Grass

[Poolidiot]

Kind of following all the post on landscape. When I built my house (built it myself ) The land was pasture, with all the usual weeds, cactus, TON of cactus. Needless to say it is not the ideal yard to go barefoot in. Anyone know about growing grass, starting a yard? I am not sure if there is a way to do it withOUT digging up the whole yard down to only dirt. My back yard is pretty good size, about 20,000 sq ft. Guess I am asking for a lazy mans way of getting a nice lawn 8)

 

[Poolidiot]

No weekend landscapers?

 

[JohnT]

The lazy way is to install sod. Till it down and get it smooth, then roll out the sod. But if you want cheap, you'll almost have to till it, sow the seed, rake the dirt over the seed, the roll it to improve germination. Don't let the soil dry out until the grass is growing well. Before anything, I'd have a soil test done. You can get information from an extension agent about having it done. That way you can add any lime or other amendments while you are working the dirt.

 

[257WbyMag]

Well, I am not sure where you are in Texas, but if there is cactus involved, especially prickly pear, you are going to have to dig that up for starters. And when I say dig, I mean DIG. Cactus is something that you can throw a piece of on the ground and it will grow and grow quickly. You could put a couple of goats in there and they could eat everything down to bare earth. :-D Honestly though, your best bet depending on size is to bulldoze.

Now, for regular weedy growth, you can do a broadcast application of a Round-Up type herbicide. Woody plants and sedges may require multiple applications. Once you have pretty good kill, you can put down seed or sod after about a week. After the lawn becomes established, weed control becomes easier because healthy grass chokes out weeds.

It'll be a while before your yard becomes barefoot friendly. I don't think that there is really a way to get it handled that won't take lots of work.

Craig

 

[kimrst]

Here in MI we have this stuff that comes from a bag or blown from a truck that is green and has mulch, fertilizer and grass seed all in one. You just have to keep it damp for so many days and then the grass is there. In the man time you do have a bit of green color on the yard. We use it to patch the yard but I've seen it done comercially in big areas. No cactus here, have no idea how to get rid of them but it sounds painfull. Kimrst

 

[sevver]

Here in MI we have this stuff that comes from a bag or blown from a truck that is green and has mulch, fertilizer and grass seed all in one. You just have to keep it damp for so many days and then the grass is there. In the man time you do have a bit of green color on the yard. We use it to patch the yard but I've seen it done comercially in big areas. No cactus here, have no idea how to get rid of them but it sounds painfull. Kimrst

Hydroseed is what it is I think. I saw grass growing on the side of a mailbox before from that stuff.