Construction of house is done... need lawn.... now what?

[Old Red]

Sunbelt rentals. They have Harley rakes for rent. It will make you lawn as smooth as glass. Mine was the roughest lawn out there when I first moved here. I killed all the vegetation and Harley raked entire lawn and she is smooth as glass now. You can rent them fairly easy.

 

[bcraley]

If I were to rent a harley rake and tractor or bobcat could I get this done in a couple of days, remembering that I don't have experience ever using a harley rake?

 

[2ndhalf]

Welcome fellow Ohioan.. First off.. how long ago did you finish the final grade on everything, septic, well or powerlines etc. If it was recent I would say do nothing this year. I would mow weeds or pay to have it bush hogged for the summer and then this time next year do your yard.

People get in to big a hurry to have grass before things settle and then they have leach bed dips, well line dips etc. You yard needs a full winter to settle. If it was done and graded before winter you should be fine.

I would just call LD1 and get an estimate; for some reason I think he does that at least on the side, not positive though.

BTW.. I used to work at Sunbury in the old Nestle Beverage Co. Great little town and area.

 

[Old Red]

If I were to rent a harley rake and tractor or bobcat could I get this done in a couple of days, remembering that I don't have experience ever using a harley rake?

I'm sorry....I guess I didn't catch that you do not already own a tractor or bobcat......

But yes, for 1.5-2.0 acres....if you went to Sunbelt Rentals and rented a Bobcat along with their power rake and trailer (they will also deliver) on a Friday evening....woke up saturday morning and got to work until Monday morning pick up or drop back off you should have ample time to get that job completed very easily. And you will have smooth as glass lawn to mow at full speed on whatever lawn mower you end up mowing with. Just make sure all vegetation has been "roundup'd"....."burned down" so that you can have maximum efficiency when you get started with the power rake. If you do not already own a tractor, renting the bobcat would be much quicker than using the tractor. Here are some phots of my process.

 

[2ndhalf]

Sunbelt rentals. They have Harley rakes for rent. It will make you lawn as smooth as glass. Mine was the roughest lawn out there when I first moved here. I killed all the vegetation and Harley raked entire lawn and she is smooth as glass now. You can rent them fairly easy.

Red did you have to grade your lawn after killing your grass or did the Harley rake also do the filling in of holes etc. I have a very rough side yard that I'm thinking of ripping and replacing part of.

 

[Old Red]

The beauty of the Harley rake is that it acts as a s tiller and box blade all in one device. It fills in low spots and cuts down high spots....including filling in holes.

I used the bobcat brand soil conditioner...several youtube videos on it.

 

[bcraley]

Welcome fellow Ohioan.. First off.. how long ago did you finish the final grade on everything, septic, well or powerlines etc. If it was recent I would say do nothing this year. I would mow weeds or pay to have it bush hogged for the summer and then this time next year do your yard.

People get in to big a hurry to have grass before things settle and then they have leach bed dips, well line dips etc. You yard needs a full winter to settle. If it was done and graded before winter you should be fine.

I would just call LD1 and get an estimate; for some reason I think he does that at least on the side, not positive though.

BTW.. I used to work at Sunbury in the old Nestle Beverage Co. Great little town and area.

LD1???

 

[bcraley]

We moved into the house 2nd week of January. it was rough graded and all lines were back filled the week we moved in.

 

[ovrszd]

You are going to get a lot of settling where trenching/hoeing was done. Those areas need packed using whatever tool you might have. Could even be done by driving your pickup truck up and down the trenches.

Were it me I'd spend the next 6 months smoothing, leveling, packing. Then in August or September depending on location I'd seed. By then you should have pool table quality. Don't let vegetation grow this Summer. Can be controlled by chemicals or continued tillage/smoothing. Watch where the water goes during this time. If you don't like that path start working toward moving the drainage pathways.

 

[forgeblast]

When I was working for a landscaper we would rake. Hours upon hours of just raking.
If there was a lot of stone he would get a Rockhound - RockHound Landscape Rake This worked really great in our pa soils.
Then we would walk though and pull any large stone we missed and rake.
When seeding we would lime the soil and then had a push spreader and go back and forth. Then we would throw straw all over, bigger jobs we would borrow someones straw "gun", it hooked on the back of a truck and shredded a straw bale and threw it around the yard. Then it was the home owners job to water etc... Once it thaws get working on it you do not want to give the weed seeds a chance to get established.