Prep for new lawn

MaryMcP – posted 01 March 2005 04:32

I live in Phoenix, AZ, currently have an ugly gravel front yard and plan to put in a patch of buffalo grass bordered by some xeri plants. We have had a very rainy winter and the gravel has lots of weeds popping through. The ground is heavy clay soil.

My plan is to Round-Up the entire gravel area, till it under, wait 30 days, then lay down the plugs of buffalo grass.

Reseach on some of the gardening sites suggest a much more thorough prep of the area before laying the plugs. Do I *really* need to do all that work??? Any suggestions?

Thanks! Mary

tommy – posted 01 March 2005 13:39

Hey Mary, I used to be a nurseyman in Tempe- so i know exactly the soil your talking about! You won’t need a lot of soil prep for Buffalo grass, but scrape off the gravel and add gypsum before you roto till. Also use a starter fertilizer when your finished plugging.