I think the garden thread has been interesting and useful so I thought I'd start one about lawns. As with gardening, I really don't have any idea what I'm doing but things are improving. Our lawn was a disaster when we moved in 3 years ago and I've been working slowly to bring it around. A new septic system had been installed prior to us purchasing the house so we had a lot of clay on the surface and probably a 50/50 mix of weeds and grass throughout most of the lawn.
In the fall of 2019 I tilled up and tried to smooth out and re-seeded our side yard which is probably 2-2.5 acres, I put down around $800 worth of tall fescue seed. The entire thing became overrun with weeds very quickly but the following spring once the grass was pretty well established I put some herbicide down and it's been slowly improving since. This year I've had an explosion of white clover that I haven't tried to deal with yet. I figure it's green and grows about as fast as the grass does so I've let it go to focus on other projects. I do plan to spray it again in the fall and try to kill as much off as I can then I plan to frost seed next year. The patches of clover have pretty well defined borders in a lot of spots so I may till those up and reseed this fall depending on how much time I have.
Shortly after we bought the house I came here for advice on a mower and Bocefus was a huge help (and has continued to be) and recommended a Gravely. I've got about 135 hours on the mower now and it's been great in spite of my best efforts to destroy it by running over things like big ratchet straps, hoses and extension chords. If and when I need another mower I'll be looking for another Gravely but I'm not convinced that'll happen for another 15 - 20 years, the thing is built like a tank. This was taken shortly after I bought it.
Last year I spread a decent layer of horse manure over our hay field and it was extremely beneficial. I may do the same to the rest of the yard this fall/winter.
Here's a pic of the side yard I took yesterday evening when I was almost finished mowing. It looks 100% better than it did a few years ago but it's still extremely rough. My long term goal is to get the grass established and the weeds eliminated then I want to start scalping the lawn once or twice a year and start applying top dressing to smooth it out. It'll take several years but I'll get done eventually.
So, whatcha got goin on at your place? At our old house I hated mowing, hated the yard and never made any progress with it mostly because there was zero topsoil. Now I'm on a mission but I am going to have a nice lawn eventually. I've been using GrazonNext herbicide which seems to work pretty well and the tall fescue seems to like the ground around here.
In the fall of 2019 I tilled up and tried to smooth out and re-seeded our side yard which is probably 2-2.5 acres, I put down around $800 worth of tall fescue seed. The entire thing became overrun with weeds very quickly but the following spring once the grass was pretty well established I put some herbicide down and it's been slowly improving since. This year I've had an explosion of white clover that I haven't tried to deal with yet. I figure it's green and grows about as fast as the grass does so I've let it go to focus on other projects. I do plan to spray it again in the fall and try to kill as much off as I can then I plan to frost seed next year. The patches of clover have pretty well defined borders in a lot of spots so I may till those up and reseed this fall depending on how much time I have.
Shortly after we bought the house I came here for advice on a mower and Bocefus was a huge help (and has continued to be) and recommended a Gravely. I've got about 135 hours on the mower now and it's been great in spite of my best efforts to destroy it by running over things like big ratchet straps, hoses and extension chords. If and when I need another mower I'll be looking for another Gravely but I'm not convinced that'll happen for another 15 - 20 years, the thing is built like a tank. This was taken shortly after I bought it.
Last year I spread a decent layer of horse manure over our hay field and it was extremely beneficial. I may do the same to the rest of the yard this fall/winter.
Here's a pic of the side yard I took yesterday evening when I was almost finished mowing. It looks 100% better than it did a few years ago but it's still extremely rough. My long term goal is to get the grass established and the weeds eliminated then I want to start scalping the lawn once or twice a year and start applying top dressing to smooth it out. It'll take several years but I'll get done eventually.
So, whatcha got goin on at your place? At our old house I hated mowing, hated the yard and never made any progress with it mostly because there was zero topsoil. Now I'm on a mission but I am going to have a nice lawn eventually. I've been using GrazonNext herbicide which seems to work pretty well and the tall fescue seems to like the ground around here.