Soil solarization landscaping. Clear vs Black plastic. I'm going Clear for this first attempt.

[Holbs]

Bought this house back in 2010 during a short sale, which means it sat solo for 2 years. The grass/landscape situation was...barren to say the least. Haven't done anything to it always thinking "next year I'll hit it". Well, 10 years later, finally getting around to it.
I am no landscaping High-IQ guy. All info I gathered was from various webpages/reddit/etc. You know the drill. From what I put together...I need to kill off all the bad stuff in the yards. I am starting with the immediate front U shaped and then doing the 70'x10' strip on the other side of the white truck. I do not want to use chemicals as I've seen the C.H.U.D. / Toxic Avenger movies. Going the natural method of soil solarization to kill off everything. There is a big debate about using clear vs black plastic coverings. Black plastic will not allow the sunlight to get to the soil and killing off weeds and you will see an immediate repsonse in 4-6 weeks. Clear plastic allows the UV & sunlight through to germinate any weed seedlings under the topsoil so they grow...and then die off from the heat/steam but takes longer. With black plastic, you kill things fast but things will grow back just as fast because the weed seeds are still ready to do their magic. Or so Mr. Internet tells me.
There are 174 projects to do around my house. 17 of them seems to be Blue Iris / IP camera related. Need to reposition cameras, tackle the Dahua VTO/VTH intercoms, swap out 5231's to 5442's, etc. Maybe after I get the yard all plastic'd off.

Anyways, the trick to solarization is to UV/heat/steam for many weeks. How many? All depends on the PH of soil, amount of UV, how sealed things are under the plastic. I am thinking...4-6 weeks being 5,000 feet above sea level and abundance of UV/sunlight here in Reno, NV (high desert). More "sealed" the better. It is recommended to dig a 4" trench around the border of the yard to bury the edges of the plastic creating that seal. And you can see that's what I am doing below. This soil is compacted pretty bad due to vehicles being parked on the front yard when I used to have 5 vehicles and a crazy tire slashing roomate. I have to use a digging bar (one of those 6' rods with being pointy at one end, flat blade at the other end) pretty much the entire border. Wish I had done this when it was 70 degrees out instead of 95. But that is why I have a gardening hat, UV protection shirt, and a pop up tent

 

[biggen]

You’ve got more patience than I do. I call the sod company and have them till and lay new grass. Your in the desert though so I’m not sure what front lawns are supposed to look like.

 

[Holbs]

You’ve got more patience than I do. I call the sod company and have them till and lay new grass. Your in the desert though so I’m not sure what front lawns are supposed to look like.

I am 50% sure going new sod. 50% sure going Xeriscaping. I have a BAD habit of doing everything myself (within reason). Always figured being a homeowner means gotta do the blood, sweat, tears to make things right instead of hiring it out. Example: my side fence. Quotes were $3500-$5000. I did for $1200 and with horizontal look instead of your standard dog ear vertical fence. Granted, wasn't done in a single weekend. I think it took me 3 weekends.

 

[looney2ns]

Me, Good dose of Roundup, wait 4-6 weeks, then a good raking or tilling and finish to like.

 

[Holbs]

Maybe i'm that old grizzly veteran. "I can do it all myself! Don't need no darn chemicals or cheating contractors" Besides, I need to lose some calories.

 

[handinpalm]

I do not see why you have to dig a trench around the edge. I would just lay the plastic and throw some dirt/rocks around the edge. I agree with you on not using Glyphosate (weed killer). I used it many years in my garden, but quit using it about 3 years ago. That is bad for your health, not to mention the environment. I now use a roofing torch with a 20# LP tank strapped to a 2 wheel hand truck, you can buy at harbor freight and burn anything I don't want growing. Instant gratification. As far as Sod, I thought the West was in a deep drought and getting worse. I use to live in Tucson and most people used rock/pebble yards.

Propane Torch with Push Button Igniter

Amazing deals on this Propane Torch W/ Push Button Igniter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[handinpalm]

Duplicate

 

[HMC8403]

I'm with @looney2ns on the Roundup. I purchased my home in 2011 and the lawn looked almost as good as yours. Not having funds to spare and being used to grunt work, I tackled the project myself.

First I rented a tiller from HomeDepot, went about 6 inches and then watered the dirt for about a week to see what would pop-up. I then applied a hefty dose of roundup. Maybe a month later I did a light till, spread seed, raked flat, covered the entire lawn in a white erosion fabric and watered religiously.

My yearly lawn maintenance, when I am home: Aerate and then use an dethatcher but at the lowest setting so it digs into the dirt (grass looks shitty for a week but then recovers). With the soil broken up from the dethatcher, great time to over seed. It took a couple of years of overseeding for the lawn to fill in completely but ended up saving a lot of money that I didn't have.

I do not believe in broad spectrum weed chemicals, a thick healthy lawn should crowd out weeds. I will spot treat weeds as needed.

 

[Holbs]

I'm with @looney2ns on the Roundup. I purchased my home in 2011 and the lawn looked almost as good as yours. Not having funds to spare and being used to grunt work, I tackled the project myself.

First I rented a tiller from HomeDepot, went about 6 inches and then watered the dirt for about a week to see what would pop-up. I then applied a hefty dose of roundup. Maybe a month later I did a light till, spread seed, raked flat, covered the entire lawn in a white erosion fabric and watered religiously.

My yearly lawn maintenance, when I am home: Aerate and then use an dethatcher but at the lowest setting so it digs into the dirt (grass looks shitty for a week but then recovers). With the soil broken up from the dethatcher, great time to over seed. It took a couple of years of overseeding for the lawn to fill in completely but ended up saving a lot of money that I didn't have.

I do not believe in broad spectrum weed chemicals, a thick healthy lawn should crowd out weeds. I will spot treat weeds as needed.

so that is all grass seed? no sod? If so, rather impressive if you started out looking like my yard.
I am trying to stay away from chemicals. I am in no rush so do not need to spray and get results in a week. I am thinking, this is a 2 year project.

 

[Holbs]

I do not see why you have to dig a trench around the edge. I would just lay the plastic and throw some dirt/rocks around the edge. I agree with you on not using Glyphosate (weed killer). I used it many years in my garden, but quit using it about 3 years ago. That is bad for your health, not to mention the environment. I now use a roofing torch with a 20# LP tank strapped to a 2 wheel hand truck, you can buy at harbor freight and burn anything I don't want growing. Instant gratification. As far as Sod, I thought the West was in a deep drought and getting worse. I use to live in Tucson and most people used rock/pebble yards.

Propane Torch with Push Button Igniter

Amazing deals on this Propane Torch W/ Push Button Igniter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

you make a good point about why bother with the trench. I can only assume this gaurantees no air gap. I may try no-trench on side of yard to see what happens.

 

[TonyR]

Example: my side fence. Quotes were $3500-$5000. I did for $1200 and with horizontal look instead of your standard dog ear vertical fence. Granted, wasn't done in a single weekend. I think it took me 3 weekends.

Nice, unique look on that fence...good job.
Now you know how to make ends meet if your regular job goes kaput!

 

[HMC8403]

so that is all grass seed? no sod? If so, rather impressive if you started out looking like my yard.
I am trying to stay away from chemicals. I am in no rush so do not need to spray and get results in a week. I am thinking, this is a 2 year project.

Trying to find pics. Slight exaggeration, it started off with a ton of weeds but after Roundup, it looked like yours. I don’t want chemical on the end product because of the kids and pets but as a first step to kill the weeds, I didn’t mind.

But yes, 100% seed. I actually found it less back-breaking labor to till than to lay sod; and a lot cheaper.

 

[Cooltiger]

Bought this house back in 2010 during a short sale, which means it sat solo for 2 years. The grass/landscape situation was...barren to say the least. Haven't done anything to it always thinking "next year I'll hit it". Well, 10 years later, finally getting around to it.
I am no landscaping High-IQ guy. All info I gathered was from various webpages/reddit/etc. You know the drill. From what I put together...I need to kill off all the bad stuff in the yards. I am starting with the immediate front U shaped and then doing the 70'x10' strip on the other side of the white truck. I do not want to use chemicals as I've seen the C.H.U.D. / Toxic Avenger movies. Going the natural method of soil solarization to kill off everything. There is a big debate about using clear vs black plastic coverings. Black plastic will not allow the sunlight to get to the soil and killing off weeds and you will see an immediate repsonse in 4-6 weeks. Clear plastic allows the UV & sunlight through to germinate any weed seedlings under the topsoil so they grow...and then die off from the heat/steam but takes longer. With black plastic, you kill things fast but things will grow back just as fast because the weed seeds are still ready to do their magic. Or so Mr. Internet tells me.
There are 174 projects to do around my house. 17 of them seems to be Blue Iris / IP camera related. Need to reposition cameras, tackle the Dahua VTO/VTH intercoms, swap out 5231's to 5442's, etc. Maybe after I get the yard all plastic'd off.

Anyways, the trick to solarization is to UV/heat/steam for many weeks. How many? All depends on the PH of soil, amount of UV, how sealed things are under the plastic. I am thinking...4-6 weeks being 5,000 feet above sea level and abundance of UV/sunlight here in Reno, NV (high desert). More "sealed" the better. It is recommended to dig a 4" trench around the border of the yard to bury the edges of the plastic creating that seal. And you can see that's what I am doing below. This soil is compacted pretty bad due to vehicles being parked on the front yard when I used to have 5 vehicles and a crazy tire slashing roomate. I have to use a digging bar (one of those 6' rods with being pointy at one end, flat blade at the other end) pretty much the entire border. Wish I had done this when it was 70 degrees out instead of 95. But that is why I have a gardening hat, UV protection shirt, and a pop up tent
View attachment 92916
View attachment 92921

I was recently on a large farm that has approx 2000 acres under black plastic for our winter to solidarize the soil. This kills the weeds, warms the soil and increases soil biology over winter. In early spring Melons and pumpkins are then planted into the plastic and grown with trickle irrigation without using herbicides. In summer white plastic is used as it is too hot for the young plants on black.
My own farm experience with hay on the garden was to spread the hay/straw, water it, cover with black plastic, weighted around the edges. You could see the plastic rise as the weeds germinated and died.
I would go black plastic and water the area first if possible to encourage weed germination and soil biological action
As for time of treatment, the longer the better but if moist at covering then you will quickly kill your summer weeds.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I'm a chemical guy. I use the concentrate from Tractor Supply that comes in the two gallon jug. With over an acre and an effective few hundred feet of crushed stone driveway along with about 600 feet of fence line chemicals are the only thing that is practical. I am working on the front yard, trying to upgrade the soil enough to get something other than weeds and clover to grow and have been contemplating a quick spray of the yard before adding the topsoil and nutrients, mulch and cow manure, I have accumulated for this project. If I had an extra day, and the motivation, I'd take a ride out to a friend's farm and pick up a couple of tons of aged horse manure as well but that's a four hour drive each way so it ain't gonna happen.

I have put top soil on a fairly large area, say the size of the lawns I've seen posted above, and used Jonathan Green seed. It sprouted in two days and I'm going to have to mow it soon. It's almost four inches high after a little over two weeks and looks really nice. Photos when the whole project is done.

 

[Holbs]

Nice, unique look on that fence...good job.
Now you know how to make ends meet if your regular job goes kaput!

neighbors already ask if I could build them fences. Of course then...I'd charge then $4k

 

[Holbs]

I was recently on a large farm that has approx 2000 acres under black plastic for our winter to solidarize the soil. This kills the weeds, warms the soil and increases soil biology over winter. In early spring Melons and pumpkins are then planted into the plastic and grown with trickle irrigation without using herbicides. In summer white plastic is used as it is too hot for the young plants on black.
My own farm experience with hay on the garden was to spread the hay/straw, water it, cover with black plastic, weighted around the edges. You could see the plastic rise as the weeds germinated and died.
I would go black plastic and water the area first if possible to encourage weed germination and soil biological action
As for time of treatment, the longer the better but if moist at covering then you will quickly kill your summer weeds.

when you use the black plastic for winter... do you see weeds popping up eventually (other than what's blown in)? I thought clear plastic allows the UV rays to irradiate the top soil, killing the weed seeds laying 0-4" deep where as the black plastic just removes sunlight from existing weeds (killing them) but not doing anything for the seeds in the soil.

 

[Holbs]

I'm a chemical guy. I use the concentrate from Tractor Supply that comes in the two gallon jug. With over an acre and an effective few hundred feet of crushed stone driveway along with about 600 feet of fence line chemicals are the only thing that is practical. I am working on the front yard, trying to upgrade the soil enough to get something other than weeds and clover to grow and have been contemplating a quick spray of the yard before adding the topsoil and nutrients, mulch and cow manure, I have accumulated for this project. If I had an extra day, and the motivation, I'd take a ride out to a friend's farm and pick up a couple of tons of aged horse manure as well but that's a four hour drive each way so it ain't gonna happen.

I have put top soil on a fairly large area, say the size of the lawns I've seen posted above, and used Jonathan Green seed. It sprouted in two days and I'm going to have to mow it soon. It's almost four inches high after a little over two weeks and looks really nice. Photos when the whole project is done.

yes, I'd like photos. before/during/after?

 

[sebastiantombs]

Here's a sort of before and during. At the top of the "hill" you can see the new grass coming up. That area is a downslope of about four feet in a fifteen foot, or so run. It has eroded over the years and I've been filling, regrading, with top soil to keep that from happening again. The all the trees make for a lot of parial to deep shade plus add acid to the soil. Our whole yard, front and rear were used as a gravel/sand pit for a while so the "top soil" isn't very top. To make matters worse, the low section, in the background, up to the road, used to be a railroad during the 40's and 50's so you know what that soil is like.

 

[Holbs]

Here's a sort of before and during. At the top of the "hill" you can see the new grass coming up. That area is a downslope of about four feet in a fifteen foot, or so run. It has eroded over the years and I've been filling, regrading, with top soil to keep that from happening again. The all the trees make for a lot of parial to deep shade plus add acid to the soil. Our whole yard, front and rear were used as a gravel/sand pit for a while so the "top soil" isn't very top. To make matters worse, the low section, in the background, up to the road, used to be a railroad during the 40's and 50's so you know what that soil is like.


View attachment 92956

so top half is the new grass...bottom is old grass?

 

[sebastiantombs]

No, there's a strip in the middle that's new grass. You can see the grey area of top soil I recently put in, too. That got seeded yesterday and I'm anxiously waiting to see some green sprouts. The rest is old grass, clover, weeds and bare spots. That green strip running left to right at about center frame is the new grass. I should have waited for full day light, it looks better well lit than in the semi-dusk with overcast we have tonight. Keep in mind that new grass is about 75 feet from the camera.

I meant to mention, I'm doing it on the cheap, too. All of the top soil, 20 cubic yards so far, has been brought in using my pickup and a long handle square toe shovel to unload. I started over on the other side today, for logistic reasons, and anticipate another ten or 15 yards just to get that little hill graded and leveled enough to prevent erosion.