Bermuda Grass Update: The Big Till

Oh boy! What a project! Where to start? Well, we decided to till the entire 1/4 acre instead of aerating because we had so many weeds in our exsisting lawn (if you could call it that). This seemed like a fabulous idea to me, the person who would be raking and not tilling! My sweet spouse disagrees. As a matter of fact, at one point during the tilling he actually said "Don't come any closer, I might hurt you." , of course he was 100% joking but I think that comment fairly represents his frustration. What made tilling so frustrating is that when our house was built the lawn was sodded with fescue grass. Sod is held together in sheets/rolls using a green plastic netting. Any guesses about what happened when we started tilling? The net bound the tiller up! Ryan had to stop every 10 minutes to remove the tangled mess of netting. We got it finished and tilled the soil three times, looks great and is so smooth! Seed is down and we're seeing lots of sprouts and grass, more on that later! Pictures coming soon!

Bermuda seed 101

I feel like I've been taking a crash course in grass seed lately. Our town is hosting it's 3rd annual Grass Giveaway in hopes of conserving water. The town provides free bermuda grass seed for all town limit residents. This is an AMAZING program and I'm proud to live in a community and town that grows more environmentally conscious as it's population grows. Basically, Bermuda grass only needs 1/6 of an inch of water per week where fescue and other popular grasses require at least 1" of water per week. So the idea is, more people plant bermuda = less water going into green grass lawns.

So, now I have one month to learn everything I can about bermuda seed and till my entire lawn (because it's full of weeds). Here's what I've learned:

-Bermuda seed is the almost the consistency of powder. To spread it you should mix it with sand so that it doesn't blow away!

-Bermuda seed needs 1/6" of water, a lot that will come from my rain barrel.

-Bermuda seed grows thrives in sand. Yep, actual sand.

-Aerating is not the best option for evenly spread seed because the seed falls into the holes.

-Don't use hay or straw after seedings. It's a weed (duh) and unless you want to grow weeds in your lawn then stay away. The sand will help keep the seed in place.

I have a lot to learn and I'll blog about my progress and add some pictures as we journey towards a lush green carpet of water-savvy bermuda grass.

Anyone have bermuda? Do you have any tips or tricks for us?