On Jul 30, 10:24*pm, "JimR" wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Jul 27, 12:14 pm, "Bob F" wrote:





Laurence wrote:
Hi, our current lawn is looking a bit tired and the garden needs
leveling off. I'm trying to work out if I need to remove the existing
lawn or can I just dig the whole lot over, level it out then put
topsoil and seed / turf.

Basically I'm looking for the easiest why to level out our bumpy
garden and get some nice grass down before next summer !

Thanks

Overseed, fertilize, water, and mow regularly. But don't mow short - use
the
mowers highest setting.

If you don't do the above, start there.

If you look back a month or so in this group, you will find another
thread where a similar question was asked and answered. * It comes up
frequently. * An important part of *the answer is it all depends on
what you have there now and how you want it to look to be satisfied.
If you have a decent amount of desirable grass, it's not disease
prone, you are not looking for a uniform look as far as texture and
color, the soil is OK, then overseeding could be the way to go. * On
the other hand, if you have a lot of crap, course grass that looks
like hell, then killing it off with Roundup and reseeding could be the
way to go. * Even if you decide to go that route, as long as the
topsoil is OK and off sufficient depth, then there is no need to till
it all up. * * You can spray it with Roundup, mow it short 7-10 days
later when it's dead, then go over it with a core aerator. * Add
topsoil in spots needed to level it out, then go over it with a slice
seeder to apply the new high quality seed.

The above advice is misleading at best -- the real answer is that it all
depends upon where you live and what type of grass you have. *


And here comes Jim, adding little, but jumping on others who provide
useful and correct advice. I clearly told Laurence that it depends
on what he has there now and how he wants it to look. Any reasonable
person would take that to include the type of grass.



Seeding is
rarely the best way to redo a lawn, and never the easiest way, which was the
question.

Total BS. He never asked for what was easiest. He asked if he needed
to remove the existing turf first or just till it and level. That
doesn't sound like someone looking for doing it the easy way. If
you want easy, just open the yellow pages and get a contractor to do
the whole job.

Seeding is both effective and relatively easy. I know because I've
done it many times,



In many parts of the U.S. there are no sources for seeds of the preferred
turf varieties such as varieties like floratam, bitter blue or palmetto -
sod and plugs are the only quality anwer.

That's true and for good reason. Those are St Augustine varieties,
which are warm season grasses and won't grow in 80% of the US.



You can either resod or use the
lower cost alternative of putting in plugs of the right variety and allowing
them to take over the bare spaces. *If you want to take care of a few rough
spots, just level the ruts, install a few plugs and let them take over. *It
won't be too long before you'll have a nice smooth lawn back.

And how are those grasses going to do in the UK? See any of it
growing there? If you bothered to look where his post originated,
and the terminology he used, ie "garden" for lawn, that's where it
appears he's from. You jump on me about grass type, then turn around
and rant about warm season grass plugs.



*For larger
areas, sod will give you almost instant gratification and a better lawn than
other choices.

Where do you think sod comes from? A sod factory? It's grown from
seed on a sod farm. It will give you no better a lawn than seeding
properly with the same seed yourself. It will however, cost a lot
more.

It is instant gratification, but again, I didn't see that mentioned as
a requirement. And it isn't easier than seeding. He can aerate,
add topsoil to low spots, then use a slice seeder to apply the seed.
You can do a 10,000 sq ft lawn easily in less than a day.

With sod, he has to do ALL the work that he had listed, ie he has to
till up the whole thing up and deal with the chopped up existing
turf. He apparently realizes that, hence his question about dealing
with the existing turf. Anyone who's attempted to level a lawn full of
dead grass clumps knows how much work that is. And then he has to lay
down the sod, which is no small task either.

Don't get me wrong. Sod can be a great solution depending on the
right application. But you have to weigh the cost/benefits and
figure out if it's right for you.



The people with the specific answers are not on Usenet, they're your local
Master Gardeners and extension service.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


If that's the case, why are you here giving answers? Isn't this
Usenet?

If you want to see what an extension service has to say, here's just
one example that is consistent with everything I outlined in my post
and applies to cool season grasses in the UK as well.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...re/DG3914.html


A simple googling of lawn renovation will produce many other
examples. Is suggest Laurence do that, then he can figure out who
knows what they're talking about.