Turning a field into a lawn

[The Chicken Lady]

DH and I are currently house-hunting. We found a nice place on 5.31 acres that we really like, and are seriously considering making an offer very soon.

However, it's new construction in the middle of what was overgrown field/pasture previously. There is grass growing, but it's all thick meadow grass interspersed with weeds, etc. If we bought the house, we would not want to pay for sod for 5+ acres, but rather landscape close to the house and then work on the rest of the land over time.

How easy would it be to turn a field or pasture into a lawn? How long does it take, and what is the process like? Ideas about potential costs and/or necessary equipment would be helpful, too.

Thanks for your suggestions and thoughts!

 

[patandchickens]

DH and I are currently house-hunting. We found a nice place on 5.31 acres that we really like, and are seriously considering making an offer very soon.

However, it's new construction in the middle of what was overgrown field/pasture previously. There is grass growing, but it's all thick meadow grass interspersed with weeds, etc. If we bought the house, we would not want to pay for sod for 5+ acres, but rather landscape close to the house and then work on the rest of the land over time.

How easy would it be to turn a field or pasture into a lawn? How long does it take, and what is the process like? Ideas about potential costs and/or necessary equipment would be helpful, too.

Thanks for your suggestions and thoughts!

You're not really proposing to have 5 acres of lawn, are you?

For a normal lawn-sized lawn, most people would Roundup the heck out of the area, let it sit for a few weeks or month(s), then plow it all up and make a nice seedbed and then seed and mulch lightly and water. I'm not actually recommending that, but it's a common approach.

Personally I would suggest just mowing and repeatedly overseeding, combined with spot attention to pernicious weeds (dig or handpull yer thistles and suchlike, or if some patches are really bad, plan to smother them for a year or two). The conversion to lawn will be gradual but it will happen - for my property I'd say in a year or year and a half but it will vary a lot. Your only cost is the price of grass seed to overseed with.

I'd suggest leaving most of it as meadow though. You can 'reclaim' more of it at any time in the future, and in the meantime it will not be a massive mowing chore

Have fun,

Pat

 

[The Chicken Lady]

You're not really proposing to have 5 acres of lawn, are you?

Well, not lawn by itself necessarily... We would do a huge garden, plant an orchard, have a big firepit area out back for picnics/marshmallow roasting and have space leftover to do a kind of mini-forest. The back portion of the lot actually backs up against a forest, anyway. (Oh! And I can't forget the chicken coop and run).

But yeah, I'd rather have lawn than meadow for the most part. Cutting the grass seems to keep the bugs down naturally (mosquitoes are pretty bad around here), and I just think it looks nicer. But that's just me.

I'd suggest leaving most of it as meadow though. You can 'reclaim' more of it at any time in the future, and in the meantime it will not be a massive mowing chore

Have fun,

Pat

Your advice is really good. That makes sense to start out that way, and just reclaim portions of the yard as we need them. It would cost less, too.

 

[DandyDan]

So, Chicken Lady - I'm in a similar situation. My wife and I own 12 acres of former horse pasture. We're having someone maintain much of it as hay, but are in the midst of converting some of the property around the house to turfgrass. I'm curious if you went ahead with the process and how it worked out for you. What pitfalls did you see/lessons did you learn? Did the turfgrass eventually crowd out the field grasses? Any other advise?

Thanks and hope it worked out for you!,

Dan

 

[digitS']

Welcome to TEG, @DandyDan .

This is a very old thread. The chicken lady hasn't been around for the last 4 years ... she may not even have bought that property. If she subscribed to this thread, she might receive an email with your question.

I don't know the answer although I once tilled some forest land and turned that into a lawn. A neighbor is in the process of turning some unused land into an alfalfa field. He will use an herbicide.

What you are doing reminds me of what @curly_kate did last year. Perhaps she or someone with a new home may respond. @Jared77 may be doing something like this now ...

Anyway, welcome

Steve

 

[DandyDan]

Thanks, Steve.

I kind of figured it was a long shot to hear from the chicken lady, but I figured I'd give it a shot and maybe, as you indicated, somebody else might be able to add to it...

Dan

 

[Smart Red]

I started out with a modest lawn and a huge weedy field beside it. Every spring I made a few more passes with the lawn mower into the field and every year the lawn got a bit bigger.

Honestly, it is hard to tell what part of the lawn is seeded and what part has been tamed by mowing the field grasses and weeds. It all looks pretty much the same to me.

After 3-4 years even the grape vines stop growing back.

 

[DandyDan]

Thanks for the hope, Smart Red!

 

[Beekissed]

I started out with a modest lawn and a huge weedy field beside it. Every spring I made a few more passes with the lawn mower into the field and every year the lawn got a bit bigger.

Honestly, it is hard to tell what part of the lawn is seeded and what part has been tamed by mowing the field grasses and weeds. It all looks pretty much the same to me.

After 3-4 years even the grape vines stop growing back.

That's exactly how we did it and still do it....just mowing it, mowing it and mowing it. It's a great way to improve pasture and it's a great way to turn pasture into lawn, eventually. Another good way is to have some sheep...hair sheep are the most easy care and love graze and browse equally... they will graze most everything down and any weeds that survive the sheep you can mow down a couple times of year. Makes your lawn/pasture look like a well groomed English estate!