New construction Lawn advice

14 years ago

Hi all, been following here for a while and its time to ask for advice. We recently moved into a new construction house on two acres in Berks County, PA.

The yard is a mess. Lots of rocks and uneven. I'm sure the soil is terrible as the contractor surely stripped the topsoil. They did hydroseed in the fall and there is a little grass but a lot more rocks, divets, and uneveness. Not sure what to do come spring. I'll start with a soil sample but don't know if i need to till, regraid and reseed, or aerate, fertilize and roll, or something else. I can't imagine the yard will eventually even out and grow around those rocks on its own.

I Realize this process will be measured in years, but not sure where to start. Don't think I can afford two acres of topsoil all at once. I almost wish they wouldn't have seeded as it would be much easier to prep the soil and grade. Thanks

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Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
14 years ago
You need a professional landscaper. You got cheated on the first one.

The landscaper needs to rake out the rocks. He'll use a rake on the back of a tractor. If he shows up with a skid steer or a bobcat, he's not a pro. This is a job for a real tractor. Then he needs to use a tractor with a landscaper's blade, also called a box blade, to grade the surface of the soil. If you need more (or less) soil, he'll do that for you to make your yard drain properly. This is not a job for newbies to take on. Get several estimates but only get estimates from landscapers who will use tractors. For 2 acres the entire job should take about a full day. He'll have to run the tractor over it once for the rocks and once to grade it. If he has to haul much away or bring it in, that adds time, too. Two days at the maximum unless he has a lot of trees to drive around. Anyone who tries to use a bobcat for a job like this will give you an estimate of a week or so. They all get paid by the hour so you can figure that out pretty easily.

Tilling is overrated. It is the fastest way to get back what you are trying to get rid of, unevenness.

Whether you have any topsoil left or not, you will have plenty soon enough. Unless your soil has been poisoned by something, simply growing grass in it will bring back the microscopic critters that create topsoil. If you want to speed things up, topdress the grass with compost every now and then. Using organic fertilizer is another way to regain your topsoil quickly.
bogey123
14 years ago
We moved into new construction a few years ago and before anything the landscaper used a rock picker to remove rocks & debris where the lawn was going in.

It did an effective job on the rocks and then he leveled things out before the seed, fertilizer and hay went down.

It took roughly 3 years and alot of work to get what I would call an established lawn. But it looks great.
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kayef
14 years ago
What to do about hard bald spots? I have a bunch of spots, mostly along the road, where the grass simply dies. This will be year three, so I don't want to start all over.
At a freinds recommendation, we rented a plug aerator and ran it all over the lawn in the fall, then added some black cow, peat and rye seed for winter over. The lawn came in pretty well, then went dormant when we had the unusual cold snap. The grass is holding well, and stopped our ruts/drainage problem, but you can see the areas where the hard spots were, they are a different color grass.
Should we re-aerate in early spring or will that create uneven soil?

New construction Lawn advice

Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio

bogey123

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kayef

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