One positive aspect of the “Stay Home, Be Safe” action against COVID-19 can be an opportunity for improving our lawns and landscapes. Plus, extra time outdoors may strengthen our immune systems. So this is a good time to review my two-decade-old “KILL-TILL-FILL and SOD” tip sheet for lawns
And minus the “sod” part, the tips can be employed if you want to re-do almost any part of a landscape. For example, if you have a weed-infested vegetable garden or landscape, kill it off, till it all out, and fill it with healthy soil.
A GardenLine caller weekend asked a good question about the “kill” part of the tip sheet. She wanted to stay organic, so I talked her through all the 20% vinegar solutions on the market plus weed and grass killers considered “all natural.” So, she will first kill off (with organic solutions, it’s more like burn off) existing weeds. Next, after everything turns brown and since she has access to a small rototiller, she will churn it all up. Finally, she’ll bring in a healthy combination of rose soil and compost for the “fill” part. Then, she can plant whatever she wants. So, for her, it will be kill, till, fill and plant. If you have the same situation but you’re not sure what kind of soil or compost to use, read my “Building Perfect Beds” tip sheet.
Using organics for weed-killing in a veggie bed is fine, but it’s not necessary for redoing landscape beds or re-sodding. And when it comes to rototilling for a new lawn, some may be concerned about tree roots. Well, if you don't have any trees in a yard being renovated, you can certainly use a rototiller. Just be sure to follow up in the tilled area with a steel-tined rake to get all the dead debris out of the soil.
Anyway, I'm talking about smaller rototillers … those with engines around 20-25cc and with blades that only go a couple of inches into the soil. Large rototillers, with four-cycle engines of 200cc or more and mostly used by professional landscapers, should probably be avoided around tree roots.
When I first concocted the Kill, Till, Fill 'n' Sod technique two decades ago, it was mostly for people who needed to replace small sections of lawn because of damage from chinch bugs or broken sprinklers. Today, however, droughts from throughout the last decade, coupled with lawns drowned and suffocated by recent large rain events, have brought about an increased need for replacing grass.
And replacing grass has prompted some questions pertaining to my fertilization schedule. Simply put, if the grass you've put down is fairly green, assume that it has about 30 days’ worth of fertilizer on it. So, you can pick up the schedule in a month. If the sod doesn't look very green, pick up on the schedule no matter where we are in it, and that includes applying pre-emergent herbicides if called for. I’ve seen some advice out there suggesting that pre-emergent herbicides should NOT be put on newly laid sod. That's just wrong. Pre-emergent herbicides prevent seeds from germinating, but St. Augustine and Zoysia don't grow from seed. And while Bermuda does, if your new lawn is from solid sod, it's not an issue.
PHOTO: Getty Images
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