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Meet Shawn Wayne (DIY Dad) and Lawn Care Guru

Written by Naomi Meza

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Posted on March 23 2021

We're well aware of the awesome individuals in our Greenway Gardener community and decided to introduce you to one of them.

Meet Shawn Wayne: a do-it-yourselfer with a growing Youtube channel called DIY Dad.

As his Youtube name suggests, Wayne takes household tasks and repairs into his own hands to save money, learn new skills and teach his two young sons self-sufficiency. 

Among his household repair projects, you'll find his lawn care videos where he takes you with him on his lawn care journey - providing helpful tips along the way.
Read on to learn more about this ambitious lawn care guru and why he chooses to #GrowWithGreenway.

1. Greenway (G): Who Are You? What Do You Do? Where Are You From?

Wayne (W): I have been living in south east Wisconsin now for 22 years. I was born in south Florida and after living there for 10 years, I gained a deep love for lawn care, gardening, and flora.

Man pushing red lawn mower on green grass in suburbs
As my YouTube channel name implies, I am a father with two young boys and I love to teach them everything I can about being self sufficient and learning to fix something yourself.

2. G: Any Gardening Related Fun Facts About Yourself? 

W: In Florida, I lived on a dirt road on a huge, open property. My dad taught me how to plant sod, plant flowers and shrubs, and how to properly care for lawns and gardens.

When I moved to Wisconsin (why I left that warm state is anyone’s guess!) I needed to re-learn everything since not only was the climate different, but the grass type, the growing season, and the types of plants you can grow.

As a 10 year old kid I was completely shocked. Now, I am learning to plant a garden for food and learn some more self-sufficiency.

Having a family that goes through a lot of fresh produce every week, it can be very beneficial and budget friendly to learn to care for, grow, and harvest the most commonly consumed vegetables that we eat every week.

3. G: Tell Us More About Your Youtube Channel DIY Dad. How Did That Start and Why?

W: After moving into the house we are currently living in, the previous owners were in this house for 40 years and never did anything to it!

House with american flag

I found myself doing a lot of work around the house, improving things and doing small projects all the time, I thought it would be fun to document some of the progress.

4. G: What Content Do You Cover on Youtube and Instagram?

W: My YouTube channel focuses primarily on lawn care, but also anything DIY related as it pertains to home ownership, home improvement, and ways to fix things yourself to save money.

My Instagram loosely follows the same topics that I cover on YouTube, but smaller projects that I don’t always get around to making a video about. A lot of pictures of lawns, trees, landscape, and cooking too!

5. G: What Made You Decide to Delve Into the World of Lawn Maintenance?

W: The previous homeowners never did much of anything as it pertains to landscaping or lawn care.

Blood hound dog laying on grassy lawn
The lawn was a complete mess when I moved here and I wanted to make this a focus of my yard, since I live on a corner property to the entrance of our subdivision, I wanted the lawn to really be a head turner!

6. G: How Did Our Products Improve Your Lawn?

W: I was looking for very specific sources of concentrated nutrients where I would get a good price-per-application.

After a bit of research, I stumbled upon Greenway Biotech products on Amazon for a source of iron and nitrogen as separate products that I could custom mix to my exact needs.

After using these products for the first time I was very impressed with the quick results, so I decided to check out the website and I found a huge amount of specialty products available for just about any need!

7. G: Which of Our Products Do You Enjoy Using and Recommend for Lawn Health?

W: The Ammonium Sulfate 21-2-0 is a highly concentrated quick release nitrogen source that is sulfate based, and this was specific to my needs as my soil tests showed that I have very alkaline soil.

Sulfur is a great way to decrease pH in an alkaline soil.

I am also a fan of the Ferrous Sulfate (Iron Sulfate) for the same reasons, it is a sulfate-based iron source that is highly concentrated, so a little goes a long way!
Ferrous Sulfate (Iron Sulfate) Fertilizer
8. G: What Would You Say is the Biggest Mistake People Make When Caring for Their Lawn?

W: Not knowing the proper nutrients that your lawn needs is probably the biggest oversight.

I see people buying generic fertilizers from the big box stores without any idea how to apply it, or how much to apply, or if their lawn even needs those nutrients!

Getting a soil test will put you way ahead of everyone else in your neighborhood when it comes to lawn care, because then you can dial in exactly what your lawn is lacking.

9. G: Do You Have Any Tips for Those Looking to Improve Their Lawn?

W: My secret to a dark green lawn is frequent iron applications.

Since my soil is alkaline in nature, alkaline soils commonly suffer from iron deficiencies, so consistent applications of foliar iron applications really goes a long way with helping achieve a nice dark green lawn.

But GET A SOIL TEST!

Make sure you are feeding your lawn the proper amount of nutrients, you do not want to blindly apply products that your lawn does not need.

Also, mow at the proper height for your grass type.

Backyard lawn dark green with slide playset
Saint Augustine should be mowed around 4 inches, Bermuda can be mowed much lower.

Northern lawns, the easiest thing you can do for lawn health is to mow high, at least 2.5-4 inches, and MOW FREQUENTLY!

At least twice a week during the growing season. The lower you mow, the more frequently you need to mow. Do not cut off more than 1/3rd of the height of the grass blade at a time.

10. G: What is One Thing You Wish You Would’ve Known When You Began Your Lawn Maintenance Endeavors?

W: I wish I would have done more research into weed control when I first began.
When I first started lawn care, I was doing blanket applications of generic “catch-all” herbicides which did not target any specific weed.

This is fine if you have a lot of weeds in your lawn, but once you kill off a majority of the weeds in your lawn, you need to properly identify the type of weed you are dealing with and target it with the right herbicides that work best in your grass type.

11. G: What Can We Expect From You and Your Channel in the Near Future?

Home flower garden with white daisies and purple flowers
W: 2021 I plan to build a raised garden in my back yard. I will be branching out from my usual lawn care (lawn care will still be a focus in the summer months, don’t worry!), but look for more content about gardening, growing edible vegetables, and how to care for plants that you eat.

You can shop our DIY Dad approved fertilizers below. 

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