Can I redo my lawn with a box blade?

ctgoldwing · Mar 19, 2011

My lawn (generous description of the weeds) needs to be redone. We are getting the house 'in order' so we can put it on the market and the lawn is one of the first impressions. . .

The only implement I have that might to the job is a 5' box blade. Will the scarifiers rip up everything without having to go over it 10 times? The other option is a 3 point rototiller. I have always enjoyed gardening and even if we move I see use for it in the future. btw our timeframe for getting out is within the next 3 years. A friend suggested a york rake but I'm not sure that would really churn things up.

Suggestions?

jenkinsph · Mar 19, 2011

A tiller should be great for making a seedbed and then use the boxblade to smooth it out. I use a pine straw rake to cover seed now it seems to be just right for covering the seed and leaving the ground smooth too. Available from Everything Attachments | Skid Steer Attachments, Tractor Attachments, 3 Point Hitch Attachments, and Farm Tractor Implements.

jgrieve · Mar 19, 2011

If you could rent or borrow a tractor mounted rototiller it would be real nice if it fits in your yard. They work slick. box blade shoud work nice watch out for too much compaction from tractor tires.

TripleR · Mar 19, 2011

I would not want to try it with only a box blade. We reworked our back yard last year and I used the scarifiers on my 7' Land Pride to break the ground up and then tilled it with my BX and a 50" LP tiller. I got a really good seed bed.

I bought my tiller some time ago, but if I had it to do over, I would probably just rent no more often than I use it.

If you can find one of these to rent, they look really nice.

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638 · Mar 19, 2011

What exactly is wrong with your lawn? Weeds, bumpy, low spots, bare spots? Without knowing what you have, nobody can really recomend what you should do! Weeds, just spray for them. Low spot or dips, a little sand or loose loam and seed. If all hard packed clay, till in a lot of peat moss, sand, and then sod, or seed & straw. Tell us what you have, then the experts will make sugestions. You could do what the people did before we bought our place. Just sod over your present yard, make it look good by keeping it watered, and let the buyer worry about it. Guess how I know about this way.

ctgoldwing · Mar 20, 2011

638 said:
What exactly is wrong with your lawn? Weeds, bumpy, low spots, bare spots? Without knowing what you have, nobody can really recomend what you should do! Weeds, just spray for them. Low spot or dips, a little sand or loose loam and seed. If all hard packed clay, till in a lot of peat moss, sand, and then sod, or seed & straw. Tell us what you have, then the experts will make sugestions. You could do what the people did before we bought our place. Just sod over your present yard, make it look good by keeping it watered, and let the buyer worry about it. Guess how I know about this way.

Thanks for all the responses. Well in answer to your question 638 the only thing I can say about my lawn is it is mostly green, sometimes. I tried using some Scotts product a couple of years ago (weed & feed???) and ended up with dirt

I am not someone obsessed with a lawn. In fact I don't like even thinking about it. Its been neglected for 20 years and at this point it looks like the only option is to start over - If sod wasn't so expensive I would do that & be done with it.

Right now I am looking at it as a fun project. If I end up with a tiller I will most certainly start my gardening again.

Dutch445 · Mar 21, 2011

Like others said, start with an assessment of what
you have now. Have you done a soil test?
start there, and then you can address proper nutrients
etc before you spend a lot of money and end up with
poor results.
it may be as easy as lime/fertilizer and overseeding and
before you know it you are wondering why you did all
that cuz you have to mow so often!

METinPA · Mar 22, 2011

Since you didn't have good results with your lawn, as someone else suggested what should probably do is get a soil test and see if the soil needs anything. I think that Lowe's sell's a home kit for under 20 bucks, but I don't know how accurate the thing is. I used a rented 3 point rototiller on mine. It worked fine to loosen up the soil, and also bring up every rock in the vicinity as well. I went over the soil twice with the tiller. Once I got all of the rocks out, I put down fertilizer and seed (a couple hundred pounds on 3 or so acres), rolled it in with a hand roller, spread straw (at least 200 bales) and everything came up fine. I did it in sections over a period of two or three months due to the area involved. Luckily, we had one of the wettest summers on record, that helped me from having to use my well too much. That was two years ago and it is doing good. I recommend those sprinkers on legs that stand about 4 feet high if you have a big area to water.