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Sod vs. Seeding, please help!
We moved into our home in November of 2010. It was built in 2009 and sat empty until we purchased it. The front yard was sodded and the back was seeded. The front is salvagable, but the back is not. We're trying to figure out what is the best route to go.
1. Till and re-seed
2. Till and sod.
We'd either pay someone to till or rent a tiller. Not sure what is easiest since we don't have a truck. We've been quoted about $800 to have someone come in and till, seed, fertilize and lay hay.
I'd hate to spend 1K to do the reseeding and then to have the grass not come in so well in the spring. I'm also an instant gratification kind of person. We have 2 dogs so keeping them off the seeded back yard will be a pain.
There is obviously a huge cost difference. We're looking about about $3500 for the sod and about $1k (max) if we seeded. If we choose to seed, when should we do it? I've been told August is the best time to seed, but the lawncare guy we had out last night said we could seed now too.
Money is, but isn't an issue. Obviously, we'd rather do what's cheaper, but I don't know that it will be the best decision in the long run. We're in a Zone 5 in Indiana. Any suggestions or feedback? TIA.
Re: Sod vs. Seeding, please help!
This is purely personal opinion, mostly based of DH who used to do landscaping. If you can put in the work, I would seed. In the long run, if you take good care of your lawn (meaning fertilizing, weed and feed, etc), seed puts down better roots and will withstand more.We couldn't afford to sod our lawn (we have two acres), so we seeded. The first few years were a lot of work. We still have some patches to reseed. But with all the care DH has put into it, our lawn looks 1000 times better than the neighbors that sodded. Its thick and lush.
However, if you don't have the time or inclination to do the seed, I would sod. If you can't (or don't want to) spend a lot of time on it over the next few years, it just won't come in that nicely.
Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011
Thank you for your responses! I don't mind putting in the work. DH isn't much of a yard work kind of guy, but I love to do it. I do the fertilizing and weed killing now. I think we're leaning towards seed, now we just need to figure out when.
It's been so we here, we'd need at least 5 days to get the yard to dry out before we could either rent a tiller or get someone out here! I've heard late August is best, but I'm clueless when it comes to re-seeding! Thanks.
we didn't have much luck re-seeding our front yard last year but we got to it kind of late and didn't de-thatch. This year we will try again, completely de-thatch, have it verticut, and seed earlier and with a better seed mix.
we just sodded our backyard. It was overrun with about 15 different kinds of weeds and maybe 1% actual grass. With drainage issues seeding just wasn't an option as it would wash away in the rain. We have a very small backyard though, so sodding wasn't horribly expensive. For us it was worth it to go from a weed covered yard to grass in less than a day. They used a sod cutter to remove all the old weeds/grass, then tilled the soil and laid sod. It was about $1500 and the dogs were able to go out back immediately. Another plus for us! We are watering it regularly and seeing great results, just a couple of spots it is not thriving so they need extra care.
Gretchen Evie, born 7/8/2012 at 35w5d