Help with redoing the lawn (sod on bad, rocky ground)

[Steveo]

Hey WA3MOJ, why do you follow me around to different newsgroups like a lost leg-humping puppy? Do you have a lawn or garden question? Or are you just here to harass?

[I Am Not George]

i am here for the truth as mr. plummer found out you are a hothead and a stalker who will harass people at there homes.

[Steveo]

Mr Plummer has no problem with me. I just want to see the turf-type tall fescue that has 3-4 foot roots. Sounds good.

You on the other-hand are sick in the dome, and chase me around Usenet in order to harass.

[Landshark]

It must be nice to feel loved :P

Landshark

[I Am Not George]

have i come to your home? have I posted your court records? have i posted your work address and phone number? no, but YOU have done all that to people and you havent even got the guts to come out of hiding with your real name and address. you sir are the one harassing and you have no excuse.

[tmtresh]

I agree. If you have rocky soil, you wouldn't want to till amendments into it for grass, just put topsoil/compost on top. Compost is usually more expensive than topsoil, but many times topsoil doesn't have organic matrerial. I would mix the two 50/50. Let the grass grow in good soil. To stay away from chemicals, the tarp/black plastic method is advised.

[FGreen]

Thanks Timothy, and others, for responses. I'm learning.

I decided to use 'some' chemicals before redoing the lawn. I feel like I missed the boat for seeding (in terms of timing), since it's getting warm here in New England.

For sodding, can it be done in June, maybe even July and be ok?

Now, this is my plan of action

1. Rototill the existing lawn
2. Cover it up (~1000 ft^2) with tarp to kill the weeds (and whatever else was growing with weeds) - ~2 weeks?
3. Put in some new top soil
4. Apply weed killer chemicals
5. Re-sod
6. Water
7. Water more ...

Step 1 can be d>

[tmtresh]

If you are going to put topsoil on top, there is no need to rototill. Save yourself some work, and just cover the grass/weeds up with a tarp. Also, the topsoil shouldn't have any weed seeds, and even if it does, the sod should suffiently cover them up so they won't germinate. There shouldn't be any reason to use chemical weedkillers. If you're worried about weeds sprouting in the edges of the strips of sod, just use corn gluten meal (found at a local feed store) to inhibit seed germination.

[Steveo]

Good luck finding sterilized top soil, except maybe in bags.

[Timothy]

If I was hired to do the job I would:

1 spray the whole lawn area with finale. 2 wait 2/ 3 days for the finale to kick in. 3 spread 10+ yards of topsoil and lay sod. 4 Fertilize with 16-16-16 , water and hand you a bill 80)

As far as tarps and the like go... It takes quite a while for tarping to kill off perennial weeds. Time is something that you do not have so spraying will be your only true option. Dandy lions and other perennial weeds can and most likly will work their way up through the sod over time. I personally wouldn't chance it and would take the extra effort to do it right the first time.

Btw, what they charging you for sod out there..? Good luck to ya.......

[FGreen]

Makes sense. I'll just spray either Finale (can't find it?) or Weed-B-Gone and wait a week or so, cover it with top soil, and sod over it.

For sod, they're charging somewhere between $3-4 for 9 sq. ft (6'x1.5'). So, for ~1400 sq. ft. I'm looking at (my initial guess was off), the sod alone would be ~$600. Not sure how much top soil would cost to cover the area.

Does anyone know where to get top soil in Massachusetts?