To Sod or Not to Sod?
Sometimes homeowners want to know, “Can my lawn be saved? Should I just sod it and start over?” Often the lawn has been neglected or has been damaged by insects or is just plain weedy.
So, what are the pros and cons? What are the reasons and considerations in putting in a new lawn versus getting a lawn care program and working slowly on the lawn?
In a nutshell, it’s Time versus Money.
If money is no object, putting in a new lawn is the easy choice. As long as you do it properly, you start off with a lawn that is in good shape, is nice and dense, weed-free, green and healthy.
Getting your lawn sodded of course will cost more. Here are a few of the advantages. You don’t have to wait for the seed to grow and fill in. Your children and dogs can use it relatively soon –as soon as the soil beneath is stable and not squishy. The sod you lay down has been growing for 18 to 24 months since it was seeded.
There may be times when sodding is a good thing to do. If the lawn is terribly uneven or if the slope and grade are not right, re-sodding gives you the opportunity to correct these faults. If there has been a lot of machinery going over the lawn when the pool was installed or some new landscaping installed, then rototilling will be an excellent way to alleviate all that compaction.
But if the lawn is reasonably well drained and if it does not slope so water accumulates in the basement, then seeding is less costly. It will take some time for the seed to fill in, but if you don’t need the lawn to look perfect for the wedding guests coming next month, then seeding can also have some advantages.
Generally speaking, a seeded lawn has more vigour than a sodded lawn. It is grown in place. It has not been grown elsewhere and transplanted to your yard. It can be grown with more varieties of grasses. Sod is most often grown as 100% Kentucky bluegrass. One reason is that bluegrass forms a nice patchwork of roots so the sod doesn’t fall apart. Other grasses do not form a nice piece of sod.
A lawn containing several grass species is more resistant to disease. It is more adaptable to various conditions. And if your lawn is heavily shaded, Kentucky bluegrass sod will not survive well in shade. With seeding you can choose seed that is formulated to better withstand shady conditions.
Weeds are a problem whether you seed or sod. In the “old days,” one could spray the weeds and grass with Roundup and kill off all the existing weeds. Nowadays, it is not legal to use Roundup to kill weeds in this situation. Rototilling will chop up the soil and most weeds. Two weeds that can be a problem with rototilling are quack grass and Canada thistle. This is because both of these weeds have a lot of underground roots that grow sideways underneath and send up new plants a few inches to a foot away. And when you rototill them up, you are just creating hundreds of little roots. Many of those roots have the potential to become plants (read weeds.)
If you opt to seed, you will save a considerable amount of money versus having the sod professionally installed. If you are sodding yourself, it will cost you in sweat and exercise (which can be a good thing for some.) In a few cases where the lawn is extremely small, such as a lawn that is smaller than the parking space for a car, sodding such a small area is not much more work than seeding.
When it comes to seeding a lawn, there are a number of ways to do seeding. This link has information on seeding.
If you would like Turf King to seed your lawn, our preferred method is to aerate and overseed.
Here are some links that give you info on that process.
