[Hi5Sange]

'sup guys!

I'm planning to put plant out a new lawn for the backyard in a week or two. I wanted some suggestions before i do tho.

This was the area to begin with:



And this is it now:



I'm planning on borrowing a friends tiller to rototill the area so that i can at least level it out. I don't have it in the budget to buy that much compost to til in. I know itd be the best thing to do but it's not going to happen. Should i at least do a top layer of compost once the seed is down? (I should be able to do that much) or should it be ok with just lightly raking the seed in??

(I hope I'm making sense haha)

 

[J_nick]

What grass type do you plan to seed? I would recommend renting a Harley Rake/ Soil Conditioner instead of tilling the soil.

 

[Rockinar]

Unless you're a farmer growing potatoes...........

Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till

Whoever keeps telling people to till the lawn should be forced to spend their next 4 years repairing all the damage.

 

[Hi5Sange]

What grass type do you plan to seed? I would recommend renting a Harley Rake/ Soil Conditioner instead of tilling the soil.

I'm gonna go with Bermuda. My local Gardener Supply suggests common Bermuda because i have a rotary mower. I just googled "Harley rake" cause I'd never heard of it. Why do you suggest using this?

 

[Hi5Sange]

Unless you're a farmer growing potatoes...........

Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till
Do not till

Whoever keeps telling people to till the lawn should be forced to spend their next 4 years repairing all the damage.

Is it because of the dormant weed seeds? Or something else?

 

[J_nick]

The reason behind not tilling is because it is almost impossible to get a consistent depth while doing it. 3" deep, 6" deep, 4" deep etc. etc. when the soil starts settling your left with a lumpy lawn. The Harley Rake will be a consistent depth and level/smooth your lawn all at the same time. I used one in my renovation last year and would say it's the #1 thing I would not go without.

 

[Sbcgenii]

After reading about all the leveling with sand stuff around here I wonder if you could do that before seeding? I have tilled before planting a new lawn and can confirm it does not help with leveling.

 

[Hi5Sange]

Dang this is giving me some food for thought 🤔 I'll have to check out rentals in my area for the Harley rake.

Ok soooo let's say that renting the equipment is not an option because of availability or not fitting in my budget or something.... should i just go with what I've got and not til... or till, seed, and level over time with sand?

 

[Thor865]

I just re did mine. Level as much as possible before hand will save you headache in the future. Harley rake did well on mine.

 

[FATC1TY]

What grass type do you plan to seed? I would recommend renting a Harley Rake/ Soil Conditioner instead of tilling the soil.

I'm gonna go with Bermuda. My local Gardener Supply suggests common Bermuda because i have a rotary mower. I just googled "Harley rake" cause I'd never heard of it. Why do you suggest using this?

They suggested common because it's one of the few that you can get in seed and probably one they sell off the shelf. Check the weed seed content on it as well.

 

[jonthepain]

I don't think you'll be happy with common. Most places around here won't even sell it.

 

[Tellycoleman]

If you can not get a harley rake then rent a power rake and go over and over the area alot. You can definatly rent that for just as much as a tiller. It will give you a consistant depth and smooth out lumps as well. Get a landscaping rake and after you power rake smooth out as much as you can. DO NOT TILL. DO NOT TILL..
I would NOT get common bermuda. It is cheap but you will never have that golf course lawn you see alot of us have. Go online and order a better quality bermuda seed. If it is not in the budget then save until you can afford it, In my opinion its not worth it putting down Common bermuda and I would never get it.
Why? because it is not as shade tollerant- cold tolerant- disease tolerant- as many other varieties. Plus if you look at the back of the bag of common bermuda alot of the bags will be different types of grass. (some may be blackjack and the next bag maybe Saharah) If you decide to change grass types you will have to spend almost an entire season trying to kill it. I would go with Riviera or Yukon seed
Tilling the soil is not an option no matter what get it out of your head!!! I have seen someone barely able to mow his lawn with a push mower 1 year after tilling his lawn and using compost to mix into the yard.
Dont use compost- when it starts to decay your lawn will settle even more and cause a bumpy lawn
I have alot of questions
1) What did you do to kill off the grass? When was it done? and How many times did you kill it?
2) Do you know what kind of grass you had before?
3) Have you used any fertilizer weed/feed or pre-emergent this year?
4) DO you plan on installing an irrigation system? If not will you be able to water your entire lawn 3-4 times a day for at least a month?
5)Have you done a soil test and what are the results? You may need to add something to the soil
6) What kind of tree is that in the background?

Remember the saying " ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure"
Get yourself off to a good start, If you can not afford it this year do it next year. Why? because you will have less then stellar results get discouraged, and give up and be out alot of time and money.

 

[Hi5Sange]

I have alot of questions
1) What did you do to kill off the grass? When was it done? and How many times did you kill it?
2) Do you know what kind of grass you had before?
3) Have you used any fertilizer weed/feed or pre-emergent this year?
4) DO you plan on installing an irrigation system? If not will you be able to water your entire lawn 3-4 times a day for at least a month?
5)Have you done a soil test and what are the results? You may need to add something to the soil
6) What kind of tree is that in the background?

Remember the saying " ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure"
Get yourself off to a good start, If you can not afford it this year do it next year. Why? because you will have less then stellar results get discouraged, and give up and be out alot of time and money.

Ok to answer your questions:
1) it's the back yard (I'm not sure if i made that clear) the space was all weeds and dirt. I used roundup and weed b gone over the past 4 months 4-6 weeks apart, so about 3 times. I'd spray and water and get whatever came up then spray and water, etc...
2) bermuda used to be back there because there's a couple little clumps that keep coming back. But i know the least time the yard was full of Bermuda was at least 10 years ago.
3) i didn't use any pre-m this year, Used milo twice just to add something good to the space, Put out an insect granular for the ants and such, and just used roundup and weed b gone for the different weeds that came up. I did my best to at least keep this area all clean.
4) There are no sprinklers installed. But i can keep it watered.
5) i did do a soil test and a 20-5-10 was suggested. The ph was good.
6) it's a fruitless mulberry tree.

I hear your advice and want to take it but man Its hard. I'm getting impatient haha
Is it wrong that I'm not too crazy about the "reel low" look? I think the fact that you guys get it down that low and maintain is awesome!! But i like having something my feet sink into. I need a grass that can withstand a beating (ie. kids playing, dog, trampoline) and can take 100+ degree weather in drought conditions and can be cut with a rotary mower... for now.

 

[rhanna]

Just expect your lawn to look bad this growing season, yes some people on here have been very successful germinating and getting a full lawn in 1 year but it is very difficult.
Why did you spray weed b gone if you were spraying round-up? You may already be over the annual limit for some of the herbicides that is in the weed b gone.
I agree that you should try to get the lawn as flat as possible now, even if you plan on mowing at 2". The reason being is even at 2" on a bumpy lawn your Bermuda will not look as good because you will be scalping the high areas. It is much easier to level and smooth the lawn when there is no grass. I regret not putting more time into smoothing my lawn last year.
I also agree with buying quality Bermuda seed. Even more so if you are in the transition zone.

 

[Hi5Sange]

I sprayed both roundup and weed be gone on the second and third application. It was a spot spray on the green that was coming up from the watering. I did both as a recommendation from some gardeners i know who said it was like a "one two punch" to make them die faster.