[zinger565]

Hey all. Thought I would start a thread for my attempt at restoring our lawn. Bit of background first though. First time home-owners, this will be our 3rd summer in the house. House is 98 years old this year. When we purchased it, it had been owned by an older lady that had lived there for a while. The yard is okay, but very bumpy and uneven. We're a corner lot, which means two "street strips" and lots of edging. Our lot is also raised a bit from the front, which makes for a challenge mowing.

My goal is to aim for something the in "Tier 2" level of lawns. I want to see if I can restore before I attempt to renovate. I was able to snap some winter pics before the snow came this past week:

This is the "back yard" fenced in area. This is the dog's domain. I don't need this to be picture perfect, and as such, I am willing to experiment back here more.


This is the East side street strip. Rather long and sees a lot of road salt in the winter.


This is some of the new sod the city so nicely laid down in late October after tearing up that patch to replace the crosswalk concrete. I have no idea what's in it.


Front-East yard. You can see the initial hill at the beginning of the lawn.


Front-West yard.


I don't have a tight plan yet. I've got the yard log spreadsheet filled out and ready to go. Looking to hit it with pre-em this spring, then go nuts on the Milo. I'm actually going to water instead of relying on the Iowa rains. Also, I'm going to try to smooth this yard out and hopefully take care of some of the unwanted plants like moss, clover, and dandelion.

 

[jessehurlburt]

Hey Zinger!

It sounds like you're planning this right. Def a pre-m app and targeting of the weeds during the summer. I'll let the other more experienced guys comment on if you should use pre-m on the newish sod. I'm not sure there.

Have you had a ph test yet?

Not sure if burnt grass from the dog bothers you in the back. If so, I'd train the dog to go in some mulch or an area it makes sense off your grass. I did that this fall and it was pretty easy to do.

Also, be careful on too strong a pre-m app that might hurt your fall seeding. Some stay in the soil longer so check the label of what you get. Another member helpfully pointed that out to me in my restore thread.

do you know what type of grass you want to grow? Spring and summer think about your irrigation strategy and check out NTEP for Iowa seed suggestions.

Spring is close! Can't wait to get back in the yard! I'll be following your progrsss!

 

[zeus201]

Welcome to the forums from another Iowa member. Where in Iowa are you located? I used dimension on new sod without any issues. I prefer granular dimension from SiteOne as it is easier. One day I'll pony up for one of those nice Champlin pump sprayers and use prodamine.

I'd suggest taking soil samples come spring and send those out to Logan Labs for analysis. You can post results and there are a few member here who could help with amendment plan (if needed). Although, I believe Logan Labs can provide recommendations....cannot remember though. Jar test will also be beneficial to determine soil structure. Grass will grow in some terrible soils, but the better it is, the easier it will be for you and the grass imo.

Ortho Weed B Gon Chickweed, Clover & Oxalis or standard Weed B Gon will take care of common weeds. Grassy weeds can be pesky and require some higher level products or good ole' fashioned Round-up. Leveling the lawn is a multi-season affair, @wardconnor has great videos on Youtube and posts here. The warm season guys also have wealth of info.

On top of MIlo, I like to use grains from local feed store like soybean meal, alfalfa pellets or meal, and cracked corn as my primary source of fertilization and effort to build OM. I'll eventually switch to urea or ammonium sulfate come fall time as prescribed in the aggressive fall nitrogen plan (https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=753).

Either way, look forward to your progress!

 

[zinger565]

Finally starting to wam up. Thanks @jessehurlburt and @zeus201 for the questions. No soil test yet, but I have it planned. What's the mason jar test? I've run a search, but no real prescribed way of doing it. Is it just some dirt and water or is there a specific ratio? Dog spots don't bother me much. I think I'd like to get some nice bluegrass going. With the grains, what are you trying to put down specifically, starch, fiber, protein? I homebrew and always end up with plenty of spent grain, but its essentially fiber at that point.

Anyone know when cold is too cold to mow? The snow is melting as I type and I've got a decent amount of leaves I couldn't get to last fall. Is it okay to mow and mulch those even if there isn't much growth happening?

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm located in Cedar Rapids, IA

 

[iowa jim]

Just wanted to say welcome to another fellow Iowan. I am very new to lawn care but am planning a full restoration in the fall. Very nice people on this forum. My lawn is still frozen as evident of all the standing water on top of the snow. ;good luck;

 

[iowa jim]

Go Hawkeyes;

 

[zeus201]

Grains are used as an organic approach to fertilization. The thought process behind grains is you are feeding the microbes within the soil with the proteins and etc. found in the grains, which in turn will feed the grass (soil food web:https://www.google.com/search?q=soi...i59j69i60j0.3975j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8).

With grains you will see people site lb/k instead of the traditional N/k as the nitrogen content is much lower than synthetics. I traditionally target 15-20 lb/k of SBM, alfalfa pellets or cracked corn, but you can go lower or higher if you want. I am not too concerned about the N value as I am trying to build up my organic matter, but I believe 15 lbs of SBM equals 1 pound of N/k. I am a bit aggressive apply twice a month during the growing season, but once a month is more than enough.

The alfalfa pellets are highly visible and people may ask what you are up to....plus they will swell up if or when they get wet, but they do eventually break down. I have to full open my spreader to get the pellets fly out through. Alfalfa meal I find super annoying to apply...super dusty imo not worth the mess. Soybean and alfalfa all have a distinctive smell but goes away pretty quickly. Another disclaimer, sometimes some of the cracked corn will germinate and you will have little baby corn plants growing. After a mow they disappear or you can hand pick them. I am not sure on spent grains from homebrew...you could try in a small test plot and see what happens.

Equal amounts of soil and water will be fine. Dig down 2 inches, remove any roots and etc. fill jar halfway w/soil, add water, shake it up and let it settle for 24 hours. If layers are not visible you can let it sit a longer until you can measure.

Is the turf completely smothered with leaves? If not, I personally would leave the leaves alone until warmer weather comes around. However, if you have a leaf blower, then I'd clean up the area....suppose that wasn't very helpful haha

 

[zinger565]

Just a March update. No soil test yet, yard hasn't stayed thawed long enough to get one in. Cleaned up part of the yard as time amd weather has permitted. I also got the mower out and ran it a but. Forecast calls for 5 inches of snow this weekend, but it should melt soon.

GDD tracker has me not even close to Pre-Em application time.

I have an older Stihl weed trimmer that I'm getting refurbished. Anyone have any thoughts on how I can use this to edge my sidewalks?

 

[zeus201]

You can turn your trimmer around and edge the sidewalks. Takes some trial / error and lots of practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IXbcjYxBs

 

[zinger565]

Thanks Zeus! I'll have to try that this year.

I was out feeding birds today and noticed the following small patch of green. Last week we had significant snowfall, but it's all melted away now. This is definitely a different green than the rest of my yard and what I'm used to seeing, so I figured it's gotta be something unwanted. Any thoughts as to what it could be?

 

[zinger565]

Laid down some crabgrass preventer and fert I had leftover from last year. It's the Menards premium here: link

It's 26-0-3, with prodiamine at .20ai/acre. Cleaned up some sticks and excess yard waste. Things are finally getting green!

 

[zinger565]

I'd like to re-introduce the backyard, which will be my experimental plot. It's small (~500sqft) and fenced in (out of sight from public) so I can go crazy on it. The size should allow me to hyper-focus on it.



A few weeks ago I did a clean-up mow to pick up leaves from last fall. Did another quick mow today and then dropped some starter fert to get it going. I know and understand it's not the ideal way, but I did overseed last fall with some big-box mix in this area before I knew what I was doing. I did not pre-em this area, and want to give the grass every chance to flourish.

 

[zinger565]

Soil test came in! I realise it's not a Logan Labs or Soil Savvy test, but these guys were fairly local and super friendly on the phone.

Looks like Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous are high, slightly low on manganese, and a pH of 6.5. They classified organic matter at 3.5%, although im not sure if that's high or low for a lawn.

I suppose plan going forward is to push N based organic fertilizer (Milo or local equivalent). Any other thoughts or comments are helpful!

 

[g-man]

Looks like Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous are high, slightly low on manganese, and a pH of 6.5. They classified organic matter at 3.5%, although im not sure if that's high or low for a lawn.

I suppose plan going forward is to push N based organic fertilizer (Milo or local equivalent). Any other thoughts or comments are helpful!

Thanks for posting. Could you make the image bigger? I could barely see the numbers. The report seems to have a spot for their recommendations, but it is not filled out. Maybe they need to know your goal (ie lawn, garden)

3.5% OM is actually good. The only item that seems low is sulfur. Increase iron will make the lawn greener. Check ridgerunner thread on soil analysis in the articles section. I also posted an experiment I did.

In regards to logans/soil savvy, I think you should find a lab that provides you with the services you want at a price you want. I think going local has it advantages. I personally dont recommend a specific lab and only advise to find one that is part of the NAPT program. By the way, the one you found is.

 

[zinger565]

Looks like Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous are high, slightly low on manganese, and a pH of 6.5. They classified organic matter at 3.5%, although im not sure if that's high or low for a lawn.

I suppose plan going forward is to push N based organic fertilizer (Milo or local equivalent). Any other thoughts or comments are helpful!

Thanks for posting. Could you make the image bigger? I could barely see the numbers. The report seems to have a spot for their recommendations, but it is not filled out. Maybe they need to know your goal (ie lawn, garden)

3.5% OM is actually good. The only item that seems low is sulfur. Increase iron will make the lawn greener. Check ridgerunner thread on soil analysis in the articles section. I also posted an experiment I did.

In regards to logans/soil savvy, I think you should find a lab that provides you with the services you want at a price you want. I think going local has it advantages. I personally dont recommend a specific lab and only advise to find one that is part of the NAPT program. By the way, the one you found is.

Thanks! Yeah, I saw that too, but I didn't see anywhere on the submission form to mark the intended crop. I might give them a call this week and see what they can do.

Larger image:

 

[Ridgerunner]

FWIW, IMO any issues in establishing a good lawn aren't very likely with your nutrient levels. They look fine to me. It does appear that you have some considerable damage from an invasive species. Have you seen anything tn your yard about 15" tall at the shoulder?

 

[zinger565]

FWIW, IMO any issues in establishing a good lawn aren't very likely with your nutrient levels. They look fine to me. It does appear that you have some considerable damage from an invasive species. Have you seen anything tn your yard about 15" tall at the shoulder?

Haha, thanks. Sometimes I think she does as much mechanical damage as chemical damage. She loves to run and turn hard!

I generally have high hopes, especially for the back experimental area, as the current conditions were achieved with zero input last year. No watering, no fertilizer, and it still came back decently. I figure with some actual care and attention, it could be rocking in no time.

 

[Suburban Jungle Life]

Good looking soil! High CEC! Cool! Probably just using N+K fert with humates would be it.

 

[zinger565]

Good looking soil! High CEC! Cool! Probably just using N+K fert with humates would be it.

Excellent. It's nice to hear that!

 

[zinger565]

And so the battle begins. Weeds and more! I've got some 2,4-d with dicamba that I'm going to lay down tomorrow.

As a side, I can't figure out if my front lawn is rought bluegrass or fine fescue as talked about in this article: https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/landscaping/maint/ts-selecting-cool-season.htm

Front lawn grass: