Hello,

I recently purchased a house that has a really nice backyard but the problem is that it's all overgrown. There is an apple tree that has overgrown tall grass all around it and there is also "forgetmenotts" all over the hill.

Basically, I want to get rid of all this junk and have some nice grass. Can someone please tell me the easiest way to do this?

 

Assuming the area still has decent grass, it may just need a mowing followed up with a good weed/feed fertilizer to encourage re-growth.

 

And you could always leave the hill alone. Lawn grass is way over rated.

 

How much area are you talking about? Start by killing everything that is there, then have grass "blown" onto the entire fresh surface afterward.

To kill the current growth, you can spray roundup all over the place (not ideal, poison everywhere), or buy some ground cover material (looks like a giant black blanket) that will block the light and kill what is underneath. You could do it in a section at a time this way.

I am no expert in landscaping by any stretch, but do maintain my own yard... these solutions will definitely work but if you are talking about a huge area of land, you might want an easier/quicker solution. I find it is always easier to take care of this stuff at the end/start of the growing season.

 

Be careful clearing out the old . . . a bare hill with even the slightest slope will have some serious erosion issues with any measurable rain. If the hill is sloped towards your house, you could be asking for trouble.

Why not have an arborist/tree service come in and properly trim the apple tree, and all the other trees on your property. Also pay a landscaper to mow down the yard. You could also rent a weedeater.

Once you have a clear lay of the land, you can decide how to move forward.

Lastly, my opinion is you will get better results trying to salvage existing growth, as opposed to killing off and growing from seed/or sodding.

 

I've been away from the site for awhile, but some pictures of the area would help me in making some suggestions.

I'm not a landscape architect by any means, but I can help with any of the horticultural related problems.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The hill isn't really that big but I'll get some pictures up to give you an idea. Errosion of the hill wouldn't hurt the house in anyway, it would just washout the good grass on flat land.

I plan to do all of this stuff myself because the house is a rental and there is no point dumping landscaping money into it. I'm living there now as well as a few tenants but I will only be there for a short period of time unless I like my tenants.

As for the backyard, I have cleaned up around the apple, pear and peach trees and it looks great. There is actually dark green type plants under there that give the flooring a really nice look. The hill is still overgrown and I havn't tried cutting it with the mower yet... Thats my next step though, then I will assess the situation a bit more. From the work I've done over the past couple weeks, it looks much much better.

 

I'd consider losing the fruit trees unless you like bees. They will eat the fallen fruit and make homes in the apples especially. I would never have an apple/crabapple tree (again). What a mess. Either way you need to pickup anything that falls and you need to harvest the fruit when it matures and before it rots on the tree or ground. Fruit trees are very high maintenance and you have to keep it up or you won't be able to go in the back yard for the swarm of yellow jackets. We're talking hundreds of them per tree.

Fertilize the trees 3x a year with a handful of balanced (10-10-10) nutrients around the edge of the canopy (the roots mirror the foliage underground), not near the trunk. There are more roots on the outer edge of the canopy and that is where the tree gets most of it's nutrients from. Avoid tree spike fertilizers. They deliver too much fertilizer to too small an area. Just take a hand full of spreadable fertilizer and sprinkle it around the ground at the edge of the canopy.

Go rent a sod cutter from Home Depot and cut the crap that is there into strips, roll it up and drop it in a dumpster. Next get some sand, pure sand, and put down about 2 inches over the now bare area. Roll out some new, good sod. I recommend a high percentage of Kentucky Blue, 60% or more.

Conventional wisdom in these parts is to lay sod over topsoil. It's ok but what grass really loves is sand (I learned this from my time in California). Buck convention and put down some sand under your sod and your lawn will thank you. Grass needs good drainage.

Water as necessary, 1 inch/week (get a rain gauge cup and put it in the area under the sprinkler). Water more if it's hot and dry, less if it rains. Stay away from annual grasses which re-seed themselves.

Once a year in late August or around labour day, spread out about 1/4 inch of top dressing (screened topsoil + peat), rake it into the sod and over-seed with pure blue grass seed. Do the same for any bare or dead spots continuously. Don't bury the seed, it need to be exposed to the air to germinate. If you bury it under dirt it will rot and never sprout. Don't worry about the birds eating it. The won't eat enough to matter.

Don't use manure on your lawn and that includes triple-mix. You will end up growing whatever the cattle or sheep were eating which is probably annual rye or wild orchard grasses, hay, whatever. Manure contains a lot of weed seeds, many have composted but they are more viable seeds remaining than you can pull. If you want to blend in some organic matter use sea compost. The stuff is nuclear and because it is made from kelp and seaweed it contains tons of nitrogen and no seeds or weeds.

The idea is to grow a thick lawn that doesn't allow enough space for annual weed seeds to germinate and grow. Kentucky blue has a very dense root system and will crowd out weeds. If you pull a weed, pack some top dressing in the hole and sprinkle some seed over it.

The best place to buy your seed and fertilizer is from your sod farm. They will offer you a lot of advice. Avoid buying grass seed from retail stores. It costs too much and is of unknown age and quality, even national brands like Scots could have been in a storage container for a year or more before you bring it home. Home Depot will charge you $20/kg for Scots Kentucky Blue seed, I paid $116 for 10kg from my local sod farm in bulk.

Don't cut more than 1/3 of the blades of grass at a time and make sure your blades are razor sharp. Sharper blades do less damage to the plant and it can spend more time growing and less time repairing the damage. Cut more than 1/3 of the grass length and you will shock the plants. That can stunt or kill them. Cut the grass long, like the highest setting on the mower (less light for weed seedlings) and do it as often as needed to keep the cuttings short, 2x a week might be necessary.

Use a high nitrogen, low phosphate fertilizer. Vegetative plants need nitrogen. That's the first number. I like something like 15-5-5. Fertilize in the fall (late September) if you can only do it once a year. I like to do it 3 times a year but the last time is the most important.

I spent a fair amount of time researching this recently. HTH

 

Holy hell man strong work!

 

Wow thanks a lot Erik!
I have cut the hill with my new mower (bought it for $10 from the local trailer park, the guys name was RICKY ) and the weeds look to be dying down and are getting crowded out by grass! not the best/cleanest grass but it's a 30* hill that never ever sees traffic... so it just needs to look nice.

I noticed A LOT of big bumblebees pollenating the aapple tree when it was flowering. But their job is done I guess so they are nowhere to be found. I suspect that as the fruit begins to fall, the bees will return.

I would for sure rent the sod cutter from HD and then buy new sod for the hill but I really don't think it's worth it. If I can't get it to look really good by winter, I may take that approach in the spring.