Yard Help!!

[turbofreak403]

Hey Guys, I searched and didn't find an exact match but was wondering what you guys recommend for yard repairs.

I recently demoed my 24x24 garage and built a 41x38 garage in its place.

My yard is destroyed from all the equipment and so forth on the property.

I have been watching youtube vids and such for ideas on how to clean up the dirt, bring in new loam and get it ready to attempt to grow grass.

I have a BX2200 with front and rear hydraulics.

Which attachments do you guys recommend to get my lawn back into shape?

Landscape rake? Rototiller? Soil Pulverize? Back Blade?

Thanks
Jeff

 

[RjCorazza]

I like using a tiller and loader bucket as necessary for most jobs. If you have a large area a rake would be nice, but do yourself a favor and get one with gauge wheels.

 

[oldballs]

What Rj said, then fertilize it, seed it and roll it.......and water it.

 

[3rd Coast]

Eager to see some responses as I'd like to get ready to do this myself.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

To flatten or smooth, Disk, Box Blade, Land plane/leveler.

Landscape rake will smooth some but mainly just sift the dirt unless you have those guide wheels and let it float.

Your quickest option is one you can drag, a rear blade will be better than nothing but not the best. Call local dealers, doesn’t matter the color, most all rents attachments, if it’s bare dirt, rent a land leveler, if digging is required, box blade with teeth. An old 4ft or 6ft offset two row disk would do a good job also, lightly roll it, seed it and throw straw over it.

 

[leonz]

Hey Guys, I searched and didn't find an exact match but was wondering what you guys recommend for yard repairs.

I recently demoed my 24x24 garage and built a 41x38 garage in its place.

My yard is destroyed from all the equipment and so forth on the property.

I have been watching youtube vids and such for ideas on how to clean up the dirt, bring in new loam and get it ready to attempt to grow grass.

I have a BX2200 with front and rear hydraulics.

Which attachments do you guys recommend to get my lawn back into shape?

Landscape rake? Rototiller? Soil Pulverize? Back Blade?

Thanks
Jeff

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You dont need top soil, rent a Merry Tiller, till deep, pick out rocks as big as your fist or bigger, buy a ton or two of concrete sand, 100 pounds of good compost, 25 pounds of gypsum, 25 pounds of hydrated lime, till in sand, lime and gysum DEEP, pick out morerocks and let it set for a week and then plant grass seed. rake it over lightly to get it tamped in the dirt and just wait for it to sprout. fill in any dead spots with new seed and tamp it down and water it.

Your dealing with severe compaction and you need to break up the clay in the soil and mix in the sand, compsot, gypsum and hydrated lime before you seed.

 

[AchingBack]

The problem with rototilling is: you will be burying root wads at various depths throughout the area, The new grass seedlings will not be able to send their roots through those wads. Therefore, you will have better grass where roots didn't have to try and penetrate those wads/clods.

Don't invest a bunch of money is supplements, i.e., lime, unless a soil test indicates your PH is quite acidic. Do a soil test first.
At all costs, avoid bringing in top soil.

There are too many unknown factors in order to intelligently address your needs. How's the drainage, what was the quality of the lawn before construction?

 

[4570Man]

At all costs, avoid bringing in top soil.

What's the logic behind that. As terrible as our soil is that's pretty much the only option to grow anything besides crab grass and weeds.

 

[AchingBack]

What's the logic behind that. As terrible as our soil is that's pretty much the only option to grow anything besides crab grass and weeds.

Top soil is likely to contain weed seeds. It is better to add amendments to enhance drainage, and create a deep root zone. Plenty of compost, and if available, decomposed granite.

 

[flingwing1969]

Dealing with most weeds in the grass is pretty easily done - if you are not opposed to herbicides - there are many very good one that various grasses are resistant to. If your soil is crap, you do need good quality screened top soil and some places even bake it to kill the weed seeds and vermin. Any soil will have weed seeds in it eventually anyway, that is the nature of nature. If you want a perfect looking lawn, you have to compromise.

You may indeed have pretty acid soil where you live, certainly test the soil and add gypsum and maybe some of the others - I think personally that Leonz has a pretty good plan for grass - which I have zero of and zero mower and zero weed wacker for that matter.

I run a program here where members of our 22 mile long community can bring their defensible space trimmings and drop them. We pile them with our equipment and usually end the season with ten very tall and very large piles to be disposed of by burning. CalFire comes in and sets fire to the piles and we tend them over a week or so until they burn out then we (I) use my tractor to rehab the site for the next season. I use a rear blade and a landscape rake to smooth things out and gather the bits of charred and/or unburned sticks and my bucket to move them. I have found that the landscape rake does a very nice smoothing job on the site, breaking up many clods and disturbed soil - I would be surprised if it didn't work for you. I'd till it with a nice sized tiller adding amendments to that layer and have the top soil delivered, till in half to improve the lower layer and add the rest.

Heck, I know there will be others with better ideas - opinions are like a particular body part that everyone has one of and, like that body part, someone will always think yours stinks.

 

[MESSMAKER]

If you are bring in dirt, a drag works pretty well. A railroad tie with some chain link around it can do wonders.

 

[TheMan419]

I found a tiller and drag harrow did a lot of wonders. Since I started w lots of growing weeds I mowed it short and hit it w roundup first. A week later it was all dead.

Then till and drag. Broadcast spread my seed and pray for rain.