By DoMyOwn staff
Paul's backyard has been seriously neglected for awhile. But that all of that changes very soon! He has plans on bringing it back to life, like he did with the front yard. But before he gets his plan underway, he talks about some of the things one should do to prep the area for the kind of plan he has in mind.
As the cool kids say on the internet, it's been a minute since we've been back here!
Yeah, I know. It's in pretty bad shape and I have seriously neglected this back yard. But I do have plans on fixing this and trying to make this look as beautiful as the front yard.
Do you remember in the last video when I said I did not spray my pre and post emergents in the back yard or on the side with Bradford Pears?
You might have noticed that I did not spray the side with my Bradford Pears or the back yard. And for good reason.
The reason for that is I'm planning on aerating and overseeding the entire back yard and on that side with some Tall Fescue.
I plan on going into further detail on why I'm doing tall Fescue back here and how to plant it and all that good stuff in another video. But what I want to do for this video is talk about what you need to do to prep the yard before overseeding.
And one of the very first things I need to do back here...well...
Step number one, drop the mower as low as it can go and scalp the yard down. The reason for doing that, I'm trying to get the most seed to soil contact as possible. The next thing I'm going to do, step number two, is I'm going to get my rake and go through and rake up any of the debris that wasn't sucked up and mulched by the lawn mower.
Step two, check! Step three, if you've got a moss problem get a sturdy hefty duty metal rake and rip all of that out.
If you'll remember, I most certainly had a moss problem back here and I've already taken care of that and I'm happy to report, I really don't have any moss left.
If you don't have a moss problem, get a metal rake, or dethatching rake or even better, a power rake and dethatch the area you're wanting to overseed. Again the goal is to get as much seed to soil contact as possible and if you've got a thick thatch layer, you're not going to achieve that. So going through and dethatching will allow for you to get that seed down to the soil and make contact with it, so that it can germinate and start growing.
Now for the reason I didn't spray a pre and post emergent back here to kill off any of the existing weeds, I didn't want it to neutralize my seed when I go to throw it down.
Most new seeds, once you've put them out in the yard, they need at least 30 days before you think about mowing or doing any kind of weed control.
So if at all possible, go in and take care of the weeds the old fashion way, rip them out by hand.
I mean it is in really sad shape right now. And one of the main reasons I haven't done anything with it is I've been having my siding replaced and all the construction items have been piled up throughout the yard. Matter of fact, right here was a huge pile of it. You can see where a lot of the grass has died from it being piled up there. But it's gone now. I can actually start formulating a plan, tackling this back here, and making this look as good as my front yard.
Also as a side note, and something that's kind of funny, after spraying my yard with my pre and post emergent mixed with my turf mark, my neighbors and my wife were complementing me on how wonderful and beautifully green the yard was. When in all reality, it was really just the turf mark that dyed it a nice beautiful green color. So if all else fails, you can mix up some turf mark in your tank, spray your yard and it will kind of paint it and make it look green for you!
The next thing that you're going to do, step number four or five, I don't remember which step I'm on. You're going to go into the area you want to overseed in and aerate like crazy. For me, the back yard, it is compacted like crazy now. But I'm going to hold off on aerating until I have my grass seed and I'm going to do both at the same time. Aerate and then throw down my seed.
But guess what? That's another video for another time!
The things I've done in this video, it's the low hanging fruit to prep us fro aerating and overseeding.
If you have any other questions about what I've talked about in this video, leave them in the comments section below, email the customer service staff, or pick up the phone and give us a call.
Next video, aerating, overseeding the back yard.
Hope that was helpful, I hope you liked the video. Hit the thumbs up if you did, and if you're not already, subscribe to the channel by clicking this button. You can click this playlist to see all the videos in the Do My Own Lawn Care series, and click this playlist to see all the videos in the Do My Own Gardening series.
And, I can't wait to aerate and overseed back here, also, thanks for watching!
