Hi dchall_san_antonio, thanks for the follow-up post. You are spot on with regards to the unevenness of sod. I did my front yard last season and was instantly dissatisfied with the results with regard to the undulations. So I had to spend more time and more effort to get a result that I wanted from the outset. Hence my obsession was born with having a perfectly level yard. I searched the internet determined to get a better result. I read about sprigging, but found almost zero info on how the regular Joe could do it at home. I took bits of info from golf green construction, sport fields, bowling greens and then applied this to what would work at home for me using everyday tools and non-specialized products. The cost was also significantly less than buying sod for the entire project which is quite expensive in Australia (around A$9.00m2) I will try by best to answer the questions that you have put forth; My patio area faces roughly east, so the sun passes directly over the yard in summer. In winter it moves to the north (the left hand side looking from patio). Long shadows do cast to the south, however more so in winter as the sun is lower in sky. I cultivated the soil using a rotary hoe or a gas powered tiller to till the soil to a depth of around 6 inches. I then made a contraption of 4 x 6 foot pieces of timber set parallel with 4 x braces running perpendicular to the long pieces. I attached a rope to this and then spent the next few days dragging this contraption back and forth, round and round, up and down until it was as level as I could make it. I let it settle for about 2 weeks, then spent another weekend with my new wooden friend. I got the idea from this video; Leveling yard After this I brought in around 2 cubic meters of builders sand for final grade. I built a smaller version of the wood , this time using aluminum and a handle that you use like a rake to move the soil around. I then watered this to the point of runoff and let it dry. I used the lawn level again to level out any minor undulations and watered it again. Finally I used a long piece of timber to check for grade and undulations. At this point I was satisfied. The high tech tools used to cut up the sod was a pair of garden shears and a pair of HD sissors! No wonder my hands were dead after about 6 hours. I put the cut sprigs into a big container of water for about an hour, then put them in a old wet sheet in the shade until I was ready to broadcast them. I made sure I had enough to cover one irrigation zone before I spread them such that i could irrigate immediately after planting. Once I realised that this method was not going to work I borrowed a leaf shredder and put smaller pieces of sod through the hopper. At first I was concerned that I cut them too small and they would not root, but they did take, however at a slower rate than compared with the larger pieces. I did this in October, which is mid-spring here. Funnily enough we had a really mild spring which didn't really help with the grow-in. When temps got above 25C you could literally watch it grow! This is not common practise for establishing home lawns in Australia. Some turf suppliers do offer what they call 'shredded turf' but these companies are not in my state. The methods these companies advocate could not be translated the method I used. Next time I would try and actually source the sprigs, rather than cutting up sod. It is so time consuming and very messy. Other than that I am really happy with how it has come up. I said to my wifey that if I ever plant another lawn I will be stolonizing it. The real reason I wanted to spend the time doing this post is purely for the fact that I have learned so much from this forum (even as a lurker) and I wanted to take the time and give something back to other forum members who have taken the time with their experiences. In particular David's thread which I used to level my front yard. Here are some pics of that project if anyone is interested; Front This is disc roller below; PS I will work on my photography skills This post was edited by SimonR on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 0:35

I did not mention El Toro because the varieties of Bermuda you have referenced are a lot finer textured and much darker in color. Nothing wrong with El Toro and worth considering if you have some shade issues to deal with. You did raise a red flag in my mind when you asked " Do you think it is reasonable to go with Tifway 419 and use a Walker Rotary Mower most of the time if we keep it under control? Or do I need to go with another grass? Here is the problem all the varieties you are looking at are fine and dwarf textured. Tifway-419 can be mowed with a rotary type mower as long as it is a quality one that can get down to 1-inch, but performs better between ½ to ¾ of an inch with a reel type mower. TifSport will need a reel type mower because it needs to be down around ½ inch. But here is the kicker the TifGreen or TefEagle go one step beyond a reel mower if you are serious about a putting green as they need a very expensive greens mower. A greens mower is a reel type on steroids and a precision machine requiring a lot of maintenance in the form of blade sharpening and alignment. I think you mentioned 28,000?ft2 lawn and that gets into the riding type, and if you are serious about using a fine textured Bermuda like TifSport, you need to get a riding with ganged reel mower, and a greens mower for the putting green. So think carefully about this. If you intend to maintain 2/3 of an acre of grass and cannot do this, then you need to consider another grass type that does not need to be mowed at an inch or less. Zoysia falls into this category and is maintained between 1 to 2 inches. Not to mention Zoysia grows slowly and only requires mowing every 7 to 10 days vs 2 to 3 times a week for Bermuda, and every other day for a putting green. If budget is a concern I suggest you look at Tifway-I (aka 419), only one grass I know outperforms in its class which is TifSport. However Tifway in my area sells for 65 to 85 per pallet, and Tifsport 2 to 3 times that cost. I sure hope you have an idea how much TifGreen and TifEagle go for, prices vary from 500 to 900 per pallet.

I can put whatever grass back there is appropriate. Not married to Bermuda but the majority of yards do around here. Previously it was a 6 foot fence with a tree. Now it is an 8 foot fence and no tree. The direction the Sun travels from the picture is back to front. The shade from our house is there from morning till noon and is unchanged from the project. The shade from those houses behind us is cast before the fence. Neither of these things prevented the Bermuda from growing before. Around the tree canopy shade area yes. Was starting to see some effects but now it's gone. :) The goal of the project was to raise the area and remove the tree. Basically we are doubling the size of our backyard in terms of usable (for kids) space. Other goal is to not create a drainage problem. Before it was excellent drainage but obviously by raising it, we must be mindful not to create a problem. For instance, I have put in drain pipe for all of the gutter feeds to that area and daylighted that directly out the wall. Before it was on the plane of the yard. Not ideal green thinking wise but it's done. Now that area only takes on water from the plane of the yard surface itself. I do have a drainage question related to grading which I'll post on the landscape forum. Is there another grass that I should be using back there? It's not out of the question for me to have something completely different since the entire area save for about 5 feet, is surrounded by hardscapes (driveway, wall, patio, house). I'm open to any suggestion.

Laura, I'm glad you brought this thread back to life, because I have never found it. Al, as always, is very informative and reasonable. I agree whole heartedly with how he approaches gardening. I too prefer to use compost, and avoid chemicals, but am not against using chemicals either. For example, I refuse to sit back and watch my garden be destroyed by insects because I don't want to use chemicals. Usually I don't need to, but if things get rough, I have to bust out the big guns. Anyways, Laura, you talked about the runoff problems in your area; these issues come up all over, including here in WI. The biggest misconception people have is that the people using the "nasty" chemical fertilizers are causing the runoff, when in fact runoff problems can be caused by organic fertilizers as well. The biggest issue is not the stuff causing the problems, but the people who are. Proper use of inorganic AND organic fertilizers is key. You can buy all sorts off different products, both organic and inorganic, and each has instructions as to the proper application. If you don't follow these instructions, well, that is where the problem lies. So, with that said, you seem like a very reasonable and responsible person, so whether you apply organic fertilizer or synthetic fertilizer, and can assure you that if you follow the directions, you personally are NOT contributing to the runoff problems. Again, thanks to Al for his infinate wisdom, and to Laura for bringing this one back to life. Joe