Help me redo my front yard!?
Question:I don't have experience landscaping but would rather try than pay out big bucks if I can do it myself. My yard has alot of weeds growing and the yard is no longer flat, but rather sloping. My questions are..
1-Do I need to rent a bobcat?
2-Should I 1st tear out existing grass to put down soil in order to put down sods?
3-Can I realistically do this myself?
Please be specific as possible. The area I would like to do is approximately 60ft by 60ft. Thanks.
Answers:
First, kill all grass and weeds with Round Up or similar product. After a week, spend a few more days giving it a deep watering so the soil is nice and loose. Then NO bobcat. You can rent a rototiller from the Tool rental yard. Amend existing soil with a topsoil or other amendment while tilling. Level with a leveling rake and compact with a sod roller. Then, you can decide if you want new grass, plants, trees, bricks, etc. I have done this to my yard a number of times, and as a matter of fact, am doing it again. There are some really good books you can find at Home Depot or Lowes by Sunset, Ortho, or others that are extremely helpful. You can pay someone but you get more satisfaction when you DIY.
This is what I would do:
Get some dirt delivered and spread it / grade it out over the low areas, right over the existing grass, leaving the higher areas
Seed the areas, make sure you cover it with straw or Penn Mulch or something and keep it moist. Watering should be done three times a day for short amounts of time.
After the lawn is established, call a fertilizer company for a weed & feed application. It will kill the weeds off and fertilizes the lawn. You'll be amazed how much that helps, but make sure they use liquid weed control. That dry stuff you can buy at the store takes too long! It would probably only cost about $25.00 to treat that area.
The weed control will kill grass seed, so make sure you wait to do the weed & feed about 45 days after your new grass pops.
Do you really want grass?? You will have to work hard to get it, feed and weed it and then you get to mow it. Maybe grab some landscaping books from your library and get some ideas. This is an investment in your future time and money. Make it something that really 'works' for you, not the other way around!
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