We basically had a mess in both the front and back yards. The front yard has a huge section of ivy, but there’s an area of ‘lawn’ that was no longer grass. It was an ugly mixture of weeds, remnants of bermuda, and plugs of fescue from seeds I threw out there years ago.
So, we hired a landscaper. I wanted someone who could listen to what we wanted (which is basically something pretty, but low maintenance) and be able to tell us what was best for our north facing lot. I asked friends for referrals, but then I remembered that a lot of local professionals are on HomeTalk. So after a quick search there, I found Robby from Flowerscapes Garden and Design.
Robby came out for an initial consultation. We did a walk through and talked about what could stay and what could go and she took measurements to be able to draw up a plan. She prepared a quote and came over for a second visit to go over all the quote entailed. We looked through her photo portfolio and chose colors and plants. We agreed upon a timeline and start date (she estimated the work to be about 16 hours) and she first began working on flower beds.
We also decided to have sod installed in the front yard instead of seed. The grass we chose is Zeon Zoysia and we chose it for it’s shade tolerance and low maintenance. Bermuda grass is cheaper at $100/pallet, and very common here, but requires 6+ hours of sun per day. Our front yard gets about 4 hours of sun per day. Fescue was another option but it requires periodic reseeding and for us, the less maintenance, the better. The Zoysia was $250/pallet and we needed two pallets for our front yard.
The preparation for sod basically consisted of the following:
- A week before delivery, sprayed Round Up on the installation area
- Tilled area (electric tiller)
- Spread topsoil over installation area
Two pallets of sod were delivered in the morning and installation was done by noon.
Per Robby’s instructions, we have to water for 20 minutes three times a day for the next two weeks. Conveniently, it was installed on Friday and it rained all weekend. We are also supposed to avoid stepping or walking on it and won’t cut it for the next 6 to 8 weeks.
I really love the instant gratification factor of sod versus seeding. I am looking forward to it filling in and not seeing the patchwork quilt effect.
Anything new in your yard? Ever installed sod yourself or did you have it installed by someone else?
-J
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Wow…The yard looks great!!!
Looks like it’s going to be a happy garden!
But remember that the ivy will grow up and eventually kill trees.
Where I live it’s an invasive plant. On hometalk it looked like it was growing like a weed up at least one of your trees.
Yes, the ivy had grown up on several of the pine trees, but this past summer we pulled it all off and will maintain it. We do have a lot of it in our yard, but my husband likes it.