Lawncare/Landscape Thread

[Beefsteak1138]

The aerator made some nice lines, makes me want to build a striper for my mower

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d37ca57429.jpg

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

The aerator made some nice lines, makes me want to build a striper for my mower

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d37ca57429.jpg

Once my lawn fills in I want one too. Always was fascinated with the stripes in the outfield at major league parks, I think it looks so damn cool.

[Beefsteak1138]

Long day yesterday....mowed, overseeded, put down starter fert then milo. I'm done with yard work for a while, besides mowing. Hopefully I see signs of germination by next weekend.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

Long day yesterday....mowed, overseeded, put down starter fert then milo. I'm done with yard work for a while, besides mowing. Hopefully I see signs of germination by next weekend.

I put down some milorganite on Saturday as well. First time doing a real solid, heavy application. That shit stinks!

9 days now after aerating/seeding, seeing some good growth but not as thick/full as I'd anticipated. I suppose it will just take some seeds longer to sprout than others, trying to have patience. Definitely looking a lot better than it did last week, though.

[Beefsteak1138]

Yeah, I've gotten to the point where I like the smell of it now, but it takes some getting used to for sure.

Sounds like you're in good shape only 9 days in.

[M. Steng]

Just really looking forward to like 3 or so weeks from now when (hopefully) it's much more filled in. It's nice seeing some early results especially after busting my ass so hard last weekend but I'm impatient and want to see the payoff right away

Hoping I'm on my way to killing those grubs, as well. Put down a second application of the Bayer 24-hour grub killer, going to do one more next weekend along with the Grub-X preventative treatment so that I can hopefully stop them before they bury deeper and lay their eggs.

[Beefsteak1138]

4 days in and we have early signs of germination. The weather has been good, but almost on the verge of being too hot, which I did not expect for this time of year.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

4 days in and we have early signs of germination. The weather has been good, but almost on the verge of being too hot, which I did not expect for this time of year.

Good stuff. Luckily you got it down when you did, at least now at 4 days in the seed has had enough time to germinate. Just keep that soil moist AF this weekend and you should be ok.

Put some more seed down myself yesterday after work in some spots where I wasn't seeing as much filled in as I'd hoped, mostly in spots where there was still a good amount of dead grass. Raked it out and really tried to loosen the soil up to give the new stuff a chance. Not pumped about the 85 degree weather this weekend from a lawn perspective, hope those little guys make it through the weekend

[GSUdawg521]

We gave a guy at work a hard time about Milorganite when he was first telling us about it a couple years ago. Obviously good stuff yes, but, ya know, it's the sewage produced by the fine citizens of Milwaukee

[scrock25]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

4 days in and we have early signs of germination. The weather has been good, but almost on the verge of being too hot, which I did not expect for this time of year.

I can't wait to come down there and piss all over your lawn.

[Beefsteak1138]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

We gave a guy at work a hard time about Milorganite when he was first telling us about it a couple years ago. Obviously good stuff yes, but, ya know, it's the sewage produced by the fine citizens of Milwaukee

It's actually the dried microbes that eat the sewage, but yeah, I just try not to think about it for the most part.

[Beefsteak1138]

Originally Posted by scrock25

I can't wait to come down there and piss all over your lawn.

If you do that, I will shave your beard while you're sleeping.

[scrock25]

Oh you sonofabitch

[M. Steng]

Despite the process by which it is made, after applying Milorganite this past weekend my front lawn is looking green as hell and has definitely helped new growth a ton.

[Beefsteak1138]

I'm actually a bit worried about the weekend because I will be out of town. I can set my sprinklers to run automatically, but I think I'm limited to once per day and I've been running them twice a day since I seeded.

[GSUdawg521]

Just got a price from my lawn treatment company for $495 to aerate and overseed. Any thoughts?

Two years ago I paid a guy in the neighborhood with a landscape company much less, probably less than $200, to do it. I had no real way of telling how good of a job he did. Several months later in the spring I started using the above mentioned treatment service and I thought my lawn was pretty good last summer. Then I did not aerate/seed last fall, and this past summer I was a little disappointed in my lawn. I wonder if it was connected to not aerating and if the guy in my neighborhood's job actually helped for that year.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

Just got a price from my lawn treatment company for $495 to aerate and overseed. Any thoughts?

Two years ago I paid a guy in the neighborhood with a landscape company much less, probably less than $200, to do it. I had no real way of telling how good of a job he did. Several months later in the spring I started using the above mentioned treatment service and I thought my lawn was pretty good last summer. Then I did not aerate/seed last fall, and this past summer I was a little disappointed in my lawn. I wonder if it was connected to not aerating and if the guy in my neighborhood's job actually helped for that year.

Depending on how big of a lawn you have, I'd say just rent the aerator and do it yourself. The machine is very efficient, I think it only took about 20 minutes to do both my front and back yard. I rented it for half a day for about $60. Seed and fertilizer should run you in the $150-$200 range (again depending on how big your yard is and how much seed you need). So you'd really only be out about $200-$300 to have someone else do it, all things considered. If you think that's worth not busting your ass for a half a day then it doesn't seem too bad to me.

[mHeiser92]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

Just got a price from my lawn treatment company for $495 to aerate and overseed. Any thoughts?

Two years ago I paid a guy in the neighborhood with a landscape company much less, probably less than $200, to do it. I had no real way of telling how good of a job he did. Several months later in the spring I started using the above mentioned treatment service and I thought my lawn was pretty good last summer. Then I did not aerate/seed last fall, and this past summer I was a little disappointed in my lawn. I wonder if it was connected to not aerating and if the guy in my neighborhood's job actually helped for that year.

Few variables to think about there... size of the lawn being most important. Also, the amount and quality of seed they are laying down. The amount and quality of seed will vary greatly from company to company. Also, add in the cost of them putting down a starter fert at the same time.

I used to work sales for a lawn company that did residential treatments and seedings. I would recommend asking what type of seed blend and how heavy they spread.

But of course, they are making some profit in there. If you have a 10,000 sq ft lawn or bigger that really is not a crazy price. And at that size of lawn it really can turn into an entire days work doing yourself.

[rconverse]

Originally Posted by M. Steng

Depending on how big of a lawn you have, I'd say just rent the aerator and do it yourself. The machine is very efficient, I think it only took about 20 minutes to do both my front and back yard. I rented it for half a day for about $60. Seed and fertilizer should run you in the $150-$200 range (again depending on how big your yard is and how much seed you need). So you'd really only be out about $200-$300 to have someone else do it, all things considered. If you think that's worth not busting your ass for a half a day then it doesn't seem too bad to me.

I guess none of us have all the facts but your seed/fertilizer costs seem pretty high, imo. Since he mentioned over seeding, I'm assuming he's already got a pretty decent yard going. That said, I'd venture it would be more like $100 for both the seed and fertilizer. I'd guess this could be done for about $200 or under unless he has some massive yard.

[Beefsteak1138]

Before
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b80277b7ac.jpg

After
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fb18ff9056.jpg

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

Before
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b80277b7ac.jpg

After
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fb18ff9056.jpg

Nice work! That lawn is looking great, Beefy.

I haven't had as much success patch filling as of late, though I did notice some serious improvement in the past week after raking out a shitload more dead stuff last weekend.

I've been meaning to post before and after pics but it is a serious work in progress still. Maybe I'll wait to do an after pic until the Spring so it will be a much bigger difference. Nevertheless my front lawn is looking much much better than before I aerated and all that.

[M. Steng]

Eh, fuck it, this was my mow today compared to prior to aerating about a month ago.

http://imgur.com/fp6DIMM
http://imgur.com/0DXhyXd

[Beefsteak1138]

Wow, nice Steng! That is a great transformation In such a short period of time.

[dre2142]

thats a really nice difference.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

Wow, nice Steng! That is a great transformation In such a short period of time.

Originally Posted by dre2142

thats a really nice difference.

Thanks fellas! I had a serious grub problem, now that that’s been nipped in the bud it’s growing much more consistently and fully. Also been keeping up with a good fertilizing routine which has really helped. Still some patches that need filling in but the encouragement means a lot, seriously.

[rconverse]

The weather has been so shitty I haven't been able to get any yard work done.

[Beefsteak1138]

Come on Raj. Excuses are like assholes.

[Beefsteak1138]

Last (hopefully) mow of the season.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a5b3c869de.jpg

[rconverse]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

Come on Raj. Excuses are like assholes.

I hear ya! When I posted that, it rained for like four days straight. I was finally able to get everything ready for winter.

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by Beefsteak1138

Last (hopefully) mow of the season.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a5b3c869de.jpg

Looks great beefy. Did you fert and/or weed and feed one last time before winter? I put the Scotts Winterguard down when I thought the weather was supposed to change over but that was like over a month ago already And it was basically summer-like temps until like two weeks ago. Wondering if I should hit it with some Milorg or other fert before it goes dormant for the winter.

Probably done mowing for the year. Hasn't grown much if at all since my last mow on 11/4. Looking pretty full and green though, certainly a huge improvement since I took it on as a project this past May.