Landscaping Projects

[Jar11591]

@TnRiver46 I think the ones we had finally packed up and moved out from our yard. Can’t live under the shed any more so they probably moved to a neighbors shed. I’m finally able to harvest some vegetables!

[TnRiver46]

^jar’s hogs 

[Jar11591]

Last load of stone got dropped off. This project is ending up taking a lot of the summer thanks to Mr & Mrs woodchuck. 

7 more yards to move then I get to sit on my new stone patio and drink a beer. 

[casts_by_fly]

I think my groundhog has largely moved off.  I saw him twice in the last 3-4 weeks and he's staying on the fringes.  I think he's learned the rules so we can coexist now.  

 

The grass is in good shape.  The dog yard is growing in thick and filling in the spots that washed out in the spring.  I didn't expect the KBG in the mix to fill as much as it has but it certainly has filled in the chunks around the sidewalk that were bare.  I might not even need an over seed for the bulk of the yard this fall now.  I am dealing with some fungus though.  Around the 4th the temps shot up, humidity went up, I didn't turn the sprinklers down enough, and we trampled a chunk of it playing lawn games well into the night a couple nights in a row.  All of that meant damp, laid down fescue that didn't stand a chance.  I finally treated it a couple days ago and have since turned off the irrigation.  The brownspot has stopped so just need to wait for the fall and see if the KBG fills in enough.  

 

The other areas of the yard that were a mess are good and green now.

 

Now its time to burn it all down!  If my wife will deal with the mess and dead yard, I'm going to kill off everything around the pool and start fresh.  The grass there now is a mix of blends from the past 15 years I think.  I see everything from K31 and clumping fescue (1/2" wide dull olive colored blades) to some fine fescue that browns in the sun and the darker Rye that I over seeded with last year.  It doesn't blend at all.  It needs probably 5 tons of topsoil/sand to level it.  Its going to be a lot of work but a nice stand of 1" dark Rye would look amazing there so I want to do it.  I'll keep this thread posted if it happens.

[Jar11591]

Project is about finalized. Couple more wheelbarrow loads of stone to dump tomorrow and the project will be complete. 

This:

 

Is now this:

 

Finally done, woodchuck hasn’t shown his ass for weeks, vegetables are coming in great. I’m happy. It’s been an eventful (and exactly one) year at our new home. We’ve done so much work inside and out, feels good to have this project done and the patio ready to use. 

[casts_by_fly]

Very nice. That looks awesome.

[TnRiver46]

Great work @Jar11591

 

Is that privet on the fence??

[Jar11591]

Thanks fellas. 
 

@TnRiver46 I’m 99% sure it’s some type of privet. Non flowering type or something. Grows insanely fast. This fall I’m gonna cut it way back and down 

[TnRiver46]

Apparently they used it as a hedge/fence back in the mother land. I can cut it down on Tuesday at my house and it’s back for the weekend haha

[A-Jay]

On 7/23/2023 at 6:26 PM, Jar11591 said:

Is now this:

 

Looks really nice ~

Congrats

#prideofownership

A-Jay

[TOXIC]

I’ve gone about as far as I can with the home place.  My daughter on the other hand just moved into what we like to call a barndominium.  It’s a barn where the front 1/3 is a house.  She runs a horse boarding training and hauling business and besides the main barn attached to the house, she has another barn not pictured with some additional stalls.  The place sat vacant for a while and although the inside is quite modern with an upstairs connected with a spiral staircase, the outside was pretty run down.  Wife and I have spent a month weeding, trimming, painting and fixing the outside.  We are done for the most part and the wife will do a few more plantings to finish it up. 

[Jar11591]

7 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Looks really nice ~

Congrats

#prideofownership

A-Jay

Thank you sir. Ownership is certainly a huge responsibility, but it’s the good kind of responsibility and we’re having a blast. 

[A-Jay]

10 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Thank you sir. Ownership is certainly a huge responsibility, but it’s the good kind of responsibility and we’re having a blast. 

No doubt.

And no matter what anyone tells me,

grass just never mows itself.

?

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

Hey @A-Jay, I can see a mole moving the ground in your photo……….

 

just kidding looks great 

[TnRiver46]

Caught 3 groundhogs today. I’m not sayin, im just sayin 

[Jar11591]

@TnRiver46 you probably saved 3 gardens in the process 

[TnRiver46]

Caught another today. They were guilty of living in a barn but have been spotted close to the house and flowers a few times 

 

they now reside at the civil war fort that’s all kudzu over by my house hahah

[casts_by_fly]

'tis the season!

 

Grass growing season that is.  We've been blessed with a very mild summer here so the grass was never truly stressed.  If anything, I needed to cut back on watering because I had some fungus problems.  That said, things have been looking pretty good all year.  Until The end of august when I killed everything next to the pool.  It was a project I've had in mind for a while.  You'll see in the pictures that the level wasn't good.  I think the retaining wall was slowly moving out, plus its all been there for 15 years now (long predating us).  The sprinkler hoses and heads were very exposed in places.  It was lumps and bumpy all over, making it hard to cut evenly.  And there was a real mix of turf grasses, crappy pasture grasses, and noxious weeds like poa triv.  The only solution was a full renovation. 

 

 

 

I killed everything off in the middle of August, intending to level and seed labor day weekend.  With my mother in law passing we were away for a lot longer than I wanted.  When we finally got home two weeks ago I had 11 tons of soil/sand delivered and two days available to get it spread, leveled, and seeded.  It ended up being nearly 100 industrial wheelbarrow loads trekked 40 yards each way-- fortunately all downhill.  I managed the first 75-80 loads on friday afternoon and finished early saturday morning.  Leveling, seeding, spraying (starter fertilizer and weed preventer), and top coating took me another hour or two.

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, I was putting down a 100% rye mix which germinates and grows fast.  Six days after seed down I had the makings of some fresh new grass.  I'm now 6 more days on and about ready to cut it for the first time as its a solid 2" already.  There is still a long way to go, but at this rate I should be good and full well before winter rolls around.

 

 

[TOXIC]

Here we are in a severe water restriction. No watering allowed.  No washing vehicles.  All my grass is crunchy. 

[gim]

26 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Here we are in a severe water restriction. No watering allowed.  No washing vehicles.  All my grass is crunchy. 

An unfortunate outcome of severe drought. Been there, done that. Not cool.

 

I’ve received about 6 inches of rain here since Saturday. It’s made a significant dent in our drought and my lawn looks like a golf course again.

 

Farmers were just starting to harvest soybeans last week. Won’t be any crop harvest for a while now. Fields are very muddy and wet.

[casts_by_fly]

39 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Here we are in a severe water restriction. No watering allowed.  No washing vehicles.  All my grass is crunchy. 

that was us last year. No rain for two straight months. Maybe an inch over four months. The big lake dropped 25’ in the end.  After the first month grass was brown. After the second it was hay. By the end it was like walking on dry pine needles everywhere. It will bounce back. Some cool weather and a light rain will color it right back up mostly. 

[TnRiver46]

I love it when my yard turns crunchy and dies 

[gim]

44 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I love it when my yard turns crunchy and dies 

Somehow I knew you would feel this way.  lol

 

I personally would rather mow mine than water it.  Regular mowing means we are not in a drought.  Drought does no one any good.

[TnRiver46]

I’ve got 5 yards I’m responsible for so less mowing means more fishing 

[casts_by_fly]

15 days after seed down (roughly 10-11 days after germination) and I cut it yesterday. Some thicker spots and some thinner spots, especially looking down from

above, but not bad for 10 days of growth. In another two weeks it should be pretty thick. 
 

the same seed over seeded into the adjacent yard has thickened it up considerably