Feeling doomed and trying to plan
Posted: October 3rd, 2018, 7:12 pm
I've been reading on this site for a little while now, soaking in as much information as I possibly can. I feel like it has become my biggest hobby (is that good or bad?). All of you have been a tremendous resource. Unfortunately, I did not find this site before my second reno attempt, this fall. In its absence, I've followed pretty typical advice. But here is where I find myself....
I bought my house about 1.5 years ago. The house was a flip, and had been in really bad shape before. My understanding is the yard had never been cared for; whatever grew, grew. The renovators then used heavy equipment, which may have compacted some of the soil. They laid down grass seed and straw, but it didn't take particularly well, and the yard was very uneven, which led to me scalping certain areas while mowing. Last fall, i brought in supposedly high quality top soil to level things out and top dress, laid down high quality seed, watered religiously, and used a starter fertilizer. I wasn't thrilled with the thickness of growth I saw. Over the next few months, the back slowly thinned, until I basically had 50% mud pit, 50% grass back there. The front is patchy and thin, as well. So I followed what "experts" elsewhere had told me to do: plug aerate and overseed. My germination rate is probably as pathetic as possible right now. It's been plenty of time for the seed used (blend of creeping red fescue and tall fescue; last fall was all tall fescue). But I've seen almost no germination and no improvement from all the effort and cash.
I am trying to come up with a longer term plan to attack this. But what I would like is some advice from all of you. Where did I go wrong and what are my next steps? I know mechanical aeration is unpopular here; understood. I've already bought and mixed all the ingredients for KH and BLSC; today was the first application and I plan to do it weekly until I can get some improvement. Is my problem likely due to soil quality? Would top dressing have made a huge impact this year?
My other question is related to trying to wrap my head around all of this. I've sent away for a soil test. I plan to target those nutrients that need improving, and I will continue to mulch clippings and cut high. But is there realistically any chance of me growing a quality stand in the next 1-2 years? Or is the remediation likely to take significantly longer? It seems the most common issue is low OM. If that takes years to build, are any nutrient applications in the meantime wasted? Or does the OM just support a more sustainable system? If I can fight the nutrient problem in the mean time, so to speak, that would be great. I'm lucky in that I have a very small amount of grassy area, so money and time are of little concern. I'm willing to do this the right way. But I'd like to know what I'm up against as I get started.
I bought my house about 1.5 years ago. The house was a flip, and had been in really bad shape before. My understanding is the yard had never been cared for; whatever grew, grew. The renovators then used heavy equipment, which may have compacted some of the soil. They laid down grass seed and straw, but it didn't take particularly well, and the yard was very uneven, which led to me scalping certain areas while mowing. Last fall, i brought in supposedly high quality top soil to level things out and top dress, laid down high quality seed, watered religiously, and used a starter fertilizer. I wasn't thrilled with the thickness of growth I saw. Over the next few months, the back slowly thinned, until I basically had 50% mud pit, 50% grass back there. The front is patchy and thin, as well. So I followed what "experts" elsewhere had told me to do: plug aerate and overseed. My germination rate is probably as pathetic as possible right now. It's been plenty of time for the seed used (blend of creeping red fescue and tall fescue; last fall was all tall fescue). But I've seen almost no germination and no improvement from all the effort and cash.
I am trying to come up with a longer term plan to attack this. But what I would like is some advice from all of you. Where did I go wrong and what are my next steps? I know mechanical aeration is unpopular here; understood. I've already bought and mixed all the ingredients for KH and BLSC; today was the first application and I plan to do it weekly until I can get some improvement. Is my problem likely due to soil quality? Would top dressing have made a huge impact this year?
My other question is related to trying to wrap my head around all of this. I've sent away for a soil test. I plan to target those nutrients that need improving, and I will continue to mulch clippings and cut high. But is there realistically any chance of me growing a quality stand in the next 1-2 years? Or is the remediation likely to take significantly longer? It seems the most common issue is low OM. If that takes years to build, are any nutrient applications in the meantime wasted? Or does the OM just support a more sustainable system? If I can fight the nutrient problem in the mean time, so to speak, that would be great. I'm lucky in that I have a very small amount of grassy area, so money and time are of little concern. I'm willing to do this the right way. But I'd like to know what I'm up against as I get started.