I'm not sure if this belongs here but here we go...
Well yesterday I rototilled a area for my veggie garden,level it out and it looked good.
So Today I got to thinking to do the rest of the area to level it out and plant new grass.It needed it because there was a bunch of ankle breakers and a hill in the middle then after a heavy rain there would be a big puddle.
So I tilled the area today,I'm still workign on leveling it out,But I wanted some tips.
What should be my next steps after I level it how I want it?
I heard you should press the dirt down as it makes it to hard for the grass seed to grow,is this true?
Any info or recomendations would help alot,Thanks
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GardenWeasel
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opabinia51
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Well, if you have just tilled the grass, the roots will still be there. What you want to do is pull all the remaining grass tufts from the area. You don't want to tamp the soil down because that will destroy any air pockets that are in the soil and any porosity in the soil will be gone.
What I would do next is plant the vegetable garden. Some grass will still come up and you can remove that with a shovel.
In the fall, I would cover the area with mulched up leaves, followed by manure.
My apologies for the lateness of my response.
Oh, and what I have done in the past to replant an area that was previously grass is just go through with a shovel and either remove the grass and place it in the compost or simply turn it over and break up a bit. It takes a bit of time, and can be said to be hard work (though I don't think it is but, that's just me) but, it really works well.
Tilling tends to do all the things that pounding the soil down does and it breaks down soil aggregates which are a sign of soil health. And contrary to common belief, having a clay based (healthy) soil is better than having a sand based (healthy) soil. However, tilling tends to make clay soils, more clayey and sandy soils more sandy. What we want for healthy soils is to have whatever base we have with lots of organic matter in the form of soil aggregates.
Over time, worms will do all of the tilling and over working of soil that it will need.
What I would do next is plant the vegetable garden. Some grass will still come up and you can remove that with a shovel.
In the fall, I would cover the area with mulched up leaves, followed by manure.
My apologies for the lateness of my response.
Oh, and what I have done in the past to replant an area that was previously grass is just go through with a shovel and either remove the grass and place it in the compost or simply turn it over and break up a bit. It takes a bit of time, and can be said to be hard work (though I don't think it is but, that's just me) but, it really works well.
Tilling tends to do all the things that pounding the soil down does and it breaks down soil aggregates which are a sign of soil health. And contrary to common belief, having a clay based (healthy) soil is better than having a sand based (healthy) soil. However, tilling tends to make clay soils, more clayey and sandy soils more sandy. What we want for healthy soils is to have whatever base we have with lots of organic matter in the form of soil aggregates.
Over time, worms will do all of the tilling and over working of soil that it will need.