Starting new grass

I want to start a new lawn in my front yard.

The problem is that the area is full of mulch, i have no idea how many layers of mulch is there as it was already mulched when we got the house and i added another one last year.

How do i remove layers and layers of mulch and is it completely necessary?


All your answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Luz

I have two thoughts. Why was it mulched in the first place. I was wondering if it was too shaded to grow grass well. The other question is how big an area do you have. If it isn't too big I'd just rake the mulch up.

Hi Doug9345, thanks for your reply.

I thought that was the reason, but i have been home the last few days and have been observing the sun concentration in all four side of the house since i want to start different beds. They are there, but no real planting in them.

The sun hits that area all morning up till early afternoon.

I have approximately 350 square feet to seed. I tried raking it, but only the top layer will come up.

I guess, it can be rake but it will take a long time and do no good to my back. It's not that i am lazy, but that i don't want to be in bed for 2 days afterwards.

I guess i can pay to have someone do it, but wanted to see if there was a less expensive, more efficient way to do it as $$ is tight these days.

Luz

Since no one else seems to be jumping in here I'll try to make some suggestions.

There is an adage that says that you can have something inexpensive, quickly or quality, pick any two. I keep this in mind when I do projects.

Obviously the quickest way is to throw money at it. A professional will have the lawn done in a day, but this is also the most costly.

The cheapest way, but also the slowest way to do it, is to do very small areas at a time. I know about back problems so I appreciate that certain things aggravate the problem a lot. If you can do a 2' by 2' area every day the lawn will done by the 4th of July. In reality it will be more like the end of september because rain,other commitments, and a back that just isn't up to it will absorb at least half your days. Such a small an area you can do sitting, standing, kneeling or what ever works for your back.

I think you need to divide the mulch problem into two parts The first part is to get rid of the loose mulch that comes up easily. If you can get someone to help you I still think raking will work fairly well. I've used a lawnmower to windrow stuff by tieing the flap on the outlet up a little bit. If you do that you need to have no one else near you as the mower can pitch stuff quite a ways. If you mower has a bagger that should pick up most of the loose mulch. One other thing you could do ,if you don't want the mulch for some other area, is to let your friends, neighbors, and family know that you have mulch that you will give them, all they have to do is rake it up. You may get a taker.

For the mulch that doesn't come up easily, I assume it has started to decompose. I think I'd just till that into the soil and let it go. If it is really decomposed I wonder if just planting grass seed on it might work. I don't know how ugly it would be, but it's worth a try. Grass is pretty tough stuff. If it didn't work you could go back to tilling the area up.

This is just more or less thinking out loud. I live in the country in central NY. Where I am, bare ground will grow grass relatively quickly if you don battle it.

Dough, to tell you the truth i never even think of tiling the area, i was thinking of seeding it.

Your recommendations are very well appreciated.

The reason i wanted to do it as soon as possible is because i did not want to have a bare front yard for most of the summer. But if i just get rid of the mulch little by little as you suggested and then tile the area, i will have a green lawn pretty quickly.

Obviously i will have to price that as well, but i think it will still be a lot cheaper than calling the professional.

Thanks for your time and advice.