Any yard nerds here?

[PIMking]

The people that owned our house before us did a terrible job with a large portion of the yard. We have about 125 yards from the front of the house to the street. There is a gravel road that goes from the street and cuts the front lawn area into two different slots. The smaller part directly in front of the house has sod put down after the tornado but the rest of the yard on the other side of the driveway leaves a lot to be desired.

There is years of old leafs, and pine needles left. I've spent hours with a dethacher (basically raking up the old leaves and such) and a yard sweeper with the riding mower. Now I have large areas of dirt...

Basically should I get a rototiller or a pull behind tiller and till the dirt, fertilize it, then seed it? Keep in mind I will be using a riding mower because this front yard area is about 300'x150' so getting a company to come in and do it wont be financially feasible.

this is what I'm working with and the bad part of the lawn













I used a dethatcher basically as a heavy duty rake at first, then tried lawn sweeper with so so results. So today I used a regular rake to get a bunch of it up. I'm almost ready to rent a small loader or skid steer and just go to town with it digging up a good few feet to mix it all up.

Our yard is split into two, the big front yard is 106' x 252' and the gravel driveway goes down east side of the big front yard and winds to the west splitting the front yards apart. The second front yard right in front of the house is sod and good conditions. here are some photos that will show you hopefully what I'm talking about.



This is kinda how the yard splits. I'm talking about the main front yard

[jayswin]

I don't have anything to add, excpet that I'm friggin jealous of your yard. Seriously, what a nice plot of land. In Calgary, our yards generally consist of dull, square grass yards, with enough room for a deck and a shed.

You should see some of the homes here where people have built large decks. They literally take up half the back yard in some cases...and that's not an exageration.

[Northendzone]

Burn it with fire.

What a large yard.......

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by flameswin

I don't have anything to add, excpet that I'm friggin jealous of your yard. Seriously, what a nice plot of land. In Calgary, our yards generally consist of dull, square grass yards, with enough room for a deck and a shed.

You should see some of the homes here where people have built large decks. They literally take up half the back yard in some cases...and that's not an exageration.

That's just the front yard, We have a side yard and another large area like the front that is nothing but trees.

[Sr. Mints]

I have no idea what I'm talking about, but could you use all that #### in a compost pile?

[Caged Great]

This is a pic of my back yard form a year or two ago. Some of the trees aren't quite as bad as they look in the pic (took the bad ones out and replaced them)

[Caged Great]

I did the entire property without a single blade of grass and all the trees are low maintenance.

[PIMking]

Thats nice, how often do you get to use it?

[Caged Great]

quite often, actually. It's nice to be able to have a lot of seating in the yard, (basically the entire perimeter of the lower section)

Is a very relaxing yard to go out and enjoy your coffee (or other beverages) in the evening.

off to the right, there's a good view of the entire northwest of Calgary as well.

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

This is a pic of my back yard form a year or two ago. Some of the trees aren't quite as bad as they look in the pic (took the bad ones out and replaced them)

You have a cemetary in your back yard?

[Nyah]

I'm jealous of both your yards. My yard consists of dandelions, a bit of unhealthy grass and two half dead trees. We're ripping it all out next spring to put in tiered gardens similar to those. I'm done with grass - we live next to a soccer field that has loads of dandelions, so trying to keep our yard free is a loosing battle.

[PIMking]

I left two bags of shade blend seed last night and the dumb ass racoon's opened them. Now I have seed all over the concrete parking spot.

I let the dogs out right before I went to bed last night and the dogs chased momma and her babies all over the yard. I grabbed the .22 rifle just in case they got bit by the raccoon decided to bite them.

It rained all day yesterday, hard for a few hours, it was so bad that a part of the gravel washed out onto my yard. When I get out of class I've got to clean that right away so it doesn't damage the grass. The whole small yard is like a swamp. When you stand on it it feels like your shoes are soaked in water.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

This is a pic of my back yard form a year or two ago. Some of the trees aren't quite as bad as they look in the pic (took the bad ones out and replaced them)

That's a typical Calgary yard alright...really small and no grass. Surprised there's no detached garage in the background either

[Zevo]

Grass generally doesn't grow well under evergreen trees(like pine trees) as the dropped needles makes the soil too acidic. Grass likes a more alkaline soil. If you are determined to plant grass, you will want to add lime at least twice a year(spring and fall).

[PIMking]

I actually bought some Lime today and laid it down. The two days strait of rain made it easy to use a dethacher to till up the dirt and lay seed too. I did a 100 Sq Foot plot to see how it goes.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by flameswin

I don't have anything to add, excpet that I'm friggin jealous of your yard. Seriously, what a nice plot of land. In Calgary, our yards generally consist of dull, square grass yards, with enough room for a deck and a shed.

You should see some of the homes here where people have built large decks. They literally take up half the back yard in some cases...and that's not an exageration.

He also got the yard and house at 25% of what you guys in Calgary paid for your little yards

[normtwofinger]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Burn it with fire.

That actually is not a bad idea. May take a year or two to grow back, but it would help.

[Table 5]

I would take that yard over Nose Hill.

[Danijam]

We had a pine needle dilemna in our back yard last year. Grass wouldn't grow under our spruce trees and we were left with a muddy disaster. We ended up removing the grass and replacing it with Evergreen - a type of synthetic grass designed to look real (sorry grass lovers).

You can also find some great ideas at Houzz. I typed in 'front yard pine needles' and this slide show popped up: http://www.houzz.com/front-yard-pine-needles

[Danijam]

PS What an amazing yard!!