[wvbrian]

I am trying to get a quote together for a customer to completely renovate a lawn here are the specs
zone 6a
hard packed shale soil with practically no organic matter content
approx 1/2 acre worth of existing patchy fescue/rye growing that needs to be taken up and replaced with either sod or seed

I want to get all the existing turn removed, put down 1-2'' of topsoil, somehow till it in-and either sod or seed and straw

what would be the best way to go about removing the old turf and tilling the hard packed soil to incorporate topsoil into the top layer?

I was thinking use a sodcutter to remove the old turf-put down topsoil-and use a skid steere mounted tiller or walk behind tiller to do the job-its gonna be a lot of work no matter what, but thats what the customer wants and will pay for!

[Pelican]

A Harley Rake will tear up the existing turf and leave what little soil you have behind. It will require a few passes with the rake at different heights to accomplish this, then a final pass just skimming the surface to take the shredded grass off the top.

I don't think 2" of topsoil is going to be nearly enough. I have a lawn account that is on a knob of shale and her lawn is always the first to brown out during a dry spell. I think 6" minimum will give you results better than what you have now, and even that won't be the best in dry weather. The shale draws the moisture out of the soil and the grass burns quickly in hot dry weather.

[PSUscaper]

I'm not even sure if I would even bother with the harley rake. If its shale and junk grass, just spray round-up and start dumping soil. All you do with the rake is bring more bad stuff up to the surface. Maybe some grading here and there to take out the highs and lows.

[GLAN]

Originally posted by PSUscaper
I'm not even sure if I would even bother with the harley rake. If its shale and junk grass, just spray round-up and start dumping soil. All you do with the rake is bring more bad stuff up to the surface. Maybe some grading here and there to take out the highs and lows.

That's what I was thinking


But......you could make that existing shale and bit of soil more useable...........roundup what vegetation there is.......Till what is there......while that is broken up......spread out a couple or a few inches of compost.........till mix that and grade it...........then dump top soil.........being that you added organic matter to what is now consider the sub soil.........you can get away with less soil.......maybe 4 inches instead of 6..........now all this is more work than just spreading 6 or 8 inches of soil.

I personaly would feel better knowing that what is below has been broken up and is more useable and will help with drainage

[jwholden]

If you can rent a soil cultivator by toro that would do the job.

Spread compost over the surface and run the soil cultivator in two directions to mix it with the existing soil. All debris, stones, grass etc. smaller than a baseball will be pushed below the fluffy soil.

You could rent a Bobcat with a rototiller for a day and that would mix the heck out of your soil as well.

I highly recommend a turf type tall fescue when you seed. These seed mixes need a lot less care then bluegrass and ryegrass mixes. Best time to do the work is late-August to early-September. You have some time to plan.

GET A SOIL TEST AND KNOW WHAT YOU ARE WORKING WITH.