The picture in the first post should do most of the talking, but for anyone interested here are a few more details of how we got here, where we are, and what is next:

– The general health of the grass has dramatically improved.  The amount of rainfall we have gotten this winter along with the cooler temps is definitely a contributing factor, but we have put in considerable work and cost starting back in December up until now to ensure that this healthy turf ‘sticks’.

– The broadleaf weed concentration is relatively low.  There is still a good bit of clover but that isn’t a bad thing.  The dormant grass (gold & brown color) is dramatically yielding to rich green. The fertilizer applied in December is a time-release deal and is keeping everything healthy.  We shouldn’t have to fertilize again until the Fall of 2024, but there are some additives that we will probably deploy later in the Spring.

– The ‘additives’ are a post-emergent fertilizer that was donated by Site-One Landscape Supply.  We don’t have enough of it to use it on the entire LZ but we will deploy it in areas that appear to need it the most.  We also have a spray called ‘Moisture Manager’, this is a product that helps the grass retain it’s water absorption to keep it healthy in the very hot summer months.

Overall, we are looking really good.  The new seed should germinate and sprout from late March through May so our green level plus turf density will increase more.   The nutrients we have added along with the spike-aeration should help keep the grass greener, longer.  I can’t promise that we won’t get singed in the summer, but I firmly believe we won’t be landing on dirt patches in the summer heat.

Future plans for LZ care: in mid to late April we will deploy the remaining bags of fertilizer that were donated by Bill Blackman from Site One Landscape Supply. These bags are ‘post emergent’ nutrients that will help ensure good levels of soil supplements to keep the grass healthy through the hot summer. Towards late May/early June we will be spraying a liquid supplement called ‘Moisture Manager’ on areas that start to experience yellowing from heat or lower irrigation coverage. This product helps regulate moisture absorption and prevents water loss during hot weather. (It has what plants want! It has what plants need!)

The above photo was taken Saturday, May 25th after mowing.  Gopher activity is at a minimum and restricted to North edge of the grass by the road.

The obvious sore spot is the big yellow area close to the PG Kiting corner.  A huge thanks is owed to Owen Morse for helping troubleshoot the issues he found and resolved with the irrigation system.  We discovered an error in the program for Zone 4 and corrected it.  Zone 4 covers that area that is yellow and while it was functioning (kind of), it was only spraying that area for about one minute every night the program was running.  We had a really wet winter and spring, but now that excess moisture in the soil has been depleted and we are seeing the effect.  With the fix done to the program cycle Zone 4 should now get a full 15 minutes of water when the program runs every night.  Hopefully we will see improvement within a week to 10 days.

Owen, Jamie, and I also replaced a few damaged solenoids to correct issues with Zones 5 & 6.  Several other sprinklers have been replaced due to damage (at least 5) and about 10 sprinklers have had improvements made to the spray pattern so we aren’t wasting water over the edge into the weeds and keeping it on the grass.  Two weeks ago Owen discovered that Zone 1 (the far Southeast corner), wasn’t even running in the program.  Since that was corrected we already see the green level back to normal in that area.

In Zone 9, the sprinkler that is closest to the Pavillion in the corner by the road, has been adjusted so that it tracks from the front edge of the turf over to the road edge – it won’t be spraying into the corner of the Pavillion anymore!