Yard preperation for laying sod

[kenny]

I started to prepare my yard to lay sod this year by removing all the weeds (killed everything with some concentrated Round Up) by dousing the entire yard right before last winter.

Now that the first obstacle is gone, I started to rake out the rocks but have run into a major problem. The area I'm in is extremely rocky. There are many rocks that are about 7-8" and much more smaller rocks throughout the yard.

Are there any landscaping companies that can bring hand held equipment in that can handle rocks this size? How deep do I need to go down in terms of rock removal before laying sod? Could I cheat and just remove some of the rocks at the surface and then bury everything with 6" of soil?

[Doozer]

Originally posted by kenny
cheat and just remove some of the rocks at the surface and then bury everything with 6" of soil?

ding ding!

This is what we did (I'm in Royal Oak/Rocky Ridge, and they don't call it that for nothing). I got most of the big rocks out myself, and left the rest. The depth of the loam should be plenty for the sod. The only things you would need to be wary of:

- if you're planning on doing an in-ground sprinkler system. It's best to do that before the sod, and make sure the rocks in those areas are removed

- trees - if you're planning on adding trees any time later, make sure those areas are rock-free

- fencing - make sure you go along the edges of your property and remove what you can find. You will likely still find more stuff buried when you go to actually dig the posts, but whatever you can do now will help

[ianmcc]

We did the same thing when we built our house-minimum 6" of loam first (it was included with our build-we just had to wait for the landscape contractor to do the loam), then rake it flat and level. We then tilled it to break up and hard areas. We also got lucky-the day after we laid the sod it rained off and on for almost 2 weeks. Never once had sod lines and it laid real level.

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by kenny
Could I cheat and just remove some of the rocks at the surface and then bury everything with 6" of soil?

Yes.

Make sure there's a nice layer of topsoil, roto-till, roll it flat, lay sod, drench for one week, water regular for another two weeks, bask in grassy goodness.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by freshprince1


Yes.

Make sure there's a nice layer of topsoil, roto-till, roll it flat, lay sod, drench for one week, water regular for another two weeks, bask in grassy goodness.

Unless there are big hard piles of clay... I wouldnt even bother roto-tilling it.

Just use topsoil to fill in the low spots, level it, roll it and lay down the sod.

Once you start watering your new sod everything underneath with get nice and squishy and your grass will do just fine.

[01RedDX]

.

[kenny]

Yeah, dropdat can attest to the ground conditions. I'm sure it was fun digging the holes for the fence posts.

[Benny]

Originally posted by kenny
Yeah, dropdat can attest to the ground conditions. I'm sure it was fun digging the holes for the fence posts.

It sucks almost everywhere in Calgary man. There's maybe 3 inches of nice soil then it's just rocks and clay.

[Denny]

Originally posted by Benny


It sucks almost everywhere in Calgary man. There's maybe 3 inches of nice soil then it's just rocks and clay.

That's why it's tough to grow fruit here.