[WillyT]

For some context...

My wife and I purchased this house in early March of 2022 and the lawn was not the only thing that needed attention. The house was very dated, quite built but very dated.

The house and property were built right with good bones and detail but was not taken care of as of late.

The flower beds were plentiful and overgrown. The lawn consisted of most St Augustine, a thick area of zoysia, and some bermuda throughout.

The lawn size is approx. 15k sq ft. Irrigation for front, side yards and flower beds.

-----Plan is to kill current front and side yards and sprig with Celebration Bermuda----

Started out with getting a soil sample in mid-March to see the baselines and everything was low including the pH.

Scalped the lawn after working on the inside of the house and back from work around the first week of April. Lowest setting on my honda walk behind.

Since then we have cut down two bradford pear trees and a pecan tree(under power lines) and plan to stump grind them when the limbs are picked up from the city.

Weekend of April 9th, applied lime at 35 pounds per thousand to up the pH. Applied triple 13 at a rate of 1 pound per thousand to get nutrients into the ground. Applied Andersons granular humic also.

Tuesday April 12th, applied 4 oz per thousand of glyphosate to the front and side yard.

Friday April 15th, applied 8 oz per thousand of gloyphosate to the front and side yard.

Ripped out the flower beds in the front and side of the house and plan to replant them.

Pictures to follow.

 

[WillyT]

 

[Ware]

Anxious to follow along @WillyT. Where are you getting your Celebration sprigs?

 

[WillyT]

Anxious to follow along @WillyT. Where are you getting your Celebration sprigs?

Am not able to source sprigs so purchasing sod to sprig myself. Fulton grass is the sod farm.

 

[WillyT]

The soil test was just sad but comical at the same time. My first soil test but Yard Mastery was great and really like the kit and the app.

 

[WillyT]

Scalped it down with my old honda walk behind. One pass on the second lowest setting and two passes on the lowest setting. The Gorilla car has paid for itself each time I have used it and cant imagine doing this without the cart. I have wooded areas behind my property so I have the luxury of putting the grass clippings there and it was a ton of them.

 

[WillyT]

Down came the Bradford pear trees and the pecan tree. I didn't want to cut down the pecan and have gotten grief for it but it was directly under a power line and I hate seeing trees grown into power lines and then butchered by the power line company. The city is supposed to pick the limbs up but to date has not... I have a person to stump grind the stumps when the limbs are picked up.

 

[WillyT]

Cut out the front and side flower beds.

By this time, I have scalped my St Augustine lawn, which is what is mostly in my neighborhood, cut down trees and ripped out my flower beds. Little do my neighbors know that I am killing my grass at the same time this is going on.

I live in a prominent neighborhood (smaller house of the hood) and off a fairly busy street that my side yard touches. The looks I have been getting, especially in south Arkansas is hysterical and makes me laugh just thinking about them.

Conor calls them Looke Loos and so my wife and I call them that and its just comical how may looks we get and will continue to get.

 

[WillyT]

We got a new roof installed yesterday via the seller.

Notice the grass is starting to turn yellow.

By this point I have made sure the irrigation system is hooked up and working properly. I have diagrams of all the lines and heads just wish they would have put lines in the back yard but it is very woody with pines, red and white oaks.

I installed a new rainbird wifi unit and plan on changing out all the heads to rotary nozzles soon.

With two rounds of glyphosate down, there is no turning back.

 

[WillyT]

As you can see, there's tons of work that has been and will be completed on the inside and outside but we have been hard at it do it all ourselves with the help of a few friends with drywall and electrical.

We took down wallpaper, popcorn ceilings, textured most of the house. painted and removed old crown and baseboards in most rooms. New carpet in some bedrooms and will be doing flooring some time soon.

Also the fence is being held up by a prayer so that will be on the to do list probably this summer.

Back to roaching grass, 4.20 joke ha, but will do a third round of glyposhate in the next few weeks to kill off the leftovers. I dont think the second round of it has kicked in as it was just four days ago.

 

[WillyT]

I finally was tired of waiting for the city to pick up the limbs so my wife and I hauled it off. Cut the stumps and grass last night. Another round of gly on Friday (third round). First round on grass covered by limbs so went heavy in that area which was street side front yard.

 

[WillyT]

I am two weeks away from sprigging. My plan is to use the sunjoe and verticut the yard probably Friday. I want to rent a sod cutter and aerator next weekend. I have some high spots that need to be cut down and standing water on driveway and sidewalk from lack of drainage. Will get a truck of sand delivered and will fill in the aerator holes with sand. Lastly, I will spray my last (fourth round) of gly to kill anything that is left in the yard.

Have not made up my mind on sprigging with sunjoe running over sod or wood chipper yet. Open to opinions.

 

[WillyT]

Yard is getting crispy. Stump grinding will happen tomorrow due to rain.

 

[WillyT]

Power raked the yard in prep for sprigging soon. Pretty sure the stump grinder got into the wiring of the irrigation system because none of the heads work. Irrigation guy is coming Monday or Tuesday, hoping for an easy fix. Worked fine before grinder. Got a hard rain last night but yard held dirt fine. Have some high spots to take down and have 15 yards of sand in the driveway.

Neighbors are more concerned than ever, a few have been noisy and stopped by the introduce themselves just to ask what we are doing.

 

[WillyT]

Rented a sod cutter to take down some high spots. Curious if anyone has some recommendations on how to fertilize Bermuda while sprigging?

 

[WillyT]

More root removal and edge work. We have 3 baby robins too.

 

[WillyT]

Irrigation is fixed! Sand leveling started tonight and will have plenty of that to do. It's been rainy here and should get a few days of sun to help dry it out.

 

[WillyT]

I am starting to second guess going with Celebration and looking into Tahoma. Tahoma is much farther away but I can suck it up with driving further to get the sod. My concern is celebrations larger blade and cutting it below .5 compared to the smaller blade of Tahoma. Any input is appreciated.

 

[WillyT]

More sand and leveling this weekend. Put the flower beds in over the weekend. Just waiting on sod farms to dry up from all the rain we have gotten. Neighbors told me tonight that we are the talk of the town. We are a corner lot on a main road so everyone has seen the work going on. Full gut on the lawn, flower beds and trees in the front yard.

 

[WillyT]

Started sprigging today. Ended up going with tahoma 31. 3 pallets to sprig 10k sq ft.