Hi everyone.
I just moved into a new place in San Diego, California with my family. One of the things we promised in order to get the place was put in a lawn, and I'm looking for tips and advice on how to do it without hiring a contractor.
Some information:
-Total area is approx. 500 square feet
-The depth is at most 2-3 inches, usually less.
-The soil below is nutrient poor clay and very very hard.
-Water and sun aren't hard to come by in SoCal! (well, maybe water)
I want to try to get this done as cheaply as possible, so I was thinking of getting a ton of topsoil and spreading it out over the lawn, then planting seeds.
What I would like to know is if anyone has specific advice or tips on how to get the grass set up so it can grow.
Is there a decent quality grass seed that can handle 1--3 inches of topsoil only?
What other precautions should I take so it doesn't become a failure?
Attached are two pictures of the area (excuse the mess!)
Thank you!
First picture is of the depth, the second is a general view.
Ideas for new lawn
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ReptileAddiction
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- Posts: 866
- Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
- Location: Southern California
Personally, I would spend the extra money and put sod in. It will take a lot more effort to grow the lawn from seed and about 3 years of it growing and not looking all that finished. If you do sod by the end of the day you will have a gorgeous lawn. Another thing to consider is that when you first plant seed you will not be able to walk on it for at least 6 months if not more.
"Topsoil" you get is really not all that good of stuff. If you can get something like compost in bulk and spread about a 3 inch layer over the whole area and till it in then you will be in much better shape than if you just dump topsoil on top. Usually what they sell as topsoil is just clay cut with sand.
It also does not look like you have any irrigation system in place. I highly recommend doing this before you plant the lawn. It will make your life much easier.
Once you start watering the soil and taking care of it it will soften up quite a bit and be much easier to work.
I also live in San Diego.
"Topsoil" you get is really not all that good of stuff. If you can get something like compost in bulk and spread about a 3 inch layer over the whole area and till it in then you will be in much better shape than if you just dump topsoil on top. Usually what they sell as topsoil is just clay cut with sand.
It also does not look like you have any irrigation system in place. I highly recommend doing this before you plant the lawn. It will make your life much easier.
Once you start watering the soil and taking care of it it will soften up quite a bit and be much easier to work.
I also live in San Diego.
I agree with the compost mixture. I put a lawn in our back yard a bit over a year ago and growing it from seed was pretty cheap and easy.
Our back yard was a pit of weeds, and all of northern Virginia is nothing but dense red clay. I killed the weed pit with herbicide, raked it all up, and put down a thin layer of garden soil/compost mixture. I didn't need much over the clay, just enough to give the seedlings a little extra vigor. Less than an inch. Then I used the Scotts seed with the brown sort of mulch in the bag. It's more expensive, but honestly that stuff will grow over an asphalt pad if you want it to.
I started my lawn at the beginning of fall, when the daytime temperature dropped to the 70s, and watered the hell out of it every day as soon as the sun went down. Our lawn was thick, green, and beautiful before the first frost and came back this year with a vengeance.
My zone is a lot different than yours, zone 7 on the cusp of zone 6, which surely helped. If you want to save the money and try to start from seed, I'd highly recommend waiting for mild temperatures if at all possible.
Our back yard was a pit of weeds, and all of northern Virginia is nothing but dense red clay. I killed the weed pit with herbicide, raked it all up, and put down a thin layer of garden soil/compost mixture. I didn't need much over the clay, just enough to give the seedlings a little extra vigor. Less than an inch. Then I used the Scotts seed with the brown sort of mulch in the bag. It's more expensive, but honestly that stuff will grow over an asphalt pad if you want it to.
I started my lawn at the beginning of fall, when the daytime temperature dropped to the 70s, and watered the hell out of it every day as soon as the sun went down. Our lawn was thick, green, and beautiful before the first frost and came back this year with a vengeance.
My zone is a lot different than yours, zone 7 on the cusp of zone 6, which surely helped. If you want to save the money and try to start from seed, I'd highly recommend waiting for mild temperatures if at all possible.