Not to worry Mari. As others have said tilling is not necessarily needed. My tiller was never effective in this rocky, hard clay and usually just bounced all over creation so I stopped trying. I've been doing exactly what you did for the last two years with great results. I'm slowly reclaiming what I thought were impossible areas just by putting down a couple of layers of cardboard right overtop of thriving weeds and making sure it overlaps properly to prevent sunlight from penetrating. Then I cover that with a thick layer of mulch/dirt, etc... (heck, sometimes I don't even mulch if it's an area that isn't easily visible and won't be an eyesore. If there are already established plants in the area I just cardboard around them and pull whatever weeds may reach out around their bases. Otherwise I just wait until the weeds are dead before planting new things. Even if a few stray weeds or runners find a way through it's much easier to eliminate those few once all the rest are dead. I had an area that was completely taken over by wild blackberry vines taller than me. They spread 15 feet closer to the house in just one season! So I whacked everything to the ground and then blanketed with the cardboard in the summer and everything underneath is dead now(yay!) I have yet to find a chemical brush or weed killer that actually does what it's supposed to and kill the root of the annoying weed grasses, thorny vines, etc... This takes a little longer but will not waste your money or time like spraying. I also just borrowed a large rubber liner from a relative and I'm going to use that to try and retake my gravel driveway and parking area one section at a time. I have heard this "solarization" is not always recommended for areas where you intend to plant though because the heat will also kill the beneficial microbes & organisms that are in that soil. Weeds in gravel are an awful pain. I look forward to a day when we can afford to blacktop it. Sincerely, Danielle

Gle, rather than me recommending plants for your area, what do you think would work for the various plants? #1 -- tree #2 -- 8" - 15" groundcover or perennial #3 -- 3' - 3 1/2" height shrub #4 -- color

Are you on well water? Is your water from the Quabbin (Mass. Water Resource Authority) or a Town aquifer or local source ? Does your town or city have water restrictions in place right now? If I were starting a garden in MA (or several other parts of the country) I'd plant taking increased drought as a given. We've had less snow and less rain over the past decade. I'm not saying you need to plant yucca and desert plants; just don't buy really expensive trees that cannot go more than 3 weeks without watering. Here in Lexington MA, even with the MWRA (Quabbin reservoir) as a water source, we've been asked to 'scale back' water use because of severe pressure drop. I have a katsura and belatedly found out it does not like dryness when it dropped its leaves a month and half ago. I have several other trees I'm not willing to let die because of drought. I'm sure our water bill will be in the thousands this year. If nothing else, I hope this post drives home the fact that choosing landscaping materials appropriate to your climate and environment is part of design considerations.

Where do you live? What I would do would be to nurture the St Aug until it took over everything. In fact I'm doing that now. Clearly that is not your plan, so with that in mind, and after ruling out sod, I would seed with rye right now (since you missed doing it 3 months ago). The rye will put roots in the ground to stop erosion and will grow up fairly tall to provide shade to the soil. Those roots in the ground are going to be the organic material the soil needs. Then in June get a mix of three types of bermuda seed (Sahara, Princess, and Yukon) for the final lawn. Get 1/3 each of what you would need to cover the entire area and mix them together before seeding. The rye should have died off by then. June is a good time to seed bermuda if you live north of Florida, If you want to do a full renovation that would involve watering daily for a week to sprout all the weed seeds, spraying with Round Up, watering again for another week, spraying again with Round Up, leveling the surface to perfection, and then seeding right into the sandy soil. Roll the seed down with a roller and continue with the daily watering until you get 80% germination of the seed. Notice there is no rototilling involved. Rototilling will lead to a bumpy surface, although with sand it is much less of an issue. Always mow bermuda at the mower's lowest setting to get the most dense and walkable surface. For very best results fertilize it every month during the growing season, even in the summer. It loves the heat and fertilizer. To get the best seed buy online form either Hancock Seed or Bermudaseed.com