The lot was pretty rough when the demolition was done. I estimate the soil was 6″ lower than the driveways on either side. The rules specify that the clean fill has to be at least 18″ below the surface, with soil between that and the top. But below 18″ remains the basement walls (brick, like mine) and “clean fill” – anything that won’t deteriorate over time and cause the ground to sink: cement, bricks, rocks, sand, soil, the entire 2-story chimney. The soil is not particularly great either. The back and front yard soil is the good black dirt that is also in my yard. However the fill from the demolition was clay. And to make matters worse, the heavy machinery compacted the soil tremendously.
Filling, Grading, and Seeding
I hired a company to do the finish fill and grading. They would till and remove the remaining junk (large rocks, bricks, large roots and branches), fill, grade and then plant grass over two days. After they spread the grass seed, they would put on a couple of layers of plastic mesh with straw to keep the seed from blowing and washing out. That work started August 31st and was finished later that afternoon.
Rhizomatous Tall Fescue (RTF) Grass
RTF is a hybrid that is used on golf course roughs and is supposed to require less water and fertilizer. Since there’s no shade on the lot, that seemed like a good bet. I was concerned that it would be too coarse, but it’s coming in very fine. My neighbor, who does golf course maintenance, assures me that if I let it get too tall, it will indeed get coarse and be difficult to cut. So… no procrastinating on the mowing. Actually the mowing goes really fast since there are so few turns – unlike my yard, which feels like ALL turns!
No-Mow Fine Fescue
I’ve been planting a fine no-mow fescue in my yard, and I love it. It’s fine and delicate – but it doesn’t stand up to the heat or weeds very well. In the back yard it grows lushly in the shade of the fence, for example. I think I should be over-seeding every spring and fall to keep it going well — since it doesn’t spread.
Watering & Equipment
The day the grass was planted, I started watering twice a day. I needed two sprinklers because one wouldn’t cover the entire area. Once they got started, I realized that, although they were able to be adjusted in one orientation, they couldn’t be adjusted the other; they were always watering full-width. I was watering where it didn’t actually need to be watered, while a narrow strip was left dry. I ordered a timer that would water twice a day with 2 hose outputs to run one after the other, but found that didn’t work because it would only run in 12-hour intervals. So it would run either too early or too late. 6am too early, 7pm too late. The company that seeded provided a nifty professional timer, but even after watching multiple YouTube videos about it, I couldn’t get the time of day programmed and consistent – and it just didn’t work. (The rest of the settings were logical, once understood, and should have worked fine.)
Lessons learned:
- Either get the cheapest sprinklers and plan to move them around and hand-water in some areas, because that’s what I ended up doing.
OR
Buy sprinklers that are able to be configured both directions: side-to-side and front-to-back. - Similarly, get a hose splitter and dedicate yourself to starting and stopping the water manually twice a day for a half-hour or so.
OR
Buy a high-end professional timer with as many outputs as you have hoses/sprinklers — one that allows you to set different times twice a day and shut down watering in case it rains for hours and hours.
Since this is a short-term project, I’m not sorry I didn’t pay for expensive sprinklers and timer. I work at home, so I have flexibility, and it’s been OK. Having to turn the water on/off also results in me being outside and evaluating the condition of the soil. Already damp this morning? No watering!
Surprise Pond
The soil is so heavy, it hasn’t needed nearly as much water as I anticipated. 10-15 minutes twice a day has been plenty. When it rained 2″ in 4 hours early in October, there were areas where the water stood for more than 24 hours. And that happened again later when I let the west sprinkler run for 30 minutes while I worked. I’m concerned that the basement is full and is preventing the water from percolating down.
What to do about the drainage problem? More fill dirt? The yard is still about 4″ below the sidewalks on both north and south. The fill company suggested waiting until next spring to see how it might eventually end up – there may have been voids in the basement space that are just now resulting in settling what with all the watering. However, I’m concerned that the real problem is poor drainage. I’m wondering if I could get someone to drill down through the basement floor? Yikes! Sounds messy and expensive! Any ideas?
Looking (for) Glass
By mid-September, the grass was looking good, especially from the road. The first mowing was on September 23rd at 4″ tall. I suppose there were a few areas where it was that tall, but not too many. I brought my loppers along for the ride to snip off roots that were sticking up so the mower didn’t hit them. Every time I water or it rains, there’s more identifiable junk (shards of glass, rocks, roof pieces, clinkers, bricks, roots, more glass reflecting the sun). I try to pick up every bit of glass since I’ll be filling in some of the grassy areas over time with a rose garden and native plantings. I’ve found little else of interest for a site that held a home for nearly 100 years — just one plastic ball and one marble.
Net Negative
The netting protecting the grass was inconsistent, thick in some spots but thin in others. I asked my golf course friend Chris about it, and he said that if I was going to take it up I should do it before it got to mowing height. A little research on the internet indicates it’s probably more trouble to use that it’s worth – gets caught in mowers, gets caught in rakes (and leaves are already falling here) and gets in the way when you want to plant something in the yard (which I knew I’d want to do eventually. ) When Chris planted my front yard where old tree roots are decomposing, he covered it with a very thin layer of peat moss to keep it in place and hold moisture. I think that’s a better plan.
I started removing the netting where the trees would be planted, and it went pretty well. So on Saturday, Sept 17, I started early before the heat and removed all the rest in about three hours. There were hundreds of metal staples that needed to be pulled (using a metal hand rake). The netting got rolled up and put over the weedy area that’s going to be the native garden west of the “terrace” – it’s a lot of netting!
On September 25, I moved the netting/straw to the inside of the fence in the back where the veg and fruits will go – that will cut down on weeds, reuse the stuff (which is voluminous) and possibly act as semi-permanent mulch (it’s supposed to degrade with time) with some bark mulch over the top of it. The area to the west of the “terrace” but east of the new fence (coming in November) that will cut across the middle of the lot, has the stump grindings spread over it for mulch – to kill the weeds but without anything below to allow me to plant all the little trees, shrubs and flowers in the future. With the mulch in place along the future fence line beside the bright-green new grass, it’s starting to look a little better. At least that’s what the homeless guy who rides his bicycle through the neighborhood told me yesterday.
Overseeding
Now that the initial planting of RTF has germinated, I can see that some spots need to be over-seeded, so I’m going to do that with my fine fescue and follow up with a thin peat moss dressing. I’ll plant the parkway grass and some more prairie flower seeds at the same time.