Need Advice Sod

The grass in our backyard was pretty ratty when we moved in. We were thinking about ripping it out and replacing it with sod. Has anyone done this and know any vendors who could give me a price quote? I'd like to try to compare prices of a vendor vs. doing it myself. Half of our backyard is a landscaped garden, so I think we only have about 1000 sq ft of grass to do.

 

That's an extreme approach. I'd start by spreading compro over the entire lawn, re-seed in that, then work on killing the weeds. Is this a townhouse back yard or single family?

 

This is a townhouse. I really think there's more weeds than grass left, and there are plenty of dirt patches. I've tried reseeding, but the ground was so hard that the seed didn't really start growing. I figure since it already at least has to be tilled up a little to get any seed to take, why not replace the whole thing. It's a pretty small area.

 

I also have the same problem in our townhome backyard.

I tried reseeding last 2 years. But only some of them grow well. The soil is so hard.

 

I have the same problem in my townhome backyard, bare patches, weeds etc. I tried the grass seed but as someone already stated only some it grows in.

 

A townhouse backyard maybe small enough to cost justify re-sod. On the other hand, what you need is some topsoil on top of your clay. That's why I mentioned the compro. Compro has worked well for me in areas were I have clumps of grass, it helps fill in the gaps and evens things out. If you have large areas of dirt (clay) then you could try spreading several inches of a garden mix. That is a mix of top-soil, manure and sand. It's a very healthy environment for grass to grow. I buy it in bulk from a garden center.

 

On another note. After the snows and the dumping of road salt and sand, my median strip is covered with the road treatment stuff. I am worried about the pH value and wondering if it will hurt efforts to grow grass there. Any ideas?

 

Any recommendations for a company to do this work?

 

would sod work in the long run if put on top of shoddy builder clay soil?

 

We put sod down in our backyard last year, after it was dug up to put our patio in. We also tried to overseed other parts of the yard where the grass was spotty. The sod worked really really well, and the seed, although it grew initially, never really took hold the way the sod did.

We did put some topsoil and compost down under the sod, we also sprayed it with a fertilizer called "Worm Poop", and then we watered it a LOT for several weeks. We did it ourselves. The hardest part was transporting the sod, it can be very heavy and messy especially if it is wet.

 

If your ground is "hard" and you want to go the DIY route, I would suggest that you may want to rent a tiller (for extreme hard/clay soil) and/or an aerator. After you have loosened the soil place a very thin layer (about 1-2" in depth) of bumper crop, granulized ironite & top soil and than put seed down.

The reason for bumper crop/top soil mixture is this will make the new grass seeds take hold while adding fertilization for a deep rooting system. But the trick is to NOT over water, most people make this mistake. Over watering during the initial stages will prevent a deep rooting system

If you are looking for a company I would suggest the following:

Greenworks (in the Aldie/South Riding Area) ask for Beth, their Master Gardener http://www.greenworksgardencenter.com/contact.htm

American Lawn Brothers (as for Rickey Hoybach)http://www.americanlawnbrothers.com/

We have used both of the above mentioned companies for several years and have always been happy with the quality for their work & plants we have purchased.

FWIW - Ironite & Lyme is my little trick to our lush green grass.

 

Not very well... I'm planning on removing an inch or two of the clay, rotatilling it, then adding top soil, then sod. I'm not sure if companies that install sod typically do that and how much it costs.

 

I would bet you will have trouble finding companies for that kind of work... it sounds like a pretty small job. If your actual area of grass is like 20' by 15', then you will have to pay a lot to make this worth something to actually bring a crew for a whole day worth of work...

I am partly guessing, but you may have to pay more than it should cost.... this is not too hard of a DIY project. Also, there is a product called "clay break" I think, it is a granule that you can mix into the clay in your yard... it helps to break it down.

 

What he said. There are no shortcuts.

 

Anyone have success adding top soil as a top dressing? I recall reading about Pinehurst #2 explaining how the green complexes are now "domed" after decades of top dressing. It is also considered a design feature as it was left that way, but in reality it evolved over time. Not sure if this is exclusively after aeration/aerification but it would seem you could add several inches of top soil to your lawn if you did it in 1/4" or 1/8" increments over a few years. My grass is in pretty good shape, so I don't necesarily want to do anything drastic. Just trying to make sure it stays healthy.

 

We used pro lawn when we moved into our SF last year. The front yard was mostly weeds and bare spots and we had one large area that we could get nothing to grow in at all. They came out and did all the lawn weed applications etc during the spring and then in Aug came and slit seeded and compro on the entire front yard. I was very surprised to see how well the whole process worked (even the area that was bare is filled with lush green grass).
We had a lot of success with using them in our TH as well where we were having a lot of the same problems you described plus we had a hydraulic fluid spill in the back yard by the builder. Pro Lawn not only was able to neutralize the area but had green lush grass growing there with in a year.

Staci