finish lawn

[GaryS]

We're a week away from moving into our new house (yeah!) and I want to finish the yard myself. The problem is that I have no idea what is needed. We have topsoil spread out where we want it and I assume I should use a yard rake to groom it before seeding but is there anything else I should be doing?

I'll attach a few pictures /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GaryS]

another of the yet unfinished yard.

 

[GaryS]

a close up of the topsoil.

 

[GaryS]

and here's the new house.

 

[beenthere]

If me, I'd go after a Harley rake and rent it for the best way to get your yard in condition to plant grass. For the most part, you will be amazed how quickly your 'lawn' will be ready for seed. Probably more than one pass, but that all will depend on the weather, the amount of clay in the black dirt, and how wet it is.

Here is a thread showing one in action.
Harley rake in action

 

[RonR]

Hi Gary. Nice house!

One of the things we did to rehab our lawn (fescue) last year was to topdress it with 6,000 pounds of composted zoo doo. A local company takes the zoo waste and commercially composts it. It is SWEET!

Before applying this, our ground (hard, thick clay) was like walking on concrete. Not only did the zoodoo help via fertilizer, but the organic stuff made the ground almost springy when you walked on it.

Cost was about $20 a ton, so it was cheap. It is so lightweight, we just backed the trailer into the middle of the yard and started flinging it. Raked it in a little to help the grass come through, and watered the heck out of it.

Only downside is we had a LOT of weeds (elephants eat cheap hay I guess), but a quick shot of weed b gone fixed that.

We're thinking of adding another 2-4,000 pounds this fall. From the extension pubs I've read about lawns, the number one fix for almost all ailments in bad dirt seems to be "add organic".

Hope this helps.
ron

 

[Eric_Phillips]

Gary,
Beenthere had a good idea of renting a Harley Rake. I tried this but in my area about the only thing you can rent for a 3PH is a tiller. So if you cannot find something for the tractor the next best and easiest thing is a skid steer with a rockhound. $350/day plus gas was the best money I spent on my lawn. I tried to put in about 2 acres this fall. The house was finished last fall so I had a years worth of weeds so I sprayed them then used a disc to prep the soil. The small knoll the house sits on is a gravel pile. I tried using a york rake to windrow the gravel and leave some soil. The ground was slightly damp so the rake just pulled off the loose top stuff and left the hard packed gravel. So after a lot of swearing I rented the rockhound. After 8 hours I had the gravel areas done. It did a good job but you do have to go back and do some minor raking to level the ridges it leaves from the sides of the rockhound. Actually the main reason I stopped was a 1.5 in shaft broke on his new Cat rockhound. Thank goodness the warranty was still good.

Now for the other acre of sandbox I am going to plant in next spring. The disc turned up this stuff so much the wheeled skid steer had issues. I plan to barrow a chain harrow to maybe bring the large, 3-4 in, rocks up. Then hand pick those and then determine if I need a chain link fence drag to even it out.

I am no expert on this it is only what I tried this year. From everything I had read on this forum the Harley Rake seems the way to go. Remember the Harley will only windrow any rocks. The rockhound will pick them up. Good luck.

Eric

 

[GaryS]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Anyone in Western PA know of a good place to rent equipment?

 

[millsnhills]

Gary,

It actually does not look like you need a lot of work in that the pictures at least indicate the dirt to be pretty clean.

If you are unable to find a yard rake I would simply do a light til on the yard possibly add any needed fertilizer, lime etc prior to the tilling. Once you have the yard tilled rig you self up a drag out of chainlink fence or rent a harrow. Drag to get the yard level and slightly packed add seed and then drag over the yard slightly again to mix the soil and seed.

And great looking house and view by the way.

Jeff

 

[MarkV]

Gary,

I like the new house.

The first thing I would do for your new lawn is take a soil sample to the county extension service for testing. Regardless of what equipment you use to prep the soil that will be the time to add any lime or fertilizer into the mix. The extension service should also be able to give you recommendations on the types of grass that grow well in your area.

I use a tiller, landscape rake with gauge wheels, home made drag and roller when I plant new areas. Not much available in the way of rentals near me.

Good luck.

MarkV