How Can I Get a Great Lawn For a New House?

We see a lot of homes in Northern Wisconsin that are beautiful and newly constructed or extensively remodeled. Often times extensive landscaping projects that beautify the outdoor space while adding functionality accompany these homes. Many times following new construction or an extensive remodel a new lawn is needed. The easy process is just having someone one toss down some seed and straw or for those who want to really splurge - getting some sod installed. These methods both work, but doing a little homework and preparation really will help you get the long term results desired.

First a foremost our soils in Northern Wisconsin are often not the best for growing great grass. Many are rocky and lack organic content. We almost always do a soil test on the site before we consider putting in a new lawn. The soil test is free and lets us get an objective baseline on composition, PH, and nutrients present. From here it is alot easier to determine what can be added as far as topsoil, compost, organic material, or something like lime to amend the PH. Grass will grow to some extent on nearly any soil, but to see it thrive a little preparation can go a long way. Often times leftover backfill from a dug basement is simply spread around a lawn with no regard for quality of the soil.

Another huge issue on sites where extesnive work has been done is soil compaction. If contractors have spent months driving vehicles and heavy equipment accross a homesite and nothing is done to loosen up and decompact soils prior to seeding or sod your grass is going to struggle. This is true for sod, hydroseeding, or traditional seed/straw methods. Taking the time to break up compacted soils really helps new grass get the proper start and have a much better chance to establish a healthy root system. Even something like sod which may look great initially over a compacted site will eventually fall victim if soil compaction is not addressed ahead of time. A harley rake or hydra rake on a skidsteer are both excellent and efficent tools for this.

Lastly lets talk about water, this is essential with a new lawn regardless of the method. Seed and straw and sod are likely the least tolerant to days without water and hydroseeding is often the most tolerant due to mulch retaining some level of water, but having water is essential for new grass regardless of method of putting in new lawn. The amount of water is also important, saturation and pooling of water is not desireable and can have a negative effect. More frequent and shorter periods of watering are preferred versus a single daily watering.

Seed and straw are definetly the least expensive method to grow a lawn, sod is the most expensive, and hydroseeding is somewhere in the middle. Hydroseeding offers some benefits such as tackifier that keeps seed soil contact better, limits erosion, and has mulch which retains water for the seed compared to seed and straw. Sod looks great right away but there are many sod lawns that fail a few years down the road and you need to be very careful with watering schedules and not using for the initial period after it is transferred. To me there is something to be said in actually growing the grass from scratch in the environment you expect it to live in. I have nothing against sod but you won't find a sod farm in the very northern parts of Wisconsin as it is all brought up from the middle of the state. Their soil composition, growing seasons, and temperature range are different than the very northern part of the state. Hydroseeding can generally produce an attractive lawn in 3-4 weeks time with appropriate site preperation and watering. This will be denser than seed/straw and result in a more useable and complete lawn faster than seed/straw.

Paying attention to the type of grass is also important. Bluegrass is great but it does require watering and fertilizer at more frequent intervals and is less tolerant to drought and shade than fescues. If you don't have an irrigated site with a sprinkler system and close to full sun on your yard a fescue is likely a better choice long term.