Lawn Care Newbie

VooMan – posted 06 July 2001 09:52

Howdy folks,

First of all, let me say that I am happy to have found this forum. Phil (Seed), you and all the people here have been a great source of information and I appreciate the fact that you are here. 🙂

Okay, here I go….

I bought my first house this past year and the yard is in rather sad shape. Bermuda sod was installed in 1996, but without a sprinkler system here on the south side of Atlanta (I am having one installed shortly) I am sorry to report that there are more weeds than grass at this point. Some sections of the lawn look okay, but for the most part it’s red Georgia clay and crabgrass. 🙁 I’m a doityourselfer from way back and have started the rebeautification project myself, but I have many questions. I hope ya’ll will bear with me while I ramble….

1. I have a neighbor with the most beautiful Myer Zoysia, and I would love to kill off my bermuda and have Zoysia as well, but I’m not sure that I can ever completely eradicate the Bermuda. It is a resilient grass, and since my next door neighbor has Bermuda (we have adjoining lawns) I wonder if it wouldn’t be better for me to just stick with what I have. I’m not thrilled with it, but it would probably be a lot easier and cheaper. I was thinking that having the lawn hydroseeded would be my best bet. If I do that, when is the best time of year to have it done?

2. Along the same vein, the ground has become rather bumpy and low in certain spots. Is it okay for me to add some topsoil on top of what’s already there, roll it flat, and then hydroseed, or do I need to till everything up and then roll it? The ground is rock hard unless we have a thunderstorm so I honestly wonder how anything grows out there on that red brick I call a yard. haha

3. I am in the process of making some rather large pine islands. On the first one, I used a gallon pump sprayer with Spectracide grass and weed killer to get rid of the grass and weeds, then I tilled it up and raked out all the dead grass, sprayed again to kill off the surviving Bermuda, put down grass and weed preventer granules, weed barrier fabric, and then pine straw. I haven’t seen any weeds come up, but all that work almost killed me. LOL Is there and easier way or was that overkill? I am starting my second (even larger) pine island, and I hope to plant some nice flower beds in this one to add some color to the yard. Is it best to spray the Spectracide first, and then till up the area, or can I till and loosen the soil and then spray? Also, in and around my pine trees there are a lot of weeds. I would need to spray rather heavily in that area and I’m worried about hurting the trees with the Spectracide.

4. I guess the weed barrier fabric is the best way to prevent new weeds from coming up, but in my flower beds I would like the plants to be able to spread. Is it absolutely necessary to have weed fabric or is there something I can put in the soil to prevent weeds that won’t hurt the plants. And would it be better the not have the weed fabric and let the pine straw break down and nourish the soil anyway? I don’t think that will happen if the weed fabric is there…

Boy, I think I’ve talked everyone’s ear off by now with all these questions. I will thank you in advance for any advice you may be willing to give, AND I am amazed you stayed awake long enough to reach this point! haha

Thanks again,Andrew

seed – posted 08 July 2001 07:54

VooMan, that’s a good letter. I don’t have experience growing turf in a red brick yard, but here goes:

1 a. As you pointed out, bermudagrass can be weedy, often more so than zoysia, but each has its problems. You might look at some other lawns in your neighborhood and see what works best. Don’t rely on lawns that were just put in during the last year or two; usually their owners will be enthusiastic at first.

1 b. I am not crazy about hydroseeding. The purpose of any kind of seeding is to get the seed attached to the ground where it will grow. The way nature has done it for millions of years is that the seed that gets to grow is the seed that goes (slightly) underground, and the mulch goes on top, not all mixed together. Hydroseeding is a convenient way of getting mulch and seed to cover large areas including inaccessible embankments, but I don’t see its applcation in your small area.

2 a. The textbook rule on adding soil is to use the same thing you’ve got already. Well, you might modify that to try to get some organic matter worked it. But if it’s just thrown on top, it will probably wash away.

2 b. Regarding the hydroseeding, see 1 b.

3. Roundup is the most effective chemical for killing perennial grasses, and it’s generally only those weeds with rhizomes, such as bermudagrass, that you have to be seriously concerned about. The broadleaf weeds, except for a few creepers, can usually be mown down. Regarding tillage, any leaf-absorbed chemical will work best on undisturbed vegetation. Once a plant gets uprooted, the absorption and translocation of any chemical will be delayed or stopped.

4. Mulch, mulch, mulch. Certainly a weed fabric is a reasonable approach, and weed fabrics can be comingled with flower beds, but for the area around the plants, you have less to worry about with a good quality mulch. In Florida it works well to spread a dense layer of unfolded newspapers, at least 10 sheets thick, and overlapped just like you were going to cover a roof, and cover with 2-4 inches of mulch. Not right up to the trunks of shrubs. And for annual bedding plants, it would be too much work to use the newspaper. The weed fabric might be more appropriate at the interface with the turf, where the mulch naturally gets thinner.

Phil

VooMan – posted 08 July 2001 09:59

Hi Phil,

Thanks SO much for your reply. I appreciate the input. 🙂

Yesterday I noticed one of my neighbors mowing his lawn so I went over and introduced myself. He’s got beautiful thick turf, and I notice he’s got the same kind of grass as many of the other nice yards I see in my neighborhood. It turns out that he’s got emerald zoysia… I think what I’ll do this year is to have my sprinkler system installed, work on my flower beds and mulch mulch mulch, and then save my pennies and have emerald zoysia sod installed next spring. I’ve got enough that I can do to last me the rest of the summer and I’m willing to wait for the lawn. I appreciate the tips on the mulching and the hydroseeding, and after speaking with a few folks in my area who have been around a few years I think I have a gameplan.

Boy, things were so much simpler when I lived in an apartment. 😉

Thanks again for the help,Andrew