The plan: take out weed infested, uneven, rutted worthless front lawn. What would be the best method? Do I need to kill the grass first or can I till it with tractor, cover with top soil, level and replant? How much top soil should I cover with? It will be aprox. 100' by 80' . Concerned about using roundup because of wife's little dogs but I will have to keep them off after seeding anyway. Any advice surely appreciated. Thanks.
The problem with rototilling an existing lawn is you will be burying live root clumps of grass, which will not easily decompose. To avoid using chemicals, here is what I, a retired landscaper would do. Number 1. Do not bring in top soil. It is usually full of weed seeds you may or may not already have. 2. Your main objective is to create a deep 7- 10 inch seed bed. 3. To create the seed bed, you need lots of organic matter, and good drainage. The secret to a good lawn, is a good deep root system. 4. Rather than buying topsoil, I do the following:
Rototill just deep enough, 2-3 inches to loosen root systems of existing grasses. If you have a rake for your 3 point, use it to remove the grass clumps. Incorporate as much organic material as you can afford. Incorporate decomposed granite to loosen the soil, thereby adding valuable minerals, and creating aeration, and drainage. When doing the final grading, and seed bed prep, you can't beat a landscape rake. I spread the seed, rake it in while grading and raking, I then reseed, and fertilize.
The ideal time to do this is in very late summer, to early fall. If you do it now, you will be watering tons of weed seeds. Better to wait until the hot months are passed. You can do it now, the sooner the better - you'll just have to deal with more frequent watering and the grasses will have a tough time competing against the broadleaf weeds.
