Like any lawn, this one is a work in progress, especially the front lawn.
The front lawn has suffered through several traumatic events, including two rounds of grading that required the sod to be removed and reinstalled.
The back lawn hasn’t been ripped up quite as much, but did go through some major changes when the addition was built in 2007 and when a black walnut tree was damaged during Hurricane Ike and later removed. It could use a round of grading itself.
Notes:
2013
Hired Scotts Lawn Service in an attempt to help rid the lawns of weeds, especially the front lawn.
April 22: Bought 50 2 cu ft. bags of Absolute Black mulch from Ohio Mulch $265.27 (including $49 delivery charge)
2014
Scotts treatments seem to be paying off. Trying to patch a small area in the front yard where the ground dropped in (probably where there were rotting roots from where a tree had been removed from the yard).
March 29: Bought 60 2 cu. ft. bags of Ultrafine Hardwood (black) from Whetstone HS Athletic Boosters $237.
2015
Continuing to use Scotts. Aerated the lawns in the spring (AK Irrigation package). Scotts identified yellow nutsedge in the lawn.
2016
Had 60 2 cu. ft. bags of Absolute Black 1952 mulch delivered from Ohio Mulch $246.59 (including $49.99 delivery charge); bought six more to finish (mainly because I mulched under the shrubs at the south edge of the driveway).
Aerated the lawn in the spring (AK Irrigation package).
Sprayed the front lawn for nutsedge in early June.
Fed all flowering plants (except Salvia) with Scotts Miracle-Gro on June 12.
2017
Areas in the front yard should be sprayed for grubs in the early spring. There appeared to be grub damage in some areas late last summer. May also need to patch some areas.
The area where the tree used to be probably needs to be compacted somewhat again and another bag of topsoil added.
2018
The most notable thing done in 2018 was changing lawn treatment companies — making the switch from Scotts to Spring-Green, which is being run by the people who service the irrigation system (at about half the cost of the bigger names). There were two anti-grub applications applied — one early in the summer and another later. I also sprayed to kill nutsedge (for the second or third year).
2019