Backyard renovation -- crossing my fingers

16 years ago

As many intrepid readers may recall, I had an unscheduled visit from Chemlawn in June (I'm not a customer); They applied a pre-emergent (barricade).

The company was very nice when I called to complain, telling me I didn't have to pay for it!

The half-life of this stuff is about four months. Unfortunately for me, I have the last half of my backyard still needing a renovation to KBG.

Well, not wanting to let the old Tall Fescue/Rye mix that remains in the last section of the backyard live for another year, I decided to beat the heck out of the dirt in that area to break the "barricade."

I cut the dead lawn at the lowest setting of my Toro SR Mower.

I used the slit seeder (it was a Classen, really a dethather with a seed bin in front) from Home Depot to beat the soil. I ran the machine at it's deepest setting horizontally, vertically and diagonally without using the seeder portion of the machine. The bare soil seemed pretty beat up with lots of grooves.

I raked up all the material and then Then I adjusted the machine to its highest setting and seeded in the aforementioned three directions. Finally, I used a lawn roller to make sure the seed is making good seed-to-soil contact.

Now I get to wait and see who is gonna win this fight. Me or the barricade (I think I'm the underdog in this fight -- but I'm hoping for a lucky punch.)

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Comments (11)

rcnaylor
16 years ago
I'm guessing nothing short of a tiller would've buried the stuff deep enough in two months to get full germ on KGB.

But, without resorting to full till, sounds like you have fought the good fight and done about all you can. What you did was about what I did to my hardpacked back yard last fall and the fescue I seeded came up strong.

Good luck.
User
16 years ago
My bet is that you'll be fine. They say four months, which means it's really about two. Slashing the soil got through that barrier, no trouble.

It pays to be positive.
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turf_toes
Original Author
16 years ago
I win!

It appears that my beating up the backyard with the slitseeder worked!

The first picture was taken on Day 1. The 2nd picture was taken at day 10.

{{gwi:110568}}

{{gwi:110569}}

I've got some bare spots still. But this seems to be a pretty good result for the 10 day mark with KBG.
parafly9
16 years ago
Sweet!

I should've done this earlier. I hahve a sinking feeling that Labor Day is just gonna be too late in the year to get a good growth before the winter.

We'll see I guess.
boatboy24
16 years ago
Great results for 10 days!

I'm sure all the moisture and cooler temps in the mid-atlantic this week have helped.

It's been nice, but back to the oven today!
turf_toes
Original Author
16 years ago
Parafly9,

Nah. You should be ok. I did my front and side yards two years ago on Labor day weekend and it came up nicely.

I just wanted to get an earlier start for this section. It will give more time to patch seed any areas that don't come in so strong.
subywu
16 years ago
Nice. I can see why you did the front/back separately--huge backyard!
turf_toes
Original Author
16 years ago
Here's the Day 17 update:

{{gwi:110570}}

The brown spots in the middle actually have little grasslings growing and look to be filling in nicely. They're just not mature enough to see from this picture.
boatboy24
16 years ago
Looking good!!
lutzd79
16 years ago
Turf Toes,

At what rate did you overseed your KBG? I am using a slit seeder tomorrow and just wondering what you recommended. I am putting down Award, Bedazzled, and Prosperity, which Bestlawn so graciously recommended. I have a lawn irrigation system that was just installed two weeks ago, so I plan on setting it to run 2 times a day for 10 minutes a zone. I am also core aerating tomorrow and actually considered broadcasting the seed then running over it with the slit seeder..it really is a dethatcher with a bin on top as well. Any thought?

Thanks
turf_toes
Original Author
16 years ago
I put down 4 pounds per 1,000-square-feet. (Though I know some here have applied at three pounds per thousand with good results too)

I actually set the seeder to seed less than that and made multiple passes. The end result was about 4 pounds per thousand. The reason I did this was to ensure good coverage and that I didn't end up with little seeding rows from going in only one direction.

I'm watering three times a day for about 7 minutes each. I should say I have watered at that rate. I think I'm now going to start watering twice a day for about 11 minutes each.

The actual time you water really is determined by the conditions you face. I would start with three times a day and then see how the soil looks after a couple of days. You just want to ensure that you keep it moist at all times (but not puddling).

Backyard renovation -- crossing my fingers

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rcnaylor

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