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For those that like the short version: today I seeded a 1,250 sq ft area.

Long story: Last year we built a home and I started in the fall with getting the back yard planted, see that post here... viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25441&hilit=Devildawg81

Between our house/driveway/sidewalk sits a 1,250 sq ft patch of yard that was still just hard dirt and weeds. A couple weeks back I sprayed RU and scalped it down. I then had 6 yards of pulverized top soil delivered to spread and level out some waves.

I know the risks seeding in the spring. My wife and I both have been working from home, and being here gives me control and time to get out and ensure watering throughout the summer. Also, I want real turf growing over there to hold soil in place. If it takes this fall I can focus on a larger Reno I’ve already started prepping for in the back.

I’m a couple days behind when I wanted to seed, but this afternoon I got to work. Here’s everything I did...

1. Sunny Blend from SSS spread out.
I had some leftover from last fall but bought some more as I’ll be doing a larger Reno this fall.
2. Seed rolled in
I need to invest in a proper roller.
3. Tenacity sprayed
4. Peat moss spread
Last fall I used straw and was not a fan. In the back, the weeds weren’t as bad but in the front they’re too much for my liking. Also, over the winter I purchased a peat moss spreader. Today I was really thinking this was going to be the secret weapon, but I didn’t have a lot of luck with it and ended up reverting to spreading by hand.
5. Sprayed tackifier
I read into tackifier and this section has some slope to it, so I gave it a whirl. I mixed half a dose into a four gallon backpack sprayed and it still gummed up my fan nozzle after a few passes. I ended up switching nozzles and sprayed 2.7 oz of tackifier mixed into 8 gallons of water over the peat moss. I’ll report back how this works.
6. Scotts Starter Fertilizer spread
7. Hooked up my timer and three home made sprayers and started watering.
8. Opened Coors Light and enjoyed watching the sprinklers go to town and my daughters trying to run thru what streams they could.

More to come.

Best of luck, Dawg!! Later Spring renovations are challenging - I hope it works out well.

Thanks Andy, I appreciate it. I wish I had before pics, this area was extremely rough looking. I’ll have to see what I can find. A few weeks back we had a mother rabbit give birth to babies in this same area so that delayed things and then last week the overnight temps dipped into the upper 20s which scared me from planting. I told my wife today it’s pretty late for doing this but I’ll apply what knowledge I have to see what we can do.

Mother Nature won last night. We received 3.5” of rain yesterday. I didn’t have a total washout but I certainly have reseeding to do.

I am so sorry for your loss.

Dchall_San_Antonio wrote: ↑

May 22nd, 2020, 7:05 pm

I am so sorry for your loss.

Thanks. We ended up with 5.5” of rain since Monday. The sun finally came out today, and I’ve reseeded and dropped more peat moss.

Here’s to Round 2!

Reapplied tackifier this afternoon. I don’t have an opinion on it yet.

Anyways...here are some bambino’s popping through.

This would be Day 9 from my original seed down date and then a couple days after we had the wash out. I’m happy with the germination thus far. The Tenacity app is working as well. There’s some low spots I missed but I don’t want to go walk on the area now.

I’m currently watering 3x per day, at 12 minutes per sprinkler. Temps are close to 90 the last 3 days and will remain that high until Friday.

Pic was taken about five minutes ago...

Let's hope that the weather holds up and the temperatures don't complicate your efforts. 90 degrees regularly is a challenge!

Thank you sir, I’m hoping as well. This certainly has me nervous.

I know about when it gets hot in Columbus -- I lived there (N Fourth and E 13 St)

andy10917 wrote: ↑

May 26th, 2020, 6:51 pm

I know about when it gets hot in Columbus -- I lived there (N Fourth and E 13 St)

Oh wow close to campus/fairgrounds...it's amazing how much that area has changed in just the last 10-15 years.

Today would be day 12 from original seed down date. I had a small sliver of the reno I had to throw down more top soil to level out a washout run. We were supposed to get storms today so I had been waiting for those to pass. They never came, and another lesson learned from this is to have the timer somewhere I don’t have to walk on the turf to change settings. No idea why I left it right by the spigot. I’m seeing some tillering, and temps are to be in the low 70s the next few days which is great.

Here’s Day 12 pics...

Day 18 from original seed down date. Things are filling in nice, I do have some bare spots and a lot of weeds. That was to be expected. I'm happy with how it is filling in. We're due for some storms tonight I'm hoping everything holds firm at this point. High temps close to 90 I'm still water 3x day and hand watering some areas.

Day 22. Yesterday was a good break from the heat, high only got to 80. I’ll be mowing at some point this week. I have certainly got weeds I’ll need to address.

This afternoon I gave the site its first hair cut. Today is Day 26. I took the blades off my Honda and sharpened them, cleaned out the deck to give it as clean as a cut I possibly could. Temps have cooled and will only be 70 tomorrow, I’ve backed off watering. I have a lot of weeds, and I would like to hit them with Tenacity but due to the heat it’ll likely have to wait until fall. I do have Serenade and will get into some regimen

Today is Day 30. Weather wise it’s been seasonable, but the hot temps return at weeks end (90+). Overall I’m satisfied despite the weed pressure.

Day 42, I dropped a light dose of Milo and watered it in. We’ve gotten pop up showers almost daily so I haven’t ran the sprinklers all week until today. Highs will be 90 for the foreseeable future so I’ll be have said sprinklers running unless we get rain

Nice job! Lookin' lush.

Dargin wrote: ↑

June 28th, 2020, 7:51 pm

Nice job! Lookin' lush.

Thank you!