guys, my yard is a mess. when i first moved in i put down lime, fertilizer and alot of fescue seed. it was planted in early spring and only the shady areas grew. i have since put down several pallets of sod(bermuda) in the high traffic areas. i am planning on sowing fescue again this fall. what can i use to pull behing my GT to "rough up" the ground where i intend to plant this fall? it is a mixture of bare ground and weeds, pretty dense. i dont really want to turn the ground over if i can avoid it. just like to scratch it real good, then fertilize/sow. any tips. BTW i am in west tennessee, and have a heavy clay type soil
help with my yard
- Thread starter jmt1271
- Start date
JJT
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 1,804
- Location
- Upstate NY, USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3710 HST and a Kubota ZD21 60Pro
I'd tiller and rake. What implements do you have?
ejtaylor822
Gold Member
jmt1271,
Last fall, our second in this house, I took drastic measures. I have learned the hard (and expensive) way that the start to having a good stand of grass begins in the fall – period – at least around here.
To really “scratch” up the ground and get it ready for overseeding, in the fall I cut the grass at normal height while bagging with the riding mower. I then put 4 solid cap blocks on my Craftsman dethatcher and went over the entire yard. I then mowed/bagged real close to get all the old clippings and thatch up. It was the end of the season and as I had done at other houses, I lowered the mowing deck as far as it would reasonably go without being totally on the ground and "scalped" the entire yard. Didn't care about the blades as I was going to replace them anyway after a season/summer of use. This chewed and loosened up the top of the soil really good and got the grass really short so there was lots of ground exposed. I then spread about 150 lbs of fescue.
So far I am pleased with the results. I will never scalp the entire yard again – was very scary looking out at the yard last fall and seeing nothing but clay dirt /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif - unless I lose the grass from a long drought, but will just scalp rough spots along with overseeding the entire area
I am religous about using Scott's year round treatment. It's expensive, but, I feel well worth it. In mid-October I put down winterizer, and again in January. Put down the weed and feed in April.
Last fall, our second in this house, I took drastic measures. I have learned the hard (and expensive) way that the start to having a good stand of grass begins in the fall – period – at least around here.
To really “scratch” up the ground and get it ready for overseeding, in the fall I cut the grass at normal height while bagging with the riding mower. I then put 4 solid cap blocks on my Craftsman dethatcher and went over the entire yard. I then mowed/bagged real close to get all the old clippings and thatch up. It was the end of the season and as I had done at other houses, I lowered the mowing deck as far as it would reasonably go without being totally on the ground and "scalped" the entire yard. Didn't care about the blades as I was going to replace them anyway after a season/summer of use. This chewed and loosened up the top of the soil really good and got the grass really short so there was lots of ground exposed. I then spread about 150 lbs of fescue.
So far I am pleased with the results. I will never scalp the entire yard again – was very scary looking out at the yard last fall and seeing nothing but clay dirt /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif - unless I lose the grass from a long drought, but will just scalp rough spots along with overseeding the entire area
I am religous about using Scott's year round treatment. It's expensive, but, I feel well worth it. In mid-October I put down winterizer, and again in January. Put down the weed and feed in April.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( what can i use to pull behing my GT to "rough up" the ground where i intend to plant this fall? )</font>
The best thing you could do is rent an overseerder machine from your local rental yard. Lesco makes a machine called the rennovator. It makes slices in your soil and deposits the seed right into the slits. I used one the fall before last for overseeding Tall Fescue and it worked out great. The only problem is the machine is a walk behind and only cuts a 20" wide path. It took me almost two days to overseed my 2 Acre yard!
If you want to use your tractor, you could tow a core aerator around making multiple passes over your yard and then spread the seed with a broadcast spreader. I would then drag something like a peice of chain link fence over the yard to break up the cores and help with the soil to seed contact. This method is not as good as the overseeder machine mentioned above but should give satisfactory results. Good luck.
The best thing you could do is rent an overseerder machine from your local rental yard. Lesco makes a machine called the rennovator. It makes slices in your soil and deposits the seed right into the slits. I used one the fall before last for overseeding Tall Fescue and it worked out great. The only problem is the machine is a walk behind and only cuts a 20" wide path. It took me almost two days to overseed my 2 Acre yard!
If you want to use your tractor, you could tow a core aerator around making multiple passes over your yard and then spread the seed with a broadcast spreader. I would then drag something like a peice of chain link fence over the yard to break up the cores and help with the soil to seed contact. This method is not as good as the overseeder machine mentioned above but should give satisfactory results. Good luck.
Before I got to the reseeding piece, I would plan on using weed killer a couple of times in early and mid summer to kill as many weed as I could. Something like 2 4 D. Aerator works great as posted above. A small lawn tractor disc set unaggressively will help loosen it, as well as a host of other ways. You don't need much, but getting the weed under control first will give your new grass a better chance. Just my opinion and what has worked for me.
tomnky
Platinum Member
If You have Bermuda in part of the yard, eventually You will have all over the yard as the stuff loves to spread ,eventually taking over the whole thing. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif