all. Over the years the backyard has got pretty overgrown with unpleasant plants and such. Weeds, crabgrass, nasty vines, etc. We want to rent a tiller and tear up the first 6-8 inches of growth to reestablish a proper lawn. Can anyone offer experience, opinion, or wisdom? Many kind thanks!
Asked
Active
Viewed 59 times
1 Answers
2
If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the good news is that fall is the right time to seed a lawn.
You should start by going out as soon as possible and taking samples for soil testing, and get the test results to guide what you may need to do to ensure success - in my area liming is pretty much required for a happy lawn, in other areas that might be a bad thing. Being overtaken by weeds is usually a sign of poor soil conditions which weeds tolerate much better than "nice grass" does.
You'll need to rent the tiller probably 3 times - first to till whats there, second and third at about 2-3 week intervals to do shallow tillage of the weeds that will sprout. Correct any grading issues before you seed - such as making sure that the ground slopes away from the house by at least 1 inch in 8 feet to reduce water infiltration issues. Beware of poorly buried sprinkler lines (if any) or landscape lighting wires - those should be deep enough that you won't till into them, but often are done in a substandard fashion.
The high-budget quick route is sod, the lower budget method is seeding. Choose a seed mix appropriate for your area and whatever you think a proper lawn is (I'll now stand up and be counted as someone who thinks that white clover is a GOOD thing in a lawn - or AS a lawn.)
Ecnerwal
- 22,158
- 22
- 49