Talk to me about re-sodding my lawn

[HIU8]

DH and I are considering having our lawn fixed. No real lawn to speak of in the backyard. It was forest literally. We had about 6 trees cut down and the brush hacked away at and tilled. We did not, however, have the wood from the stumps removed (after grinding down the stumps). So, wherever there was a tree, there is ground wood and no real dirt, so nothing grows. We have patches of grass, but nothing consistent. We really need to fix this. Also, the front yard is not grass either. It's basically a field of clovers.

Has anyone had their yard completely redone? I'm talking about killing everything, removing and adding soil and laying grass? I'm going to call around for quotes, but what type of cost am I looking at? My yard is 1/3 acre (total front and back).

[Tondi G]

My sister has a small yard and said that Sod was expensive. She only waited about 2 weeks and started walking on it, and letting her dog on it. A lot of her sod died... she had a lot of burned spots from her dog peeing on the grass and when sod dies it leaves the plastic mesh behind for you to catch your toes on. Our friends who re-sodded their yard were told by a friend who was a landscaper to put it down, water it a bunch and don't let anyone walk on it for a good month so it can establish itself. Their lawn in the back yard took pretty well. They only have one little tiny poodle so not too much pet damage to their grass. I guess you never know.

I would probably suggest you have the yard tilled and soil amended (have lacking nutrients etc. added) and then do grass seed. I've heard that Marathon grass seed is the best (thats what my moms gardeners told her, but that may be a So Cal thing). You still need to stay off of it for a while and water frequently to get it established but I think it's better than sod.

http://esoils.com/seedfertilizer.html

Good Luck

[kristenk]

I think that a lot of yard stuff is very dependent on your area. Around here, if you're trying to have grass in a shady area, your best bet is to use St. Augustine. You need to use sod with St. Augustine, b/c it doesn't grow well from seed.

We found out from neighbors that our house's prior owner removed a whole lot of smaller trees from the front yard. In the area where the trees were, the yard is horribly unlevel. Grass grows over it, but we have to fill in low spots with soil as the tree stumps/roots underground decay. It's sort of a pain. It's only sort of a pain b/c we don't walk over that part of the yard very much!

Definitely talk to a garden center in your area to get more info on the best types of grass for your area. Keep in mind that some types require more/less edging, water, and sunlight than others. A good place to start is by finding out what kind of grass your neighbors have. Does it look nice and healthy?

[wendmatt]

We moved to San Antonio almost 2 years ago and I see people getting new grass all the time. YOu can buy pieces of sod or buy it by the caseload. It looks like they till up the ground and then lay the sod, our next door neighbor just put new St Augustine in his and his neighbors front yard, then water regularly until it settles. Good luck, I have patches that need doing and just never get around to it!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I did the whole sod thing when I lived in FL. It took a while, but it was SO nice in the end. Several years later, I went back to see and it was still the best looking lawn on the street.

the process:
-killed the lawn
-sod company tilled it up (few weeks for those steps)
-bought all the parts for a sprinkler system
-my family came over and helped build/install sprinklers
-truckload of rich topsoil dropped off
-sod company raked a new layer of dirt over the whole lot (LOTS of guys worked on this)
-sod company brought in a truckload of sod and threw it down in a day
-set timer to water, kept everyone off it for the recommended time

I think talking to some grass companies in your area will give you the best info about it. Grass is so location-specific IME.

At my house now, it was kinda yucky, spotty grass that wasn't very good. I bought a groupon for a natural company to come do an aeration/fertilizing job. For an extra $100, they overseeded and did some other stuff to it. We had to keep it watered for a month (high water bill) and stay off it. It was kinda hard to stay off it with 3 DC, but that was the best time of year for the process. I noticed yesterday that it looks REALLY good this spring! Totally worth it!

[MommyAllison]

We tore our yard up to put in a sprinkler system a couple years ago. After all of the trenches were backfilled again and everything was flat, we had a barkblowing company come in and blow a compost/grass seed mix all over the yard. We had to water twice a day for the first couple weeks, then just once a day after the grass came up. The lawn came in really nicely, even though it was a pain to stay off the yard for 3 weeks. The compost gave the grass such a boost that we didn't even need to fertilize the next year at all. We started the lawn the day after Labor Day, which was the last week possible in our area due to frost dates. The cost for the barkblower guy was around $400 - we got it at contractor price because DH worked for a landscape company at the time - the yard area is around 3500sq ft I think?

Our neighbor down the street laid sod down for his front yard, and it does look good. I've seen a lot of poorly laid sod though, so I'd definitely make sure you find a good company.