Greetings. I have been looking for answers on my gardening questions,
and although I'm close, there's one huge question I have left to
answer. First, the details.

I live in Burbank, CA (semi-arid, lost of sandy soil, tons of sun, not
much rain, but not a desert).

I have a front yard that is relatively small (2 areas 10' x 15') with 3
large well established trees (one is a maple, the other two I'm not
sure). When I moved in 3 years ago, the yard was totally overgrown with
crab grass. The owner seemed to think this was a "lawn".

I want to replant the whole thing with something fairly hearty and
drought tolerant, but at least a grass and not a weed. The plan was to
kill with round up (done), and remove the old dead crab grass, and
plant new grass.

However, the step I'm on is removal of crab grass and prepping the
soil, which in normal circumstances requires tilling (which almost
everyone says "NO TILLING AROUND TREES").

My question is.... what then? How do you prep soil for grass? I
understand grass and trees do compete for water, etc, but my yard is so
small that if I leave room around the trees, I just have a brown front
yard!

Is there a good alternative to tilling around trees? Just how bad is it
to till? Should I kiss my shade trees goodbye?

If this question has been answered already (I searched google already)
I won't be offended by links that might help point me in the right
direction.

Thanks,

P

If your maples are mature or maturing, grass will be difficult to grow under
them. (They usually have very shallow root systems that out compete grass -
plus dense shade). Maybe, at least under their driplines, you should
consider a somewhat drought tolerant ground cover, such as vinca, or
pachysandra, or else put a barrier there and simply put bark under the
trees, and plant grass to the outside of the dripline.
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Greetings. I have been looking for answers on my gardening questions,
and although I'm close, there's one huge question I have left to
answer. First, the details.

I live in Burbank, CA (semi-arid, lost of sandy soil, tons of sun, not
much rain, but not a desert).

I have a front yard that is relatively small (2 areas 10' x 15') with 3
large well established trees (one is a maple, the other two I'm not
sure). When I moved in 3 years ago, the yard was totally overgrown with
crab grass. The owner seemed to think this was a "lawn".

I want to replant the whole thing with something fairly hearty and
drought tolerant, but at least a grass and not a weed. The plan was to
kill with round up (done), and remove the old dead crab grass, and
plant new grass.

However, the step I'm on is removal of crab grass and prepping the
soil, which in normal circumstances requires tilling (which almost
everyone says "NO TILLING AROUND TREES").

My question is.... what then? How do you prep soil for grass? I
understand grass and trees do compete for water, etc, but my yard is so
small that if I leave room around the trees, I just have a brown front
yard!

Is there a good alternative to tilling around trees? Just how bad is it
to till? Should I kiss my shade trees goodbye?

If this question has been answered already (I searched google already)
I won't be offended by links that might help point me in the right
direction.

Thanks,

P