OT: Seeding a bare area with grass seed revisited/update.

[DJ Spanky]

As some of you may recall, last fall I cleared out an area in my backyard bordering a state forest. Although time was short, based on advice from here I was able to seed one part of it in late October. (Well, 2 parts as Tyler wanted to do his own little area.) Anyway, the grass seed did germinate and we got some growth before we got our first snow at the end of November. Now the little area Tyler did is fine, as it's mostly level. However, the other is in on a slight slope, and there was a little runoff over the winter so it didn't fare so well. So the question is: What should I do with both those areas this spring? Should I put additional seed down on the larger area? Should I fertilize them? I was also thinking of adding a bit of soil to stabilize the sloped area.

This is a picture from last November, a little more than a week before our first snowfall. Tyler's little area is on the left.

I'll try to get an updated picture this weekend.

 

[phs73rc77gsm83]

Good for Tyler, that area came in pretty well, especially considering the conditions (slope, shade, rock). You could put down more seed but Fall is by far the better time to seed. Fine fescue generally does better in shade than most types. Poa trivialis would grow but is considered undesirable by most and I wouldn't put it down but thought I'd mention that in case someone else recommends that. There are some KBG cultivars that do better in the shade than others, you can google NTEP and check the Rutgers tests (although that was in full sun). You could top dress or try to level it and reseed in the Fall. Most turf people don't recommend nitrogen fertilizer until the grass greens up iself, probably not before mid May. You could try ground cover too. Good luck!

 

[DJ Spanky]

Alright, I'm gonna bump this, as it's looking like this weekend (as long as the rain stays south of Wayne) may actually allow me to get some work done back there. I have some rocks to move, some earth to move out of the area I'm gonna seed, I need to rake and screen that area to get rocks and debris out of it, and I also want to do something with those two areas I mentioned above. I'm heavily leaning towards putting down some fresh seed and adding just a bit of earth to the larger area. The smaller area I may just leave alone - need to look at it closer.

 

[John Otterstedt]

I used to be obsessed with my lawn. Here are my thoughts... I wouldn't seed in the spring if I was overly concerned with weeds (since you can't use your regular preemergent at seeding time) or if the seeding area was sunny (since you'd get die off once it got hot). However, given the location, you can totally get away with seeding now. In fact, in a very shady area, you can seed into the summer (and continue to seed areas that don't "take") as long as you water it.
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[DJ Spanky]

Here's a shot from today of the sloped area I seeded last fall:

 

[75liteweight]

Personally, I'd just scratch up the dirt a little, threw down some more seed with a little fertilizer and some lime. Then maybe cover with some hay to keep moist.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Took a shot of the area this morning - currently working on getting the rest of it prepped for seed. For now, I'm going to spread some more seed on it this weekend, with a little earth and some peat moss to protect it from the sun and retain moisture.

The earth in the sloped area is very.......choppy I guess is the best word to describe it. Not sure how I can smooth it out at this point without damaging the emerging grass. Screening a little more earth on it will probably help, but I may have to do something down the road to fix it up.

 

[RUScrew85]

I thought this was about the Blue lot.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Originally posted by RUScrew85:
I thought this was about the Blue lot.

Hey, we already have Rutgers Men's Basketball: we don't need another hopeless cause!

 

[FastMJ]

Why bother with grass in that spot? Why not just keep it natural looking?

 

[DJ Spanky]

Originally posted by FastMJ:
Why bother with grass in that spot? Why not just keep it natural looking?

Because I don't want to. Because I want to extend our narrow backyard. Because I have a whole, natural looking, state forest behind me.

 

[FastMJ]

Ok, got it. As you mentioned above, the area is pretty uneven. I would say if you really want it to be an extension of you backyard you should start by hiring a landscaper to excavate it and smooth it out before you waste time planting grass in an unworkable area.

 

[SkilletHead2]

I'd go with a deep green wool berber. It's a great look, no weeds, no mowing. You just can't go wrong.

 

[Dr. Potato]

My landscaper told me they have seen incredible results using cheap dish detergent as a wetting agent on lawns. Places grass just would not grow now have a nice lawn.

Mix one tablespoon of dish detergent to one gallon of water and spray the area. Something about it breaking down the oils in the soil so it holds nutrients and water. They said the trees and grass build up sap etc in the soil over time and this helps.

They say you can't hurt the lawn with this stuff so don't be shy with the application.

DO NOT use detergent with bleach in it..

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Feed Your Lawn. Feed it!

 

[DJ Spanky]

So this weekend, I spread a little bit of soil over a couple of the areas, put on starter fertilizer and grass seed, then put a layer of peat moss over all of it. We'll see how well that works. Did more work which I'll post about later.

Originally posted by RUforJERSEY:
Feed Your Lawn. Feed it!

Ya know, I initially didn't get this because I had never seen the Scott's commercial.

"I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

 

[jerzesurf]

Worx has a narrow wheelbarrow with 2 front wheels for stability and a net that you can place around big rocks to lift them off the ground by tilting the wheelbarrow and carry them on the wheelbarrow in the net to other locations. You said you hurt your shoulder. was this injury caused by lifting rocks?

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Originally posted by DJ Spanky:
So this weekend, I spread a little bit of soil over a couple of the areas, put on starter fertilizer and grass seed, then put a layer of peat moss over all of it. We'll see how well that works. Did more work which I'll post about later.

Originally posted by RUforJERSEY:
Feed Your Lawn. Feed it!

Ya know, I initially didn't get this because I had never seen the Scott's commercial.

"I don't care who you are, that's funny right there."

And I butchered it. It's actually "seed your lawn; seed it."

 

[vkj91]

You live in a townhouse....why are you doing anything? Sit on the deck, drink some scotch, and wait for the landscapers to arrive. Wants the point of HOA if you need to plant your own grass?

 

[DJ Spanky]

Originally posted by vkj91:
You live in a townhouse....why are you doing anything? Sit on the deck, drink some scotch, and wait for the landscapers to arrive. Wants the point of HOA if you need to plant your own grass?

The landscapers wouldn't touch this. I'm not even sure that once the grass grows in they'll cut it - we'll see. Besides, this was all brush and rock before I cleared it last fall - and it's fun to see something you accomplish yourself.

Originally posted by jerzesurf:
Worx has a narrow wheelbarrow with 2 front wheels for stability and a net that you can place around big rocks to lift them off the ground by tilting the wheelbarrow and carry them on the wheelbarrow in the net to other locations. You said you hurt your shoulder. was this injury caused by lifting rocks?

Actually my bicep injury was caused by that - the shoulder injury has been something lingering for a long time. I checked that out - I don't think that wheelbarrow is made for something this massive. From my rough calculations, this particular rock I was trying to roll down from the state forest was probably north of 800 pounds.
This post was edited on 4/15 9:37 AM by DJ Spanky

 

[DJ Spanky]

As promised, here's the other work I did this past weekend:

The rock.....

.....my nemesis from last fall has fallen to my obsession! Tyler and I moved it Saturday - here's some pics:

Half rotation:

Full rotation:

One and a half rotations:

And here is Sisyphus, er, Tyler, pushing the rock up the hill:

I'm sure DYFS will be contacting me soon about child labor abuse.

Here it is, ready to be placed. Tyler's keeping an eye on it just in case it tries to escape.

And the rock, in position. I probably rolled it in and out of position 8-10 times, until I got it sitting just right.

Last, but not least, finally finished. I brought the two stones next to it down from the forest also. I had actually brought a third stone down initially to fit next to that big rock, but when I dropped it in, the damn thing split. Ugh! So I had to find another stone that was just the right shape back there.

This post was edited on 4/15 1:05 PM by DJ Spanky

 

[DJ Spanky]

Well, this part is done. Raked out and screened the remaining area, decided to go about a foot-and-a-half past those two trees, worked in most of two bags of compost/mulch, two bags of top soil, and a little over half a bag of peat moss. Actually went back to the area between the roots and worked in some more soil/compost/peat moss. Here are some pictures from around 3:00.

Work in progress:

The helpers:

Finished:

I built a temporary rock wall along the left to keep the earth from washing while the seed is germinating/growing.

The last area:

The redone root area:

And an overall shot:

This evening, I put down the grass seed, worked it in a little bit, then Tyler and Corey helped me spread a layer of peat moss over it. We then watered it, and as it was getting dark I put the stakes in and tied the string. I'll get some finished shots tomorrow morning.

It's gonna be a pain in the butt to water, so I may hit Home Depot and see if I can get some kind of misting nozzle or want.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Well, the search functionality isn't working, as it was not able to find this thread. Anyway, this gives me a chance to try out posting a picture.

Anyway, here's a picture of the finished product so far. Yesterday's rain washed out a bit of it - damn, 2 inches in less than a day - so I'll have to fix it up this weekend.

 

[DJ Spanky]

So I wanted to come back to this given the advice that was shared with me. I ended up working on the last area two weekends later after finishing that middle area. I finished that on the weekend of May 10th/11th. Anyway, here's a shot while I was working on it in the beginning of May - you can see the grass in the middle section is coming in, and the grass in the two sections from last fall has really taken off:

And here's from the 15th:

I now need to worry about cutting it, as I don't want the landscapers to maul it. I'm thinking about getting a manual push mower as it should be easy to store.

 

[jerzesurf]

Go to Worx.com and view the aerocart . It has a strap attachment that lifts boulders. Tyler does not have to push boulders around ! Phone number for this cart is 800 599 3847