Easiest (cheapest) way to sod or seed?

jbo – posted 04 November 2009 19:47

I need to replace my lawn and looking for the least expensive method. Right now I’m looking at replacing St. Augustine that’s mostly weeds anyway with something else like Bahia.

The problem is my sprinkler system is busted and i was looking at just going there with a hose with the attachment that waters the lawn.

A friend told me to take my lawn mower and put it on the lowest setting and mow up the lawn (mostly weeds) and then just lay the sod on top of the lawn. Well I tried this and it only seemed to cut it really short and bare in some areas, but not sure it’s ready to drop sod, so I was looking for some feed back?

Others say to spray the whole yard with insecticide?

I see how cheap seeds are, but I can’t find a single person who has replaced their front yard with seeds instead of sod. I keep reading about seeds online, but haven’t just meet anybody yet.

tommy – posted 05 November 2009 09:57

If the soil is fairly loose you can lay sod on top, if its not, you have to rototill first. If you want to seed, it will have to be temporary for the winter, because its too late to seed warm season grasses. Spray your weeds with ‘Round up’, wait a few days and then seed with perennial rye grass. cover it with a 1/4 inch layer of organic top dressing, and keep moist.