preparing our front yard

[rottyguy70]

hello,

we are in the midst of tearing down some huge white pines from our front yard. we're chiping the branches. there are tons of chip. we're also looking to prepare areas in our front yard for planting (yews, other bushes, liriope, etc.). what's the best way to prepare a grassy area? we've chipped some of the trees on the grass and there's about 2-3 inches atop the grass. can we till the area with the grass resident? we have a lot of clay in our area. have read using organics is the best with some top soil.hu

any help appreciated.

thx!

[George.com]

To the best of my knowledge you may be best to remove as many of the chips as you can before you rotovate (if that is what you are doing) the soil. Apparently wood chips take nitrogen out of the soil as they degrade. They will also take some time to break down in the soil and male it more difficult for the grass to get started. I speak from some experience having felled some trees and ended up having to resow the lawn. In my opinion best use the chip as a mulch or compost it.

rob