Removing small rocks and twigs for soil
Well…the sod didn’t work out it died. So I would like to plant grass seeds this weekend before it gets too cool. I noticed that my soil has lots of little pieces of twigs and small rocks. Perhaps this is the reason for the sod’s demise. Does anyone know of someone who can come and…
Well…the sod didn’t work out it died. So I would like to plant grass seeds this weekend before it gets too cool. I noticed that my soil has lots of little pieces of twigs and small rocks. Perhaps this is the reason for the sod’s demise. Does anyone know of someone who can come and remove most, if not all, of the debris and perhaps level the soil?
Right now’s the perfect time to seed. I reworked my back lawn in early spring, mixing in lots of dead leaves from over the winter with starter fertilizer and peat moss. Let it sit for a week, and the started seeding. The problem I ran into was flooding. We had a few storms that inundated my yard with water, and killed all the young grass. I had to plant shade tolerant seed to start with, so it was pretty fragile.
I’m going to try again this weekend and hope for the best. I’d like to have grass, but I have a feeling I should start researching into alternative ground cover that’s less labor intensive.
I used to have a great Brooklyn lawn:
http://www.brooklynrowhouse.com/house/backyard
It was a lot of work and it can be a heartbreaker during the hotter summer months if you don’t keep up with watering, the weeding, the feeding, the fungus, the bugs, etc.
After I got two energetic, digging puppies I gave up.
not true….once the soil is prepped properly (which I failed to do with the sod) and you don’t under or overwater, you can definitely have grass in Brooklyn. I’m still learning, but I’m sure next spring my outcome will be better than this year.
I take it from what everyone is say ing that … it is in fact possible to grow grass in Brooklyn? Everyone I have ever spoken to has told me not to bother trying, it won’t take in this area
Thank you all. Yes…your advice helped greatly. BTW, I purchased Scotts high traffic grass seed — due to my three children. Has anyone ever used it?
Yeah, we did sod (from Home Depot) this spring. It got trampled by the kids at a birthday party and under watered for part of the summer.
In some places it is just dormant and I expect now that we are more assiduous about watering (every rain-free day) it will recover in places where it rooted well in the first place. In others spots I decided on a fresh start.
We reseeded about 1/4 of it near the end of August and are pleased with the results so far.
As far as conditioning the soil we did the following:
1. Turned over the earth to a depth of about 18″
2. Removed a bucket of small rocks and a lot of roots from trees nearby.
3. Worked in more organic matter to the soil including some of the old sod shredded up fine and a big bag of peat moss from Lowes.
4. Added starter fertilizer and a lime.
I think #3 this is an important step we missed the first time with the sod. The soil here (glacial moraine) was supposedly good for farming as it is on the rest of Long Island, but there is a lot of clay in it and boosting the organic matter helps with the moisture retention that grass needs in particular…
I am not expert but wanted to share my experience…
Hope this helps.
Some small rocks and twigs won’t stop grass from growing. I’ve got grass growing in the gravel for my french drain. Maybe it was the mini heat wave that killed the sod.
This is a good time for seeding. Grass seed germinates best in temps below the low 70s and without hot afternoon sun. If you want a strong lawn next spring, loosen up the top few inches of soil with a tiller and throw in some peat moss and a starter fertilizer. Over-seed and cover it with a half inch of peat moss to hold it in place and so the birds don’t eat it. Keep it moist (but not soggy) until the grass sprouts. Water in the morning, not in the evening.
Next spring, give it a light dusting with lime.
just a note on grass seed, I’ve read that nice cool weather is the best time to plant because the grass will thrive but most weeds hate the cooler weather. It worked well for me last year. I just didn’t create enough coverage and left room for weeds to grow this year. My 4 year old got better results than me by piling seeds in one spot, so next time I’m going to lay them on thick.