Awesome building and space! I know this is a garage forum but do you mind telling what all materials you use on your lawn? pre/post emergent, seed, and fertilizer?
Thanks for stopping by. First off, go to your counties agricultural extension agent or agricultural services group and have them test your soil. I have done that every few years. Early on, since my lot was mostly wooded, I had to put down a lot of lime. Now I only have to use lime in the fall. I generally get all of my supplies from Southern States. If you don't have a Southern States, they are an Agricultural Coop and very similar to a Tractor Supply. They lean more towards a feed and supply store than the commercial Tractor Supply. I also utilize amazon for my liquid chemicals if SS doesn't have them.
Fall: I start in mid to late September with mowing lower and lower. I normally mow at 3.5-4 inches and move that down to 2.5-2.0 right before I aerate. I will aerate in the last 2 weeks of September. I usually go over the yard twice. I have to wait for the fall rains to soften the yard so that the aerator isn't just bouncing on top of the ground. My yard is 55,000 square feet, so I use 6 40lb bags of lime. I usually put all of my chemicals out between rain and a potential storm. I try to beat any of the hurricanes that we may get to let them do the watering for me. I then will put out 6 50lb bags of fertilizer. Again, I usually buy the SS house brand of fertilizer usually in a 12-4-14. One of my buddies who owns a landscape company told me the rule of thumb is 50 pounds should cover 10,000 sq ft. So, I have always bought the same amount of bags every year. I know there is a formula out there to calculate it exactly based on the Nitrogen, I think, but I just listened to my buddy. Then I over seed with 50lbs to 100lbs of Fescue Seed and another 50lbs of Perennial Rye. The Rye will come up quick and then the fescue will come in a little slower. I get the rye grass from my buddy, who gets it from a commercial landscape supply, like SiteONe. The fescue is usually the commercial blend from Southern States. They also have a southern blend formulated at NC State that is geographically specific to our area. I used it for the first time this year and it was supposed to be heat and drought tolerant, spoiler alert, it wasnt. I used to top it all off with straw or the straw mats, but after a bad experience, I switched to peat moss. I borrow a peat moss spreader and cover all of the seedlings with a light layer and then add water. I will wait a couple of week and then address any spots that dont take root. I will usually tear up the soil with a cultivator and then add more seed and peat moss.
Spring: The Spring is basically the same, except, no Lime. Usually beginning in Feb or early March. I try to time it so that all fertilizer is down before the ACC basketball tournament. Can you tell I live in NC? I think I use a 24-8-16 all in a slow release pellet. I use a fertilizer with preemergent, again usually a SS product that has Barricade in it. Unless, my buddy has some leftover from a job or two. He will often just drop off some leftovers for me. For a post emergent, I will use Tenacity with a Surfactant in a 20 gallon pull behind sprayer. I get that on Amazon. I usually do that in April/May depending on the weed growth and the health of the lawn. I don't want to do it too early and hurt the yard, but not too late either. It really just depends on the weather.
In general, I try not to do too much seeding or repair in the spring and summer and just wait until fall to fix it for the next year. This year I have some areas that really took a beating with the heat and lack of rain. Those areas may get tilled and some compost/topsoil added in before I do the seeding.
Also, I dont buy anything for my yard at a big box store. I use mostly Southern States(Co-op) for the seed and fertilizers or my local landscape supply place for my mulch and stone. Those are both locally owned and I have been going there for years.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.