JG LI's new house seeding...

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jglongisland
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JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 20th, 2016, 9:41 pm

I've been lying low as I have been very busy with my new home.

Unfortunately we weren't able to seed until today, its a Bewitched monostand. The property is much smaller that my current home (and flat), about 1/4 of it is full sun, 1/2 is part shade and 1/4 would be shade. Fortunately I've got lots of experience with these conditions.

I spent a small fortune bringing in the best loam I could get - it is DeLea Sod Farms 6-2-2 mix which apparently is used up and down the eastern seaboard in all the best golf courses (Bethpage Black, I think Augusta, etc.). The mix is 6 parts sand, 2 parts topsoil (their blend) and 2 parts Dakota peat.

I had the soil tested; the CEC is pretty good around 6 and the OM is about 2%. The soil holds water very well but also drains well; both important qualities for a golf course. They claim that when they mixed it richer they had drainage problems. My base looks very similar in the Logan reports but has a remarkably different feel (the DeLea loam has a nice dark rich feel with great tilth, while the base looks like coarse Long Island Sand).

We trucked in 130 yards over around 9,000 sq. ft. of plantable (site is 12,000 sq. ft.), the first layer was rototilled into the base to try to avoid a barrier (the DeLea loam goes down 18-20" before we get to the base).

Today it was seeded it around 2.5 lbs per thousand by hand, and top dressed with about 18 bags of PennMulch, then rolled. There is also Scotts starter with Tenacity mixed in.

I was too busy at work so I didn't even get the pleasure of putting the seed down but my landscape contractor is a pro at this (he does a lot of work of the DeLea family and has a degree in horticulture).

Here are some pix; hopefully I'll get decent germination before the weather cools off. I doubt I'll get even one cut in this year as Bewitched is a very slow starter.


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Area just before seeding/fertilizer/penn mulch and roll.
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Watering in about an hour later.
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turf_toes
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by turf_toes » September 20th, 2016, 9:47 pm

Wow!


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jglongisland
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 20th, 2016, 9:50 pm

TT - how is your Bewitched backyard doing as compared to the front?

jglongisland
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 20th, 2016, 9:52 pm

Oh, and I have about 40 pots going along the edge in the beds for repair work.

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andy10917
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by andy10917 » September 20th, 2016, 9:53 pm

Barring a cold Fall, I think leaf litter may offer you the biggest challenge. I studied the DeLea stuff when you PM'ed it a few weeks back. Awesome stuff.


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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » September 20th, 2016, 10:05 pm

NICE!!

Yeah thise leaves are going to be coming down as the turf germinates.

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tlinden
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by tlinden » September 20th, 2016, 10:17 pm

Impressive! I'm interested in seeing your results!

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turf_toes
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JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by turf_toes » September 20th, 2016, 10:22 pm

Hey JG,

The color difference between blueberry and bewitched has evened out. There was a short period in the spring where the bewitched was a bit darker.


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ligrass
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by ligrass » September 21st, 2016, 12:14 am

Nice, congrats! Subscribed. This is going to be special.

Curious, how deep can KBG roots grow?

Also did you run into any major tree roots during the removal of the old soil?

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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 21st, 2016, 6:49 am

We didn't remove the old soil, just moved it around. There is a 4-5 slope from the north down to the south, so the base was relocated and then the loam was brought in.

It was interesting that this super expensive soil didn't look so special in the soil report. I expect it is the texture and the dekota peat that makes it so good (I hope).

Leaf litter is definitely going to be an issue. In six weeks it will be everywhere.

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LeftField11
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by LeftField11 » September 21st, 2016, 7:19 am

Looks really nice. I'm interested to see if anything other than grass sprouts out of that super expensive soil.

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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 21st, 2016, 9:28 am

There have been a few sprouts of crabgrass over the past 3 weeks, I'm hoping for a clean germination.

The seedbed is gorgeous, I could never have done that myself. 3 guys spent an entire day on it yesterday with another 3 giving it 1/2 day of work (smoothing/flatting/rolling/spread, etc.). In the morning the other three were finishing up the mulch.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » September 21st, 2016, 9:31 am

I wanna see some root profile pics in a couple years.

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BoatDr
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JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by BoatDr » September 21st, 2016, 9:56 am

Great googly moogly. You don't fool around ! Just when we think you've settled down, you go an up the anti by a factor of 10 !
Congrats on the next chapter.


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jglongisland
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 21st, 2016, 10:06 am

My wife went a bit crazy with larger beds which I was trying to avoid as the beds take much more time to maintain then lawn. Entire property is 1/3 the size of my old one; the goal was to move to a spot where I can do all my outdoor work in less time (with other motivations as well).

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nclawnguy
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by nclawnguy » September 21st, 2016, 10:12 am

When are you going to start planting in the beds? I do agree that maintaining beds are more work than grass.

jglongisland
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 21st, 2016, 10:28 am

nclawnguy wrote:When are you going to start planting in the beds? I do agree that maintaining beds are more work than grass.
In the spring. The guy who did the work is great but expensive. The rest is on me.

I'll mail order a lot of the perennials and will grow all the annuals myself (there is a room the basement that I built for growing my annuals (sink/drain in floor, outlets along the walls, etc.).

With the loam I brought in I can dig most of the holes with my hands.

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BoatDr
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by BoatDr » September 21st, 2016, 10:34 am

jglongisland wrote:My wife went a bit crazy with larger beds which I was trying to avoid as the beds take much more time to maintain then lawn. ).
Yeah, you kept it conservative at 130 yards. [FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY] ROTF


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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » September 21st, 2016, 10:49 am

jglongisland wrote:My wife went a bit crazy with larger beds which I was trying to avoid as the beds take much more time to maintain then lawn. Entire property is 1/3 the size of my old one; the goal was to move to a spot where I can do all my outdoor work in less time (with other motivations as well).
Yeah, I get it - blame the "crazy" lawn habits on the wife. :no:

It's ok. You're in a safe space. :wave:

I have three kids.

"Dad, can I have a chore to earn some money?"

"Go weed the beds."

jglongisland
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Re: JG LI's new house seeding...

Post by jglongisland » September 21st, 2016, 11:02 am

HoosierLawnGnome wrote:
jglongisland wrote:My wife went a bit crazy with larger beds which I was trying to avoid as the beds take much more time to maintain then lawn. Entire property is 1/3 the size of my old one; the goal was to move to a spot where I can do all my outdoor work in less time (with other motivations as well).
Yeah, I get it - blame the "crazy" lawn habits on the wife. :no:

It's ok. You're in a safe space. :wave:

I have three kids.

"Dad, can I have a chore to earn some money?"

"Go weed the beds."
Mine are now 19 and 15, no help coming from them. I also drank the kool-aid (google "Shomer Shabbat") so I can't touch a weed on Saturday, let alone start a mower. The clip from the Big Lebowski is great.

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