Re: smoothing out a yard

Posted by Billy NY on July 28, 2015 at 14:43:59 from (104.228.35.235):

In Reply to: smoothing out a yard posted by Nick167 on July 28, 2015 at 13:23:43:

I'll be more optimistic further down, but I intended to do the same thing, but it just turned into a new planting. I thought a pass or two then the double roller cultipacker.

I used an 850 ford, #25 M-F 8' wide disc harrow, set for full cut, opposite of straight, though I started from straight actually. This was back in mid April when it dried up from winter, but had lets say "optimum" moisture. It was not dry and hard. At that point the lawn just started being active, but the soil worked up nicely into a good seedbed. It was dry and drought like for most of May, so I had to wait to seed it down. I did put some 19-19-19 down, or I think thats what it was. I made a final round with the disc, then the chain link fence drag I made with a good size piece of angle iron,(next time I'll use 4" steel pipe), then cultipacker with one pass, broadcast an aggressive contractor seed with some clover in it, final pass with the cultipacker.

When I spread the fertilizer previously, to let it work in prior too, I did it with the same tractor I mow with, and could easily tell it was much smoother.

Fast forward, grass came up, but some sedge, or fluorescent green wide blade low grass took over, (another story, next spring, do over, plant like food plot, but grass with oat cover crop).

That section of lawn is most certainly smoothed out now, but has the wrong thing growing in it. Same darned thing comes up in the corn patch, next planting should do it. Normally I mulch new lawns with rye straw, preferrably late summer, grain germinates and makes a nice spring cover, same as a new hay field I suppose.

Main thing was the ruts and roughness, can't cut as quick, bounces the deck around, have lost a belt from that once, so much nicer to run on now. One thing though, my tillage was in the direction I mostly cut in, long strips, if I were to cut the other way, it is a bit wavy, but with my new tractor I'll be able to drag it off level both ways, my 850 has steering issues, hard to work with but still got it done with decent results. Soil here is clay loam and top soil, well drained though, but still holds moisture awhile too. + lots of rocks, but with the disc, I did not go deep enough to raise more than 1/2 a wheel barrow on 2/3 of an acre I planted. I think it went well on smoothing it out, it was a lot worse before. I took some photos, might be able to post later.

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