Processes involved in an installation of bermuda seed over a 1/2 acre lot.
MAIN PROBLEM: There was no grass
MAIN SOLUTION: Grow some grass
LET'S BREAK DOWN THE MAIN PROBLEM AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES
#1) The barren landscape: fill dirt. In this case, the fill dirt was a mixture of sand and clay. Some areas contained more sand than clay, and vice versa. The soil temperature of the dirt needs to be 70 degrees (F) before you can start growing your bermuda seed. Seeding time for my region is early May–this unfortunately coincides with the start of thunderstorm season. The thunderstorms are a problem because of watershed. One big storm can wash away all of your grass seed during its early growth stages. This problem is worse in areas of the yard that contain mostly clay!
The clay/sand fill dirt will probably not contain much nutrients. The nutrients are a critical part of your effort that can get washed away before they penetrate the surface.
Tip: Where to look for areas that have more clay? Look around foundations and hardscapes (sidewalks, patios, driveways etc) where foot-traffic and machines have packed it down!
#2) No built-in irrigation system on site. Bermuda is THIRSTY. During the first two months of growth bermuda needs water 7 days/week.
#3) Weed intrusion. The neighbors yards were full of weeds.
NOW LET'S BREAK DOWN THE SOLUTION
#1) Check the weather forecast. The first two weeks after putting down the seed need to be as clear as possible. So check the weather before you seed.
#2) Plug Aerate. DO THIS BEFORE YOU SEED. The aerations will be your first line of defense against torrential downpours taking away your grass seed–or for the times that you over-water! They also provide a place for nutrients to collect and help in their ability to be absorbed by the dirt. In some cases when you are working with very compacted clay it can help to water the soil lightly before aerating. Water can soften up the clay a little bit.
Tip: I recommend plug aerators not spike aerators–the plug aerator takes dirt out of the ground. By removing dirt it is 1) NOT compacting the soil further and 2) providing a decent sized hole for more nutrients to enter the dirt
#3) Rye grass. Mix rye grass into your bermuda seed. It will take root much quicker and provide STRUCTURE for the very mobile bermuda seedlings to cling on to in the event of a downpour or over-watering. The rye grass will die in roughly one month. It will leave open space for the bermuda and the roots will continue to provide some structure.
Tip: 70% bermuda and 30% rye grass is my approximate mixture
#4) Nutrients. I recommend watching Doc's bermuda grass videos on YouTube. For this most recent project I used Anderson's HumiChar, PGF complete, and DuMor layer crumble (chicken feed). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ll-LfFE0bM
#5) Rake in the grass seed & nutrients. Sorry to state the obvious, but despite aerating you should still rake the seed in. It will help mix up the nutrients with the seed/dirt and will help bury some of the seeds in your aerations.
Tip: WATER THE YARD LIGHTLY before you rake in. This will help the rake tines dig deeper into the soil to mix in the seed and nutrients. You can rake parallel to the falling grade–this creates ripples in the soil that work against torrential downpours by stopping seeds on their way down. These ripples harden after the soil has dried up-post watering.
**NOTE: I have played around with spreading sand over the areas where the grade is steep in an attempt to try and weigh down the seed to help keep it in place. I can't say with certainty that the sand has helped. However, spreading sand in low areas where water is accumulating has benefits.**
#6) Perseverance & determination over time. FOR THE FIRST MONTH AND A HALF I WATERED THIS YARD ONCE EVERY MORNING AND AFTERNOON. Because this yard doesn't have irrigation, I had to move the sprinklers to each place that needed water (20-30 minutes in each spot). Luckily I had some help moving sprinklers around. I stopped watering in both the morning and afternoon in mid-July. From that point on, watering took place 1x per day. This continued through most of August. In September, water was reduced to 3-4 x per week. In October I might have watered this yard once or twice. Next summer I will water the yard if there is a drought and after fertilizer/pre-emergent applications.
Tip: Watch out for areas of the yard that repel water. If you over-water these areas they will lose nutrients and grass seed during the early stages of seed growth. You have to water, stop, and water again for these problem spots.
Tip: Areas close to hard spaces tend to dry out quicker. This is probably going to be the outer edges of your property along the road, driveway, or sidewalks. Unfortunately these are also the areas where you are likely to have packed down clay–be extra attentive here to achieve maximum bermuda coverage.
Tip: At mid-summer (sometime in July) it is good for the grass to try and SLOWLY ween it off of constant watering. New bermuda is extremely sensitive to changes in water input. However, doing this will encourage the roots to grow deeper. The goal here is to have close to A SUM ZERO INPUT yard :)
Tip: I used a 1hp electric water pump to increase pressure in my sprinklers. It works great!
#7) Weed intrusion. Get that grass growing quickly to occupy space before weed seeds can make their way into the yard. Make sure to kill off any remaining weed patches that could be in your yard before you start grass seeding.
CONCLUSION
YOU SHOULD SOD YOUR YARD! That's is my recommendation, especially if you have irrigation. Grass seeding can be used when irrigation is not present or you are working with a small yard. A certain family member of mine who could never be counted on to water a small yard twice a day (during the growth stage) bought a hose-sprinkler-timer from Lowes that works great.
Weed intrusion is inevitable, especially when working in a big expanse. By the end of the summer, I would estimate that 20-30% of this yard was weeds and the remaining 70-80% is bermuda grass.
Lastly, I am still learning in this process so let's work together at this. If you have any tricks up your sleeve please let me know about them. I want this site to be collaborative–an online neighborhood of yard enthusiasts and smart-asses. :)
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