March 26, 2007
I Fought the Lawn...
...and the lawn almost won.
I rented a rear-tine tiller to cut through the red clay and rock so that I can reseed my backyard over the weekend.
Fun thing rocky soil; tilling isn't easy anywhere, I suspect, but when you've got a 400 lb machine bucking every few feet when it hits a softball-sized rock, it takes a heavy toll on both the machine and operator. The yard killed the tiller. I broke off no less than four tines in the rocky soil, and perhaps as many as six. The folks I rented it from couldn't even get the engine to re-fire to unload it, and told me that it was going to have to be retired.
Sunburned, blistered and sore, I'm not feeling too good myself.
Light posting expected today due to work-related meetings.
Been there, done that, got the blisters to prove it.
I've since decided that, if it's green, it's lawn.
Give up on grass; the soil here is too acidic and clay-ee to support it. However, now's the time to load up the 'fertilizer sprinkler' thingee on wheels with sulpher instead. This will promote moss growth, which is a two-fer: green, no mowing necessary.
Posted by: Cindi at March 27, 2007 02:11 AMNobody said the price for sweat equity and curb appeal was free.
Posted by: markm at March 27, 2007 06:17 AMMust have been some pretty hefty rocks to break off the tines.
I've had to do what you're trying but in a soil that wasn't quite so rock strewn nor clayey. Ended up letting it revert to moss after spreading enough lime to make it look like it snowed. (Heavy rain washed most of it away.) Shade also from some massive oaks (hence the acid soil) contributed to that decision.I felt like I had "wasted" two summers.
