How do I replace my grass? (Howe: city hall, landscaping, contractors)

[yam]

I signed up for the city grass replacement rebate plan last year and now it's time to replace the grass. What I've got right now is an assortment of mixed grasses, weeds, clover, and bare dirt. What I want is a new lawn with something green and drought tolerant. What kind of grasses work well in central austin, and how does one go about removing all the existing stuff? What's this likely to cost for a lot with maybe 5000 feet of lawn? And why in the heck is the city telling me to plant new grass right in the middle of the summer and not allowing me to wait until next spring? Their plan requires that I complete my lawn remodel project by November.

[scm53]

I would recommend Celebration Bermuda. It is a hybrid, so only goes down by sod. It grows dense and will choke out weeds. Drought tolerant. Nice blue green color. Perfect for what you want. You will need right at eleven pallets (450 sq. ft. each). $125 each for Celebration - maybe $10/pallet cheaper for Tiff, but you get what you pay for. $110 more to do it right? Well worth it.

I'd call these guys - Landscape Data - and see what a turn key would cost. You need your old turf rototillered out, probably some new dirt. Unless you are a masochist, or have a teenage son...

As far as timing, as long as you do it a month before the average first freeze on November 21, you'll be fine. In fact, if you can, Oct 1 would be a perfect date to start. Fall planting season here is under rated. Alsfret great time to plant trees and shrubs.

Good luck!

[CptnRn]

The funding is probably approved on an annual basis, and changes from year to year, so they like to keep to an annual cycle for these rebates.

Given that we can water twice a week now, this is a good time to do it. It would have been much harder with only 1 day a week watering. However we do have a couple of very hot months coming up. If you want to gamble that twice a week watering will still be allowed in Sept; you could hold off preparations until late August, when temperatures start to drop and rainfall tends to begin increasing.



The City website is not working very well at the moment, but if you go here and click on the "Grow Green, Landscape Design, and Grow Green Resources" links you should be able to download some really good guidelines how to solarize your lawn (kill off the old grasses), as well as recommendations on types of grass, landscape design recomendations, to help you make plans on what you want to do for the replacement lawn and landscaping.
http://www.austintexas.gov/departmen...hed-protection

If you need a landscape architect to help you with this and recommend contractors or provide you with recommendations for a do-it-yourself installation, I recommend Carolyn Kelly, 445-0431, she did a lot of the landscape design for the City Hall using drought tolerant native plants appropriate for each habitat around the site.

[motherofthree]

Originally Posted by scm53

As far as timing, as long as you do it a month before the average first freeze on November 21, you'll be fine. In fact, if you can, Oct 1 would be a perfect date to start. Fall planting season here is under rated. Alsfret great time to plant trees and shrubs.

Good luck!

Agree with fall planting for grass. I put down sod in November (our avg first freeze is first week Dec.) and it has done so well. If you do it in October, I would wait until the end of the month. October is still hot.

[yam]

Solarizing sounds like a good approach but much of the yard is within the dripline of various trees and this seems like it would damage their roots.