akriverrat
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 9:08 pm
Location: peters creek alaska

new lawn

Hello all, I purchased a home last fall and am now in the process of thinning the trees and plan on putting a lawn out front. This place is madly overgrown with birch, cottonwood, spruce and alder. All the cottonwood must go, a few mature birch and spruce will stay and I might leave an alder patch out back for green Alder for the smokehouse. Anyway, they place hasn't been raked in upteen years so I'm gettin all that done up and plan on pulling stumps. So the thin vegetation mat that is left behind, what is the best way to deal with that? Is there a way I can kill it off without harming the remaining trees? I'll have to bring in some fill then topsoil, I'm thinking leaving the vegetation mat isn't a good idea.

The Helpful Gardener
Mod
Posts: 7491
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

A quick shot of vinegar before you backfill will knock down the worst of the vegetation (the tops anyway) and I don't see a big downside to leaving it if you are covering with two layers of soil (fill, then topsoil).

Think about adding a compost topdressing to that when you seed; tune into Jeff Lowenfel's radio show for tips why, and tell Jeff we sent you...

HG



Return to “Lawn Care”