jenkinsph
Super Star Member
David,
I would check out what is available for rental in your locale and who is available for hire before purchasing equipment. My reasoning is that tilling this with a rototiller in two directions is about a two hour job with my set up. I would not recommend buying a tiller for two hours of work. Same thing for a Harley rake too, not enough use to bother with a purchase.
Smoothing for a lawn area can be accomplished in short order too. I prefer a land plane grader blade (wider the better) followed by a section harrow or drag harrow for rougher surfaces. For relatively smooth ground the section harrow or chain/drag harrow will suffice.
If you have a lot of roots and debris on the surface you may choose to rake this up. I use a pine straw rake for most of these jobs but these are not readily available for rental. A landscape rake if available for rent or raking by hand will also work. Frequently I find that hand work for this work is the best way to go. In my work I find a pine straw rake is a great tool for a lot of clean up work and also use it to cover seeds. This would be a possible second purchase but that would depend on your other uses.
I would buy a broadcast spin spreader for seeding and fertilizing. This can be used for future fertilizer applications so this tool makes sense to purchase. This does not need to be very big for two acres either. Something you can pull behind a mower would be ideal imo. A drop seeder is also helpful if you need to work around flower beds and similar areas where good control of the fertilizer is important. Small drop seeders are inexpensive to buy too.
A poly lawn roller which you can rent will work to firm up the seed bed after covering. Not much need for this once the lawn is completed either. Lots of other rollers will work and would depend on what you can locate in your locale.
An experienced landscaper can in most cases do this job in one long day. A home owner renting the equipment for a weekend should be able to get this done in two days. Debris pick up might slow this down a little, just depends on your own property conditions. So I don't see the need to buy most of the equipment above for a single weekends use.
I do a lot of this work and have included a few pictures.
First is using a tiller in a weed filled pasture, first pass at 2.5mph
Second picture is using a land plane grader scraper to smooth a field
Third is a picture of the same field after two months seeded in Tall Fescue
Forth is a picture of my rear lawn
I would check out what is available for rental in your locale and who is available for hire before purchasing equipment. My reasoning is that tilling this with a rototiller in two directions is about a two hour job with my set up. I would not recommend buying a tiller for two hours of work. Same thing for a Harley rake too, not enough use to bother with a purchase.
Smoothing for a lawn area can be accomplished in short order too. I prefer a land plane grader blade (wider the better) followed by a section harrow or drag harrow for rougher surfaces. For relatively smooth ground the section harrow or chain/drag harrow will suffice.
If you have a lot of roots and debris on the surface you may choose to rake this up. I use a pine straw rake for most of these jobs but these are not readily available for rental. A landscape rake if available for rent or raking by hand will also work. Frequently I find that hand work for this work is the best way to go. In my work I find a pine straw rake is a great tool for a lot of clean up work and also use it to cover seeds. This would be a possible second purchase but that would depend on your other uses.
I would buy a broadcast spin spreader for seeding and fertilizing. This can be used for future fertilizer applications so this tool makes sense to purchase. This does not need to be very big for two acres either. Something you can pull behind a mower would be ideal imo. A drop seeder is also helpful if you need to work around flower beds and similar areas where good control of the fertilizer is important. Small drop seeders are inexpensive to buy too.
A poly lawn roller which you can rent will work to firm up the seed bed after covering. Not much need for this once the lawn is completed either. Lots of other rollers will work and would depend on what you can locate in your locale.
An experienced landscaper can in most cases do this job in one long day. A home owner renting the equipment for a weekend should be able to get this done in two days. Debris pick up might slow this down a little, just depends on your own property conditions. So I don't see the need to buy most of the equipment above for a single weekends use.
I do a lot of this work and have included a few pictures.
First is using a tiller in a weed filled pasture, first pass at 2.5mph
Second picture is using a land plane grader scraper to smooth a field
Third is a picture of the same field after two months seeded in Tall Fescue
Forth is a picture of my rear lawn
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