As far as what kind of sod that depends on what is prevalent in your area. Without knowing where you live you are best to ask advice from your local full service nursery. For example, if you reside in northern latitudes, known to use a "cool season grass" a good sod that is available is a combo of Kentucky Blue/perennial ryegrass and fescue. The exact combination is up to the dealer but such combo, if you decide instead to seed, should provide an excellent lawn able to take what nature throws at. If you live in a transitional zone...i.e. across the middle of America..Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky...you get the idea....you can try using either a northern type..a cool season type or a more southern warm season type. If you live in the south, then definitely consult your nurseryman and your neighbors who show good results with their lawns. Southern grasses are completely different than cool season types. Planting either where they don't belong is a good way to waste money and effort. Sod will not grow on top of old grass. That's the first thing you have to get rid of. Grass has to put down roots and it cant if it has to drill itself through hard clay soil holding old sod. Also, the clay soil as described, sounds like you have cement where grass should be. Tilling is the only thing you can do but further to that you have to ...you must....incorporate organic matter to make the grass want to grow and hold on to moisture. Organic matter comes in many forms; i.e. peat moss, newspaper and compost. Without going too deep into this you should do research on it. Without purchasing expensive compost, consult your soil dealer about what is called triple mix...a combo of different soils including sand. Whenever you see the word "SAND" used in conjunction with gardening, always think 'coarse sand', not beach sand, or playbox sand...that holds too much moisture. Coarse sand is larger and allows for good drainage. Coarse sand can be bought at soil dealers or from quarries--the place where gravel is bought. Drainage is one of the most used terms for good turf growth. Water should run away from the house. So it sounds like you have to till and one of the easiest ways to do that is to rent a roto-tiller..the size is dependent on what kind of soil it has to bite through. Into the soil which you dig down at least 6"...or more...you inject the organic matter. If you dig down 6", put at least 2" of organic matter in and turn it over. Then look to levelling and seeing to good drainage. Weeds, if you see them, pick out and garbage them. If your lawn is mostly weeds right now, I suggest you kill everything green there by the use of a glyphosate..i.e. RoundUp herbicide...it will kill the weeds, the grass presently there, anything and everything green so don't spray it around plants you don't intend to get rid of. Wait the time mentioned on the label before tackling the job of lawn replenishment. One thing about the use of RoundUP, use it according to directions and follow it exactly. Here, more is a waste just like using not enough. Moisture: Lawns require moisture at the right time. Usually that is 1" per week, rain notwithstanding. Fertilizer: Set up a fertilizing schedule with a high nitrogen type that will help grass grow and greens it up. Read the directions on the bag. To understand how much to spread, simply divide the first number (nitrogen) into 100--that is the amount per lb per 1000 square feet, to use. So if the bag contained 20/6/12....i.e. 20 percent nitrogen, 6 percent phosphurus, and 12 percent potash, then 20 into 100 = 5 lbs per 1000 square feet. If a bag contained 40 lbs, then it would cover 40 divided by 5 = 8000 square feet. Your small lawn...200 sq ft could be properly fed with 1 lb of fertilizer. But read the directions on the bag. If you live in a southern zone, then throw out the info on using a herbicide until you find out what it will do on your grass type and soil. Speak to your nurseryman before you do anything. Some types of southern grass cannot be given weed killers--it will kill the grass as well.

Leave the gravel and build boxes for raised gardens. They are easier to work in and you can just add great soil without having to deal with the pea stone or the clay. more kid ideas... 1. Sunflower Houses: This is my number one pick. You can use sunflowers to create a rectangular or square section for the house. Once the sunflowers grow to almost full height you can take string and tie the tops together to form a string âÂÂroofâ then morning glories can be grown up the sunflowers until they reach the string and fill in the roof. 2. A garden tee-pee: This is similar to the sunflower house in concept. You put wooden poles in the ground and angle them to form a tee-pee. Make sure it is big enough for kids to pay inside. Then plant vines like morning glories, beans, and gourds so that the walls will fill in with vegetation. Guide the vines at first to make sure that an entrance is left open for little bodies to crawl through. 3. Try a Moon Garden: Instead of making a tee-pee with plants that flower during the day, you can also grow a moon garden and use plants that flower at night. Then the kids can spend some evenings outdoors looking at the stars and fireflies. Moonflowers would be perfect to climb the tee-pee walls and for around the perimeter you could plant evening primrose and four-o-clocks. 4. Grow some unique and whimsical plants. What kids wouldnâÂÂt like to grow some bleeding hearts, sunflowers, or gourds that can be hollowed out to make bird houses and musical instruments? Let them pick out the plants that appeal to them. 5. Make a rainbow: Have the kids help you pick out flowers or herbs in the 6 different rainbow colors⦠red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Plant them in curving rows with gravel or rocks between each row. When they bloom you will have a rainbow! 6. Create a fairy garden: Use twigs and sticks that have fallen from nearby trees to make fairy houses and furniture. Use tempera paints to give them color and texture. You can even use one half of fallen nuts to make little boats for them too. 7. Make a Pizza Patch! Carve out a circular section for this one and divide it into sections or slices. In each section grow a different pizza ingredient like tomatoes, garlic, onions, oregano, basil, rosemary, etc. When harvest time comes go out together and gather your ingredients and make pizza from scratch together. This can be cooked or raw pizza. 8. Build a worm box: Worms are an important part of any garden. They help us recycle waste into compost and by building a worm box or house you can get lots of wonderful compost and feed the worms your kitchen scraps. You can build your own worm box or buy one and it is a great scientific experiment for kids to be a part of.

>>Topsoil depth guesstimate is about 6" nearest foundation and drops gradually over next 10 feet-this area will be for bedding plants. Topsoil depth guesstimate for lawn starting 10' out from foundation: 4" That's extremely deep and would invalidate the Logan test. Four inches covers most of the feeder root depth for grasses. So although the tests here are good for the rest of the lawn, the top soil area is an unknown. Wait and see if it ends up that deep, it does seem like an awful lot of top soil. The results of the test: Total Exchange Capacity 8.15: Consistent with the soil test. While optimal is 10 to 15, this is not a problem in the slightest. Soil ph 7.5: It's good we recommended no lime as it would be exactly the wrong response in this soil. Your pH is already thrown somewhat high, although this is no barrier to a gorgeous lawn. But let's not throw it out of whack any further than it already is. % Organic Matter 4.13: In the Good range, but with the lower EC and high pH, I'd recommend adding OM slowly over the next few years. That will tend to raise the EC somewhat and make the pH matter less. ANIONS Sulfur: p.p.m 14: Perfect. Phosphorus lbs/acre 133: A little low. I recommended starter fertilizer below. CATIONS Calcium 2528 (desired 2216) Magnesium 242 (desired 234) Potassium 272 (desired 254) Sodium 72 (pounds per acre) >>I don't report on these directly, I use them as a basis for adjusting soils. Base Saturation % Calcium 77.55 (60 to 70%): In perfect range, although on the high side of it. Excess Ca isn't a problem. Magnesium 12.37 (10-20%): In perfect range. Potassium 4.28 (2 to 5%): In perfect range (which is rare for K). Sodium 1.91 (.5-3%): High. This, in combination with your otherwise perfect cations above, is sending the pH too high. At this time, I'm not going to change it. Let's see if it leaches out. Other Bases 3.90 (variable): Everything else. This is pretty normal. Exchangable Hydrogen 0.00 (10 to 15%)**: Zero because of your high pH. Trace Elements Boron p.p.m. 0.23: Low. Boron's critical for photosynthesis and meristem development and differentiation. Recommendations below. Iron p.p.m. 167.0: Technically OK, but this won't produce good color in the lawn. Use Milorganite as desired to raise this and raise the OM at the same time. Manganese p.p.m. 16.0 Copper p.p.m. 3.97 Zinc p.p.m. 3.4 Aluminum p.p.m 678.0 These four are fine (Al isn't used, it's actually toxic, but not available until pH drops into the low-5 range). Zn is technically out of whack when compared to the others, but I'm not inclined to fiddle with it. Recommendations: May 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 15: Apply 3 tablespoons per thousand square feet of 20 Mule Team borax (use Milorganite as a carrier to even the distribution and get this tiny amount down). September 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 3 tablespoons per thousand square feet of 20 Mule Team borax.

Surely there is an appropriate herbicide for this application. It really seems to me you're missing the obvious, first by not bothering to read the label of whatever you killed your old lawn with, and now by assuming that if you don't get just the answer you seek on an online forum mostly consisting of amateurs, within the first 24 hrs. of posting your query, then that search is over! Wow. I am not an expert in FL turf care but there are many people who are. Why aren't you consulting them? And why are you even bothering with any of this if your real heart's desire is to have an almost completely fake landscape? As a person who is not an amateur, it is folks exactly like you who are ruining the legitimate use of pesticides via your irresponsibility. If I behaved as you have done in the past, I'd be breaking the law, let alone retaining my employment. Truly one of the saddest posts I've seen here in some time. Very generally, oldmanroot's come closest to the truth of the matter: In lawn care as in the management of any plant community, one seeks to achieve cultural conditions that suit the intended plant community, in your case, a lawn of palmetto grass. So, whatever moisture regime that plant likes, that's what you try to provide, and on down through the other parameters you can control. This will do 90% of the work of having a good patch. Then, if problems persist, you reach for more extreme measures. BTW, I'm sure that if I wanted to, I could use the same interwebs you're on and determine an appropriate herbicide choice for your situation. I estimate it would take me five minutes tops. +om