STARTING A LAWN ON NEW HOME SITE

SCOTTO · Aug 26, 2002

I can see that there is a lot of knowledge on this site. Can anyone tell me how to get a lawn started at a new home site? I just built a house on a 10 acre parcel in the rural Chicago area. The land was previously a corn/soybean field. I built the house high and had to truck in numerous loads of clay fill to backfill and rough grade. At this point I do not have top soil/black dirt on top. I have been cutting the weeds low to keep them under control. What needs to be done before final grading with top soil? My plan is to seed about a 150 foot radius around the house. I have a 33 hp compact tractor with loader. What implements will I need to use for final prep work and seeding? how deep does the top soil need to be? When is the best time to seed? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

theboman · Aug 26, 2002

All the top soil you can get. 2" for grass seems what I was told last year.
Keep cuttin' those weeds and keep them in a nice big pile. Add leaves from your place or have your friends bring them over and anything that will rot (minus meat products), turn it over everyonce and a while, and make it good and wet occasionally, you're now in the compost business and a yard loves compost.

Lots of water. Lots of straw when it gets sewing time and seems the fall and spring are the best times to get started.

mrolson · Aug 26, 2002

Welcome to the area Scott ! I am not far from you and had the same project. We just love the Frankfort/Green Garden Clay /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I would kill all the weeds, level off the clay, and then spread 2-3” top soil. The best time to do this is coming up soon. Cooler temps and more rain in sept give the grass a good start before winter.

To level off the site you can start with a box blade and then move to a rear blade. But the problem that I found with the “fill” is that the clay settles, is very hard, and clumped up. I leveled as best I could and then let god work on it for a while. I could then level it out much easier. How long has the fill been sitting ? (because we haven’t had any rain to speak of this summer). Another option is a Harley power rake on Bob Cat, my neighbor has one and it works great. That’s really the way to go if time is a factor.

frank_f15 · Aug 27, 2002

scott: so many questions. but will try to ans as best i can. the 1st thing u want to do is to grade away from the house, a slow easy pitch is the way to go, u can do with only 1 or 2 in of decent dirt, seed it and use starter fert. and keep it moist(not flooded) best time to see is spring and fall, but i just got a good cover of gass to grow in july and aug. just needs a little TLC.

bubenberg · Aug 28, 2002

unless you want to do allot of extra work: such as watering feeding, covering, the life cycle of a plant such as grass is plant in late summer, the plant has to first develop a good root system and that happens during the dormant season, we call winter time. grass seeded in spring unless you do allot of extra work has a survival rate of around 33%.

depending on your local climate, which you can check with your local ag extension agent for no cost, is now until the very begin of november (atlantic and central east coast).

good luck