Hay field to garden in a year -- best method?

[pinkheadedbug]

We are building a new home in a 20+ acre hay field, currently planted with VERY well established alfalfa, cow-vetch and extremely tough grass.

Pictures here:
http://flickr.com/photos/pinkheadedbug/sets/72157594188266483/

Around the house the ground is being dug up for foundation & geothermal and then backfilled to rough grade. I have a box scraper to level it.

We want to replant most of the acreage with a softer pasture mix, some of which will end up as lawn and some as pasture for horses (eventually).

Topsoil is good loam atop a clay/sand mix with plenty of limestone rocks.

I have a Kubota 43xx, a box spreader, a blade and a Bush Hog.

I was thinking box spreader to get everything to grade, then rototill, then maybe roller, then seed.

My biggest question is what it will take to get rid of the existing alfalfa etc which looks completely bulletproof.

I could get one of the neighbouring farmers to plough and disk if necessary.

In Southern Ontario (just south of Georgian Bay) if that helps.

 

[slowrev]

If you are going to to do the whole area, roundup works nice.

 

[Egon]

For 20 acres plowing and disking would work well. This would take care of any growing grass and level the field quite a bit. If more serious leveling is desired pulling a long drag of some sort at an angle will also help level.

Dormant grass seed will be around and will sprout quite well. Sometimes cultivating - let seeds sprout - cultivate - let seeds sprout scenario for a summer and seed in the early fall or wait over winter and spring seed will work. A cover crop when seeding may also be advisable to help protect the new grass.

 

[neverenough]

Alfalfa, by no means, is bullet proof. Actually, alfalfa is very sensitive in some respects. Alfalfa freezes out VERY easily. IF you cut alfalfa short, then have a winter with little snowfall, it will literally wipe out the whole field. One way to give you a good chance to get a good lawn in one year is spray herbiside on the grass/alfalfa, let it kill it off completely, the turn the soil. Keep the soil weed free by turning it as late into the fall as possible. Heavily seed the area with with your seed of choice, then by late spring, you should have a good start on the new lawn.

 

[john_bud]

I could get one of the neighbouring farmers to plough and disk if necessary.

QUOTE]


Tell the neighboring farmer he can bail the field in exchange for ploughing and disking in the fall.

jb