trying to avoid roundup but after seeing whats left from a couple tilling passes i think i will.

 

[OnyxsLawn]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

That happened to us during sprinkler installation. You'd think they would bury those things deeper than a few inches.

You'd think! it was like pulling teeth to get them to bury it even down to 6-8". I was pretty sure the guys they sent out were gonna murder me for bugging them constantly.

 

[OnyxsLawn]

@OnyxsLawn
1. Your thread title is absolutely awesome.
2. I trust you've heard Colonel K0rn's and g-man's precautions about spring seeding. It looks like you are a man with a plan and are just looking to get things rockin' this spring. I would just mind your expectations and hope for the best.
3. That truckload of compost is beautful.
4. Any idea what went wrong with the fall reseed?

1. Thanks! try to keep things interesting
2. Yeah im hoping for the best but if everything goes to hell i may just end up getting some sod so the dogs are happy again.
3. Not too bad for $4! The city gives it away for free if you shovel it yourself. or for $4 they'll dump a full bucket (~6 yds) on the back of whatever you show up in and whatever sticks, you take(~2 yards)
4. not overly confident but im pretty sure it was a lack of prep on my part (poor seed to soil contact) and not cutting the existing grass short enough (lawn was so bumpy i kept hitting dirt with the blade so i just raised it). the areas where I threw down compost came up very well but didn't fill in much any where else.

 

[M_GEEZY MW]

but not before managing to cut my cable. <1" below the surface.

This will be a fun thread to follow. Time to start drinking. Heavily. :lol:

That happened to us during sprinkler installation. You'd think they would bury those things deeper than a few inches.

Sprinkler installation.... I am thinking about doing that this year. I have hesitations thinking about cutting into the water main, back-flow preventer and tunneling under my driveway to get the side yard. I think irrigation is my biggest weakness when it comes to my lawn. Any advice? (new guy here to the TLF)

 

[g-man]

@OnyxsLawn be careful with city compost. Sometimes it doesnt get hot enough to kill all the weeds in it. Do they provide compost testing results?

 

[OnyxsLawn]

@g-man they say this on their website:
"South Bend Community Kompost is currently enrolled in the U. S. Composting Council Seal of Testing Assurance Program (STA)." and that they test it frequently. sounds good enough for me

 

[OnyxsLawn]

Bought a new 6.5hp engine at harbor freight for $120. turns out it bolts right up and only needed a new crank bolt and some spacers.



Fired right up now time to get back to work in the yard.

Made 5 passes with the tiller and got the soil nicely pulverized. Tried to use my drag but didnt get very good results other than smashing down the dirt under the tractor wheels.



I decided to do a section by hand and see how hard it was and how its turned out.



I got it nice and level and pretty evenly packed down so hopefully it stays level. not sure if i want to leave the compost as a top soil layer of till it in.

Unfortunately we got more snow this week so not getting a lot done right now.


Hopefully the weather clears up a bit so I can get some more work done this weekend.

 

[g-man]

I would till in the compost.

 

[Sinclair]

@g-man they say this on their website:
"South Bend Community Kompost is currently enrolled in the U. S. Composting Council Seal of Testing Assurance Program (STA)." and that they test it frequently. sounds good enough for me

I googled, and found the testing information on their website. The analysis is chemical only, with no mention of seeds.

https://compostingcouncil.org/seal-of-testing-assurance/

 

[OnyxsLawn]

@g-man they say this on their website:
"South Bend Community Kompost is currently enrolled in the U. S. Composting Council Seal of Testing Assurance Program (STA)." and that they test it frequently. sounds good enough for me

I googled, and found the testing information on their website. The analysis is chemical only, with no mention of seeds.

https://compostingcouncil.org/seal-of-testing-assurance/

It looks like they test for pathogens (specifically salmonella) which is typically killed off safely around 150F which should be more than enough to sterilize weed seeds