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oliverjround

New lawn questions

oliverjround
9 years ago

Hello everybody,

I have read a lot of old posts and have a pretty green thumb. I moved into a new house in July. The lady before had done nothing to the small lawn for 20 years, other than cut it too short and bag the clippings. There yard was over grown with large trees and many saplings. There was hardly any grass in back yard and even the weeds were sparse. The small yard backed to a steep hill. There was also a pile of DIRT running up the side of the yard, probably just dumped there from construction at least 10 years ago.

I had too giant trees removed that shaded everything and dangerously overhung the house removed. I had large branches from a third tree removed. The lawn now get a nice amount of sun all day and good direct sun for at least 6 hours in all places.

I killed everything with round-up. I did not bother to water the dead DIRT to sprout weed seeds and round up a second time.

A month ago I spent an entire weekend digging. Blister remnants are still visible on my palms. I cut out all the tree roots I could find. I turned over all the soil. I dug out the back hill 6 feet in by 30 feet wide. The lawn now goes back flat to a dirt cliff. I need to build a retaining wall. I leveled the side mound of DIRT and graded it all to have a slight slop away from the house and to the left. I know turning everything over is going to give me some settlement issues but I can fix that easily with topsoil.

I keep calling it DIRT because I have never seen anything like it. In my entire weekend of digging I found 3 earthworms and one white grub. I am used to working in soil. This was devoid of all insect life. There were some ants. I checked with the neighbors they have plenty of worms and a nice yard.

I decided to go with KBG. (I have dogs and they pee kill spots from time to time and I want something that will fill back in without me having to seed). I was going to order good seed but time got away from me and I wanted to seed the lawn the following weekend. Labor Day. So I compromised and bought the Pennington KBG mix. it should have

�Cadet Kentucky Bluegrass
�Brooklawn Kentucky Bluegrass
�Midnight Star Kentucky Bluegrass
�Royale Kentucky Bluegrass

I got it down on the Monday. I watered it well and low and behold I had some growth the following Sunday, 6 days for KBG!

I kept watering and one week after I saw the first signs of green I had a pretty nice looking seedling crop. I then fertilized with starter fertilizer. I did not walk on the lawn. It is small enough that I can throw handfuls all over by walk the perimeter.

A week later the grass is looking good!. Probably in "sprout and Pout" Some parts are thinner than others and I think this is to do with my seeding and racking the seed in technique.

Now the questions.

1. It is KBG, when will the sparser areas fill in?

2. Should I add a little more seed to those areas or I am I now too late in NJ?

3. When should I expect to mow it? I see when it gets to 2-3 inches. How long will that take at this time of year. I was not planning on cutting it or walking on in until Halloween.

4. Should I fertilize it again before winter?

5. When will it start to look like mature grass not just a carpet of seedlings.

6. What do you think of my longer term plan below?

So because I have DIRT not soil and I don't like to and will not be using chemicals long term. I am going to be trying to build soil going forward. I plan of using pre emergent next spring and a starter fertilizer. I might spot spray any broad leafed weeds for the first spring. Then no more chemicals. I am going to mow high and leave the clippings. I will try to mow in some compost every couple of weeks the first year.(I did not get a soil test and I probably never will) I have always had amazing lawns where ever I have lived used my mowing high and leaving the clippings, autumn leaves and adding compost.

7. Do you think the inside of the house was more neglected than the outside?................................

Thanks for any answers you all can provide.

Comments (10)

  • yardtractor1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    KBG needs to mature before it will start spreading. Usually significant spreading (daughter plants) doesn't occur until the third year. Spot seeding thin areas will be needed until then. In the Spring of the third year, mowing shorter 21/2 inches (until early June) can helpt promote spreading.
    You can drop fertilizer (starter) again around October 1st. Apply a high number urea (winterizer) after top-growth has ceased (sometime after the middle of November.)
    Keep in mind that pre-emergents and grass seed don't mix.
    Good luck.

    This post was edited by yardtractor1 on Fri, Sep 19, 14 at 10:09

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mid November-got it. Thanks.

    I was hoping things would thicken up this spring. I will add some more seed now. It is just sitting in the garage and maybe we will stay warm long enough.

    I know Pre-emergent and seed don't mix. If I apply next spring and my grass has been down since Sept 1st I have nothing to worry about.

    I will take some pictures this weekend and post.

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't have any good before pictures but if you peer through the windows you can see some of what I was working with. The third picture is my old lawn this year. I never had to water it. I just mowed high and mulch mowed all the leaves I could find. The leaves that I collected that I could not mulch in I composted and would periodically scatter over the lawn all year before mowing. If I went out at night with a flash light the ground would be crawling with earthworms. Like 5 or 6 a square foot. I had also had two dogs on that lawn. They hardly ever pee burned the grass and the poops would be gone in about a week. It was a fantastic microherd in that lawn. The last picture is the same lawn the year before from a the opposite direction. You can see my old dick neighbors lawn with all his weeds.

    I guess I am going to have to make multiple posts for the pictures

    This post was edited by oliverjround on Fri, Sep 19, 14 at 10:33

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    part of the hill and dead lawn area. got to look through the window

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Old lawn looking good. I miss it.

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Old lawn the other direction the year before showing bad neighbors lawn.

  • yardtractor1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No offense intended to you with my reminder regarding pre-m and seed. I mentioned it in case you considered dormant seeding and it's the reason I didn't suggest dormant seeding. :)

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you want to improve your soil, why are you waiting another six months? Why not start yesterday?

    Forget about compost. That stuff costs about $75 per 1,000 square feet - it does me, anyway. Whereas organic fertilizer (rabbit chow/alfalfa pellets) costs about $5 per 1,000 square feet. You can fertilize with alfalfa pellets 15 times before you spent as much as you would for one dose of compost. And the organic fert, especially repeated doses, will do a lot more for the soil than the compost will.

    Here's the progress of organic fertilizer
    Stone age to 1935 = animal dung manure
    1935 to 2000 = composted animal dung a la Rodale
    2000 to the present = ground up nuts, beans, seeds, and legumes

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I guess I misspoke about compost. I never bought it. Just the stuff from the year that build up in a heap in the back of the yard. I might spread some ground up cheap corn soon. Don't want to encourage chipmunks.

    Here is the freshly seeded KBG lawn 20 days after being sown.

  • oliverjround
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here is another shot of day 20. I have already got weeds. I still have a ton of work to do with the rest of the yard, but at least I have a flat area that drains away from the house.