Lawn Renovation Suggestions

[Mukada]

I’m renovating my lawn this coming spring and looking for any advice I can get. Specifically when it comes to reseeding. Here are some details about my yard just so you have an idea of what I’m looking to do.

• I live in the Greenville area of Upstate South Carolina. Growing zone 8 to be specific.
• I’ve dropped a lot of trees in my backyard to get some more sun back there. Most of the yard should have full sun but there are a few areas with
partial shade.
• I’m having my back yard graded/leveled in the next few weeks. They're going to bring in red clay fill dirt as that is what is native to my state.
• The area’s that are not being graded (including the front yard) are still going to be scalped so I wont have to worry about killing off my existing
grass or tilling.
• I’m going to be reseeding Zenith Zoysia grass. I don’t want to use plugs because they take too long and sod is just too expensive. But I’m open to
any other suggestions you might have as long as it comes in a seed form.

So here are some of my major questions I have.
• I’m more that likely going to have the guys grading my yard also bring in top soil too. Should be able to get an inch or two over the entire yard. Do
you think it’s worth the hassle and extra cost to do this?
• If I have top soil brought in do I still need to do a soil sample test?
• Since I grading and mostly likely having top soil brought in I shouldn’t have to do any tilling should I? Also, is there anything I should do once the
top soil is laid down before I seed the lawn?
• Once reseeded should I lay hay or anything else over the yard?
• I’m seriously considering having a sprinkler system installed if my budget allows. Would you consider this a necessity considering the seeds have be
constantly wet to germinate?

Any and all tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I’m still pretty new to this type of thing.

[MorpheusPA]

I'm not going to use quoted-printable text on this. Why? Because I'm a lazy-pants.

• I’m more that likely going to have the guys grading my yard also bring in top soil too. Should be able to get an inch or two over the entire yard. Do you think it’s worth the hassle and extra cost to do this?

If you need the extra inch, sure. If you don't, absolutely not--destroying the grade on your property is not a great idea if it ends up that the extra inch results in water ditching into your cellar. Always get an expert opinion before adding soil and we can provide many, many scare photos if you want.

• If I have top soil brought in do I still need to do a soil sample test?

Yes, no, and maybe. It's never a requirement. But the top soil won't be tested or balanced initially, and your soil sure isn't. If you were going to do it, it'll still need to be done. If it's already done, you can wait another year to do it again (the extra inch won't be too bad a change. 2"...well, more of one, but workable).

• Since I grading and mostly likely having top soil brought in I shouldn’t have to do any tilling should I? Also, is there anything I should do once the top soil is laid down before I seed the lawn?

Never. Till. New. Soil. Period. There are exceptions. This is not one of them.

• Once reseeded should I lay hay or anything else over the yard?

Don't use hay, it comes with weed seeds, even the seedless stuff. Peat is better. Compost is better. Nothing is fine if you'd rather not. Up to a quarter inch of cover.

• I’m seriously considering having a sprinkler system installed if my budget allows. Would you consider this a necessity considering the seeds have be constantly wet to germinate?

Necessary, no--you can use sprinklers through your germination season. Helpful? Absolutely. But it's your decision here. You can retrofit later, but it's going to be easier to do now if you can swing the cost.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Neil Sperry is a Dallas based garden writer. I'm not sure what his span of influence is, but you can find his articles in newspapers and magazines across Texas. Since I turned toward organic fertilizing for my lawn, my philosophy has been, Whatever Neil Sperry is doing, do the opposite. However, I just read an article by him that I found myself agreeing with. It's almost like someone else is writing for him. Here's what he said about topdressing...

Do not topdress your entire lawn. I’m not sure where this practice began. I know my dad and I did it when I was a very young kid. He was an ag prof at Texas A&M, and I believe we had loads of manure from one of the barns. So that was probably organic fertilizer. That would be acceptable, but these people who spread topsoil over every square foot – a hard “No” to that. I think that practice has about died out now.

A hard "No"!! I agree 100%. I have a great picture of what eventually happens when the owner decides to topdress 1/4-inch every year...since 1980.


You can see they had to put in landscape border to retain the soil washing out onto the sidewalk. The Stop sign pole is buried in topsoil.

Here's what happens without the landscape border...

Look down the sidewalk. Grass is growing all the way across where the topsoil washed out from both sides. You can't see it in the picture but the soil in the foreground right is about 9 inches higher than the sidewalk.