SoCal is one of those places where you have to be much more specific about where you live. The climate is much different at Lake Arrowhead than in Mecca or El Segundo. Please be very specific.

Generally try not to disturb the soil as you remove the older plants. Definitely do not till the soil. If the new spot looks like it is going to be higher than the surrounding turf, then remove that soil now. If it is lower, you can try to level it now. If it is generally uneven, level it now but do not till. Just scrape the high spots off and move them to the low spots.

It is never too late to sod...even in Mecca.

What kind of grass are you thinking of?
How much work are you willing to do?
Are you willing to water once a week if you need to?

Thanks for the quick reply. We're in Glendale, just on edge of San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys. So, not coastal and not inland empire either.

The area has a middle section of blue stone pavers (not cemented in) surrounded by dense plantings. I'll post a photo tomorrow as that will help. The plantings are slightly higher than the paved area. We want to take the pavers out and use them elsewhere. We have seen an old photo of the garden that did have grass in this area, so it's taking it back to what it was before previous owner over planted it. It's too much for the small space and he didn't have kids, so didn't care that there's no where to run around.

Not sure on the grass, the area gets some shade - want something that will work for the amount of sun and is durable.

I'll do as much work as I need to. Not afraid of heavy yard work (I do a lot in our yard as grew up on a farm) and I can get help from the once a week gardener. He says I'm the only owner that works in their yard ;-)

I'll water as often as need to. This area does have automatic sprinklers. May need to change those out from risers to pop up sprinklers (my husband can do that).

You said to not till the soil. The garden beds do have bits of bark that were used as mulch, I think a lot has broken down though. I think I'll need to add amendments to the soil before putting sod down.

Thanks for all the advice.

Photos of the space from a few different angles. There's about 6-7 feet from the edge of the bluestone to a garden wall. The area by the soccer ball is dirt between the pavers as we had a sandbox here.

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Quite a garden spot. Lots of work to do.

You have two choices for easy lawn. If you want to do more work you might be able to use a third. The primary warm season grasses that will work for you are bermuda and St Augustine. Bermuda is much more work to keep nice. If you keep it very low (1 inch or less) then you will be mowing 2x per week. Bermuda must have as much water as any other grass to stay nice and green. It must also have monthly apps of high nitrogen fertilizer to stay green. If you are considering bermuda, please read the Bermuda Bible (search the Internet). Read that first to get an idea of how much work it is. By the way it will thin out all the way to bare dirt in shade. Bermuda is a very fine bladed turf and very dark green (at least the Tif 419 variety is).

St Augustine is the other warm season grass that will work nicely. It can be mowed at the mower's highest setting and will work best at that height. There is never any reason to mow it lower. It can get by on 3 doses of chemical fertilizer per year but would love to get organic fertilizer in between. Some people with children don't want any chemicals at all. We can help you if that is your situation. St Aug requires as much water as any other grass; however, if you let it go dry and then brown, it will die. Other grasses go dormant. Not St Aug. St Augustine is a coarse bladed grass. When well fertilized it is dark green. St Aug is very shade tolerant. I have some that hasn't seen direct sunlight in years.

And do not rototill the soil. Level it at the surface. Scrape off the hills and move that soil to the holes. The less disturbance you make to the soil the better off you will be. If you dig a plant out, replace all the soil and leave a slight mound there. It will eventually settle leaving the ground level. If you level it now, it will eventually settle leaving a hole. Since you are doing a full renovation, be sure your drainage is right before putting in the turf. It should drain away from buildings and fences. That means you need a ditch (for lack of a prettier word) out to the front of the house. As long as it drains, the grass will grow in there fine. You don't want standing water anywhere. The only grass that grows in standing water is swamp grass (like nutgrass).

The other alternative turf might be Kentucky bluegrass. If your summer temps get into the 90s for more than a day or two, then count this one out. I've seen it doing very well in Huntington Beach (but not Huntington Library). With that thought in mind, you are close enough to wander around Huntington Library and Descanso Gardens. Look closely at their lawns. If you see St Augustine mowed low (a common mistake in public venues), you should notice it looks dry and possibly weedy. Those are consequences of mowing St Aug low. If you see hybrid bermuda, take your shoes off and walk in it. Mmmmmmm!

Thank you for the informative reply. We are right by Descanso Gardens, so we can do a trip to check out grass.

Our gardener who is going to help, is suggesting we go with seed rather than sod - he thought we would have more options on type of grass to deal with some shade that we get there. My husband thinks it doesn't get as shady as I do, so we'll watch the conditions for the next couple of days and determine what the amount of shade is before deciding on what grass. St Augustine though sounds like it work in this area.

I'll post back pictures once we've gotten the area cleaned out.

Bermuda could be seeded or sodded. The Tif 419 sod is much (MUCH) better than anything you can get in a seed. It does need full sun. All the seeded varieties of bermuda are offshoots of common bermuda. Tif 419 is like a different type of turf altogether.

You can also get perennial rye, fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass seed. Those will need a lot of water in the SoCal (Glendale) heat. If you were further down the hill and closer to LA proper, you could do those.

There are still more oddball types of seed and sod. Buffalo grass needs more sunlight than bermuda. Zoysia comes in varieties that don't need much sun at all but it is a weak grass around kids. It wears out and does not return until next year. The other alternatives are the wheatgrasses. I believe Western Wheatgrass might be a possibility.