Big Backyard Project... Advice needed...

[Moose-Hunter]

I'm going to try to reclaim my backyard, add a deck and make it more useable...

The backyard slopes down from the back of the house to a drainage swale located roughly 80' away with a drop of better than 7'. Then slopes back up (8'-10') at a much more extreme angle to a treeline... Literally, I have a small valley for a backyard...

The "lawn" (roughly 100' x 100') is about 75% or better in variety weeds. Mostly clover and dandelion... with gound ivy and some violets thrown in for color...

My plan is to basically re-build my backyard...

- add a nice deck and patio underneath.

- bring in a bunch of fill to somewhat level a portion of the backyard.

- get rid of the "sorry excuse for a lawn" and re-sod.

Question... Where should I start?

Question... Should I chemically kill off the existing "lawn", before I bring in the fill? Or just scrape it bare with the bobcat and cover it up with the fill?

[Moose-Hunter]

Hmmmm... Yeah... That's what I thought...

[IFallsRon]

Pull the big weeds and use something like Roundup to kill everything. If you don't want to use chemicals, water the area and cover it with plastic, sealing the edges with planks. In a couple weeks, the heat will kill everything and sterilize the soil. Bring in the black dirt and other amendments and grind it all together. Flatten and compact with a roller and you're ready for new grass. Check into hydroseeding for good coverage.

[LABS4ME]

Moose Hunter, it's hard to envision exactly what you're project entails without seeing it. Sounds like you have a plan as to what you want accomplished. The only advise I can give without seeing it, is to make sure that you do not mess up any drainage patterns. You obviously do not need 7' of drop to move water, but do not go below 2" for evey 10'... so 80' would equate to a minimum drop of 16"... and that is the minimum. I'd go 3" to every 10' or 24", if you're not using a sight level to verify the 2" - 10'.

There would be no need to chemically treat or strip the lawn if you are filling in. The existing lawn will die and just become organic matter in the soil and not cause any problems or concerns, any portion of the lawn that is not getting filled should be sprayed to kill off the existing vegetation. If the lot is wooded, consider a shade tolerant seed for the lawn as opposed to sodding it. Sod is made up of primarily hybridized Blue grasses and will melt out and become very thin over a couple years when planted in shady spots, thus giving weeds an opportunity to get a foot hold.

If you are going to do a patio, make sure you compact all the fill areas to 100% with a jumping jack or plate tamper or you will have serious settling issues. If the deck footings are going in the fill area, put your sounna tubes down to the original undisturbed soil (42" minimum in the twin cities). Do not trust fill as being stable soil that will hold a deck footing. Use pit-run sand/gravel for the majority of you fill (cheap and compacts nicely) and place 6-12" of good soil on top of that for your lawn.

Good Luck with your project!

Ken