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I need to install a new septic system in my home soon. The whole area is just grass. I was told that the ground will looks like "beat-up" after the new septic system is installed. My question is whether I need to hire a professional guy to spread grass seed and make the ground even or I can just spread grass seed by myself? If I can do it by myself, what other work should I expect? I am quite new to garden work, so I am learning how to do it right. Any suggestion will be appreciated.
They will have to tear up quite a bit of ground to install a new system. If it were me, I'd have a landscaper come in and level the area out and install sod. Grass seed will work, but it's a LOT of work. I did it to my yard when I built my house and never again. Sod is cheap enough and a lot easier. For that matter , you could install the sod yourself. Just be sure to keep it watered for a couple of weeks. Grass seed grows best in the Fall or Spring, it's getting a little late to use seed now. Plus with the sod, you get your yard back right away.
depends on where you are and what kind of grass you have. way too late to spread some seed in many areas and just the right time in others. what kind of grass? if it is hybrid you will want sod and not seed. you haven't given enough information.
but i have too much experience with getting new septic system. they will tear our yard up from stem to stern. do they have to remove a septic tank? septic folks are not law folks and they don't give a rip about your yard.
I would have professional landscaping or grass installer do it especially since you don't know anything about gardening. Besides this isn't even gardening. It is turf management. Big difference.
I had a new septic tank installed in my backyard and I too, was thinking that I could use grass seed and get it going myself. So on some reputable advice, I added compost and black dirt and spread a nice layer. Then I leveled it out...grading appropriately...covered it all with straw (so the birds didn't take off with the seeds) and began watering. It was a LOT of work and took me the better part of a week due to the large area I was working on.
The seed was long to germinate, even with regular watering. And then the rains came...and came...and came...and after it stopped (8 days later), all that nice compost and black dirt AND all the grass seed had washed down the grade and ended up collecting toward the bottom of the swale. When all was said and done, I was left with a huge area of sand where the grass seed originally was and now there is a thick ridge of grass on the lower 1/3 of the area.
That was 2 yrs. ago and now some weeds are finally beginning to grow in the sand. It's fine, because I'm not going to do it again. Based on my experience, I'd say "pay the money", but...if your area is very level, you have excellent soil, are willing to pay for high-germinating seed, spreading it double-thick and using several sprinklers to assist with germination, you may want to try it.
If I had a landscaping budget and was super-invested in making it look "all pretty" and everything, I would just hire a contractor to take care of it. In that instance, they would either have to foam inject the seed -OR- lay sod. Seed and I just don't seem to have a good working relationship...sigh...
Whichever you choose, I wish you the very best of luck.
Thanks for the quick response from your guys. really helpful for me to make decision. Based on my own situation, I will prefer to get it done by professional guys, or at least part of work, like level the ground.
But anyway, here is some info about my yard.
I am in MN. I will need to install a whole new septic system. That means the replacement of the old tank.
The septic system will cover about 1/3 of the yard. I have no idea what is hybrid grass. Will it be ok to have sod installed and the rest of yard are grass?
My septic guy says that my soil is pretty good. After installing the system, he will also help me have extra soil on the surface.
hybrid grasses only means it does not reproduce by seed. it reproduces asexually. it is usually better quality, better looking grass. it is installed by sod. I've tried to mix sod and seed and it does not look so good,,,,mainly because it is two different kinds of grass. either seed it all or sod it all. I'm guessing MN is not too hot yet. call your County Extension Service - department of agriculture- and ask for info about frasses. it should also be on line. A county Agent may come to your home to discuss it with you or maybe a master Gardener can help you.
good luck
this is just about bermuda grass but it might give you some help
I bought my house back in 8/2012 and the sellers, by NJ law, had to replace the 4 BR septic system upon failing inspection. The septic company did a crappy job of reseeding/regrading the area around the septic so I did the 2nd regrading myself with fill dirt and reseeded the area in 9/2012. I thought everything was good to go until the spring of 2013 when the area around the septic started to sink about a foot deep all around and swallowed up all the grass I worked so hard on. I refilled it again and reseeded last summer. So far so good in 2014.
Not sure how prevalent something like this is but I would let the ground settle before putting a lot of money/time into landscaping. You can regrade it all you want but if the septic company does a bad job of filling around the tank, you may potentially need to repeat the process over and over again. It didn't cost me much other than time since I did the regrading myself with screened fill dirt but if you're hiring a landscaper, you may want to think twice.
My wife's sister/husband bought a house within the past year and their sellers also had to replace the septic. After they closed on the house, the area aroung the tank was indented by about 3-4 inches from ground level. I told my brother-in-law to not go crazy trying to grade it out right away and let it settle over the winter.
Just wanted to throw my experience out there for you to think about. Also, if you're going to do this yourself, I would ask them to leave you more dirt than they think you'll need.
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