When preparing a new lawn you have a choice of planting grass seed or installing an instant lawn with sod. Sod is simply pre established lawn that has been peeled off the ground with 1/2″ to 3/4″ of soil backing (which contains the root zone) and rolled up like a carpet. These carpets however are a living ecosystem.
Sod is grown on farms in big field of grass and when the grass is mature and healthy enough it is peeled up by a machine, rolled up and stacked on skids for delivery to nurseries and garden centers or directly to customers. The one most important thing to remember when buying sod is that it must be a fresh as possible. Sod which has been sitting around for a while will generally be dried up and dying. Sod must be moistened regularly to keep it alive. If the dirt on it looks all dry and cracked, it has been neglected and should be watered to maintain stay alive. It is best to look for sod that is still damp and the soil looks smooth.
To install sod it is laid out in large mats close together providing an instant lawn which is healthy and beautiful. Sod must be watered heavily to establish a strong and permanent root zone plus the fact in which roots take time to establish and light watering will only get the Sod and not the earth beneath. So the Sod will dry up quicker without water to absorb from the ground.
Starting from scratch and seeding your yard is the most cost effective way to start a lawn. Grass seed is inexpensive when compared to Sod and it does not involve as much work to start. Once you have a fairly flat enough surface you simply need to seed it where as with Sod it must be flat and then you still need to unroll all of the Sod and cover the yard. The only problem with Grass Seed is that it takes longer to establish than a lawn done with Sod.
So there are some things to consider when staring or redoing a lawn. Sod is more preferable when you want a quick and healthy lawn that is at least initially weed free. Then again seeding a lawn from scratch is much more cost effective if you have the time to wait for it to grow. I personally like Sod for the fact that it is professionally grown and maintained but in the end it all comes down to how well you maintain your lawn. I still prefer to seed a lawn though because Sod is not impervious to weeds so I don’t want to spend the extra money and still end up with weeds.
Either way when choosing how to go about reestablishing or starting a new lawn there are two styles of planting to consider. Both are effective and will give you a lush and wonderful lawn to enjoy whether you are on a budget or just want a quick fix.
OK, I did check out both options when redoing the horrible backyard we got when we bought our house last year. I think Sod was $2 a roll which sounded cheap. It was 3 feet by 1 foot. I needed to do a 12 x 12 foot area. That would have been about $100 for Sod. Being cheap, I went an got a bag of grass seed instead for under $10.
It took less than half the bag to see the area and it started growing in about 10 days and it survived the winter fine. Plus I had enough to do 2 more patches of grass in the front and backyard. They are both growing fine.
I do recommend getting a tiller if you are planting seed in a large area. I did not have one last year, but I got one this year and it made it so much easier. I have the back area of my yard to do this weekend which is 8 x 40 and without a tiller it would take forever.
Both options sound great! However, sod sounds more convenient, and I’m all about convenience. Also, it sounds like it’s a bit cheaper. That’s always good too!