I found the following in the home repair ng. Not sure which gardening group this fellow subscribes to but it sure sounds like he's got his work cut out for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi:
>
> Not much activity on the gardening newsgroup, so I am posting here. >
> I am planning on overseeding a backyard that hasn't been maintained in
> over 5 years. Lots of weeds, brush, and some 5-9 ft tall sapling, thin
> trees sprung up. I'll use a machete or briar axe to chop down the
> brush and weeds. Then I will mow the grass very short, and use a
> thatching rake to scrub the lawn of thatch and the mulch leftover by
> the lawnmower. Afterward, I will apply 1/4 inch of topsoil, rake in
> the topsoil, add seeds, and rake in the seeds. Then of course water a
> couple of time a day. Does this sound correct?
>
> I need advice on what to use for uprooting the woody weeds and the
> sapling trees. I assume I take a hand held spade and just dig in and
> uproot. Or do I have to go deeper? Do I have to take out the entire
> root, or will it just die if I take out the large , main roots?
>
> And should I wait til it rains before I do any of this work? Been dry
> the past week, but there will be 3 consecutive days of rain starting
> Wednesday. I thought of doing the brush and weed cutting/chopping
> today and tomorrow and wait til Sunday for the uprooting of the woody
> weeds and trees after the rain has stopped. Might be difficult to
> uproot with dry, hard soil.
>
> Can I also put down the topsoil and seeds while the ground is wet? i
> am still in the planning stages, and don't actually have any of the
> equipment( spreader, thatching rake, machete, soil, seed, spade or
> uprooting tool), which will all be manual. I received an estimate for
> 5 thousand dollars for plowing and reseeding....seed cost not
> included. But if I overseed myself, this could cost me a couple
> hundred dollars and lots of burned calories.
>
> Also, should I use a drop or spread seeder( Scotts)?
>
> Thanks