Advice On Re-Doing Yard?
 

I've decided to tackle my small but weedy, mossy, shady, lumpy, and generally irritating and useless lawn.

I have never done much lawn work beyond basic mowing, so can anyone give me some advice? I'll describe my general plan of work - would welcome any general advice, tips, steps I'm overlooking, etc. I've also underlined some specific questions.

My soil is rather clay-ey but pretty soft - not terrible, not great. Some initial digging shows some worms and not many rocks. Both yards are mostly shaded.

For the front "yard", which is only about 12' by 40', the goal is to get rid of the existing grass, improve and level the soil, then re-seed with shade tolerant grass.

Plan: Cut off the old sod (feasible with a hand sod cutter, or should I rent a powered one?), borrow my neighbor's rototiller and till the yard (right? I just sort of assume I should rototill it, but don't know why or why not), mixing in compost/mulch as I go (what would you use to amend the soil?), then level and compact the tilled soil (what is best way to do this? I assume rototilling leaves a too-lumpy and too-soft surface?), spread seed, cover w/ mulch, and water lovingly.

For the side "yard", which is barely 12' by 25', the goal is to get rid of the grass and create some planted areas with a central stone path. The kids want a chicken coop, but that's another story.

Plan: Cut off the old sod, rototill and mix, then lay down weed cloth and mulch heavily. I won't be planting right away - need to figure out what we want first - so hoping to avoid a mass of weeds and/or a giant mud pit in the meantime.

I will be installing a sprinkler system too, that is something I have done before.

sounds ambitious. I'm curious to see what advice you get.

A sprinkler system in Portland, OR? I thought you guys get lots of rain. :confused:

John, don't cut the sod by hand. You'll hate yourself if you do that. If you have clay soil, amend with sand and compost/organic matter to loosen the soil and to lower it's pH.

We have about 2 months of the year when it is hot (sometimes 95+) and dry, and all the grass goes brown. It is a moderate PITA to water by hand then, especially as we're often gone on vacation for a couple weeks during which time all the potted plants die. Its not worth it to pay for a sprinker install, but I can do it myself for a few hundred bucks including drip lines to the potted and hanging plants, which is sort of worth it. I admit, hardly anyone has a sprinkler system here.

OK, don't cut sod by hand. Can I skip the sod cutting entirely and simply rototill the sod to pieces? Or does that invite errant grass and weeds later?

John, if you're going to wait to re-plant anyway, why not just Round-Up the entire thing? Spray several times to keep everything dead, you can till whenever you want. Even when the pros come in and re-sod they Round-Up first. I believe it kills everything to the root, as opposed to simply taking the top off.

If you'll be re-planting, the sprinkler is key. I think that's a good call, because no doubt you'll re-plant during the only Portland dry spell in the last century. At least that's how my luck goes.;)

As for the soil treatment, seek out your county extension office. They typically do soil testing for a nominal fee, and will then advise you on what to add. Much better than simply guessing at what your yard needs.

Considering your situation, I would also find a good local lawn/garden store with employees that know their stuff. Typically they will carry products optimized for your area and can tell you when/how to apply them. Having someone that I can ask questions is invaluable, as I'm still learning about this stuff as well. This is my second spring in my house and I've taken my yard from crap to pretty darn nice, and I started out knowing nothing about proper lawn care.

I feel I can accurately and honestly comment on this. After breaking my back several unsuccessful times, I finally got it right and things haven’t been better since. I realize that things are WAY different in Florida but here is my list.

1 – Call sprinkler install guy
2 – Call SOD guy
3 – Pay them to do it

You will be very happy you did it this way.

Where's the fun in that?:p After two years of busting my ass overseeding, fertilizing, aerating, dethatching, etc I'm no longer embarassed of my yard. Of course, I could have had the same results in a few weeks using steps 1-3. But just think of all the fun car parts you can buy with the money you save!

Ha ha, I may not be conveying how small my "yard" is.

Using my reel mower, I can mow the whole front yard in <5 minutes. It is smaller than some of your garages. The only sport it is big enough for is a vigorous game of marbles. I mean, it is hardly more than some ornamental filler between the house and the sloped plantings. I just can't stomach paying someone else several thousand bucks to do this.

At least, not in the current state of the jyl economy. Bring back the evil Wall Street bonuses!

It was the best investment I ever made!!

add a couple more
4 - pay a fertalizer guy
5 - pay a bug guy (we have the mole crickets that will eat your yard in one season)

the bonus is that we dont re-seed here in Florida.

ohhhhhh - call a conrete man and have a sweet driveway

I'd hit the yard with round-up and then amend with compost and white sand. Till that collection a few inches deep. Leveling can be accomplished with a garden rake in tight spots and a harrow rake in the larger areas. A rake can be fabricated with a pallet tied to a chain, pulled behind a riding mower.

If you till when the ground moisture is too high, you will get clumps. The ideal moisture content will give you a powdered, well mixed surface that is easily leveled by hand. Too dry and you'll recreate the dust bowl.

Please note that round-up won't take care of any seeds in the ground. Any dormant weed seeds will come up when conditions are proper. You will need to address this later.

If you till up bermuda grass without treating with roundup, it will come back with a vengeance.

Too bad you're so far away. I could fix you up in no time. :)

No, Yes. Rent a sod cutter. :)

Remove sod, roto till 3-4 inch depth, put down a bag or 2 at the most of lime, level, roll it, seed it, roll it, water it, enjoy it.

I would use top quality topsoil and very little mulch. Mulch generates too much heat for some lawn seed while it is decomposing and it will shrink up while doing it.

I would not hassle with a water system for such a small area, but that is your call. These are great for most peoples needs, http://www.amazon.com/Nelson-Raintrain-Traveling-Sprinkler-1865/dp/B00002N6AN mine is over 10 years old and going strong with auto turn off.

If you do it yourself seed rather than sod is ideal. Its cheaper and comes back stronger the next season than sod can.Buy the seed from a local small nursery or such so you get the ideal grass for your area. Sod generally comes from sod farms out of the area. If you irrigate you have to install a back flow preventer. This can be expensive at about $250 for a 1 inch id. You can install the irrigation system semi permanent by using a garden hose with a quick disconnect to system with a cheap hose timer. A friend once told me you can have trees or you can have grass, rarely both.

Have you thought about pavers over the area, and landscape plants in a rock garden for around the edges and features?

We got the fake stuff:

http://www.heavenlygreens.com/ (Warning, annoying voice ad on page)

Looks like fresh sod. Kind of spendy, but looks good and is zero maintenance, and it will never die.

I redid my front yard last year. Here's my advice:

1). Hire a landscape designer. A plan shouldn't cost you more than $250 or so and it will detail all the plants and such you need to buy.
2). Hire out the heavy labor. Around here we have a plentiful supply of Hispano-Americans who are willing to work hard and work cheap. Doing things like removing sod, cutting in beds, tilling and such is NO FUN and well worth the $400 you will spend to have someone else do it.
3). Buy and plant the plants yourself. Landscape designers will mark up plant material at least 50% if not 100%. Much cheaper to buy the stuff yourself. For trees and such the nursery will often plant them for you for a modest fee.

Doing all this I was able to redo my front yard (without sod, I did that just a week ago) for about $4,000. The estimate to have it done by a landscaper with the same plan was $13000.

For sod I 100% suggest having it done. If you have a small yard, the cost should be negligible. I had my yard completely sodded in Tifway 419 this week for $1300. That included spraying Roundup on the old stuff, tilling it all up a week later, removing the old grass, leveling the yard and laying the sod. It sounds like your yard is very small so you should be able to get it done for less than $1000.

I'd suggest sod over seed. Sod is cheap and it looks good pretty quick. With seed, it'll take forever to get a good, thick stand of grass, maybe more than one growing season. Plus, you'll need to be more careful with it than sod while it's getting established.

Get a bunch of soil samples analyzed to get the soil pH right.

I wouldn't own grass without a sprinkler system but it will cost you a fair amount to install one, done right.

JR

Having done this at a few locations my best advice would be 1- roto-till the entire yard and pick out the clippings after they dry 2- do your best to level it and somewhat pack it down 3-soil test 4-either sod which I prefer or hydro seed if it is available in your area 5- with the sprinkler system your sod will take off fine 6- in the following year top dress and level any spots that did not take.

By following this you will have a healthy wonderful lawn