Re: Lawn Prep

Posted by Steve-Mid MO on September 05, 2004 at 21:53:53 from (65.41.222.86):

In Reply to: Lawn Prep posted by Randy R on September 05, 2004 at 08:38:29:

Sorry about my late response but I just got to the computer and saw your question. I put in a 1-acre lawn on our new home 8 years ago and it turned out great.
If you have the time and can put in a lot of labor don't hire it out. Contractors and
even lawn care businesses just want your money and don't give a hoot about how well the job is done. We moved in April and of course we wanted a yard and it was spring so I hired the
contractor for an exra $1,000 to put in the yard and after 1-day of work I told him the deal was off and he could keep the house. The contractor had used a bobcat scoop to level the soil and then by hand they were throwing grass seed out. I WAS FURIOUS! There were rocks the size of books, 2x4 pieces, no soil bed, and clods of dirt the size of shoes laying around. The contractor gave in and I did the job in the fall myself.
I mowed down all the weeds, used a 9N ford tractor with an 8-ft drag disc and worked the soil up good. I added 3 dump-truck loads of horse manure with aged sawdust (don't use fresh sawdust cause it'll sap the soil of nutrients). I spent days picking up construction scraps and rocks by hand, should've got a rock rake. I put a 1-section harrow behind my riding lawnmower to level it. Then used kentucky tall fescue with a push broadcast spreader. Covered it twice
at different angles. Also used a tiller and hand rake in spots close to the house, sidewalk, driveway, trees, etc. Be sure to get seed that has a tag with the weed amount and germination rate posted. I found a farmer who sold it for 30-cents a pound, great price, great seed. With seeding, I added a starter fertilizer with the broadcast spreader.
I then used the riding lawnmower with old box springs from a bed to mix the seed in just slightly with the dirt. With help from family we spread by hand about 100 bales of straw to cover it. Straw is crucial. It keeps the seed moist acting as a mulch and later is returned as nutrients to the soil. We then watered lightly every other day to keep it moist until it came up. We kept it watered then the next summer.
August is the best month in the midwest for preparing a lawn and then have it seeded by labor day when cool fall weather arrives. You can still put in a lawn though but warm fall weather helps. Fall is much better than spring because the heat in the summer in Missouri will kill a new lawn that's seeded in april. A lawn can even be seeded in warm february weather here. If your yard is big, like ours was, I would suggest breaking it down into projects. We prepared our seedbed over the whole area but
seeded and strawed over a 2-week period in 3 seperate land pieces to ease the workload. I know this got long but hope it helps.

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