In the middle of winter my cesspool fell so they have to rip up a good
portion of my lawn to close the old cesspools and put new ones in.

Now Im faced with some lawn decisions.. rip the rest of the lawn out
and Sod? or re-Seed the entire lawn?? The front of my house (lawn area
is about 4500 SQ) so the cost of getting the Sod would be 3K +, not
including prep work, labor, etc...

1. I wanted to HydroMulch the entire area but cant find a contractor in
my area (LI NY)
2. Can I top soil the entire lawn and plant seeds without tilling it? I
dont want to mess up my ingroud sprinklers.

Is it possible to buy the HydroSeeding/HydroMulch and do it myself?

dmlegare [at] gmail.com wrote:
> In the middle of winter my cesspool fell so they have to rip up a good
> portion of my lawn to close the old cesspools and put new ones in.
>
> Now Im faced with some lawn decisions.. rip the rest of the lawn out
> and Sod? or re-Seed the entire lawn?? The front of my house (lawn area
> is about 4500 SQ) so the cost of getting the Sod would be 3K +, not
> including prep work, labor, etc...
>
> 1. I wanted to HydroMulch the entire area but cant find a contractor in
> my area (LI NY)
> 2. Can I top soil the entire lawn and plant seeds without tilling it? I
> dont want to mess up my ingroud sprinklers.
>
> Is it possible to buy the HydroSeeding/HydroMulch and do it myself?
>
Do you have existing turf there now, is it thatch bound?

If you have decent soil there now, you can reseed without tilling it
up. Rent a slice seeder, which is a gasoline powered machine that cuts
shallow grooves in the soil and drops seed in them. It's one of the
best ways to get good germination. Two people can easily put one in
the back of an SUV, as long as its a small one, which is the most
common kind. You can put topsoil just in the areas that need it.

Of course, what you're up against now is it's late for Spring seeding
and Fall is by far the best time. Now you'll have to use lots of
water, so I hope you have a well and don't have to pay for town water.
Also, weeds will be a much bigger problem

I dont have a well but have sprinklers so I have to pay.. Those areas
where grass is patchy can I throw topsoil to cover that entire area?
will that kill all grass, weeds, etc to allow me to re-seed that area?
Im re-doing my driveway (making it wider, new walkway) so I cant start
this process until June.. So it just make sense to start prepping the
lawn for now and seed in Sept?

dmlegare [at] gmail.com wrote:
> I dont have a well but have sprinklers so I have to pay..

In that case, unless your water rates are very low, I'd definitely wait
till Fall. In the summer, it will take a hell of a lot of water to
establish new grass.


Those areas
> where grass is patchy can I throw topsoil to cover that entire area?
> will that kill all grass, weeds, etc to allow me to re-seed that area?

You don't need topsoil unless there is something wrong with what's
there. Topsoil will kill whatever is there, IF you use a thick enough
layer, but that's a lot of work and money, depending on the size. If
you want to kill all the existing grass and weeds, use Roundup a couple
weeks prior to seeding. Use additional topsoil just on areas that need
it.


Im re-doing my driveway (making it wider, new walkway) so I cant start
> this process until June.. So it just make sense to start prepping the
> lawn for now and seed in Sept?

If you can't start till June, I would definitely wait till early Sept.

dmlegare [at] gmail.com wrote:
>So it just make sense to start prepping the
> lawn for now and seed in Sept?
>
Yep.