New lawn this time of year??

We had to remove an old concrete driveway due to storm damage and are planning to replace it with grass (and some gardens). We brought soil in, but are wondering whether it's ok to start seed/sod in the heat of the summer. Have any of you done this type of lawn work in the summer? Should we wait until fall? Did seed or sod work best?

So far, we don't have any water restrictions, but that is a consideration too.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Linda

You will work yourself to death if you plant now. Wait until fall when it's cooler. That's the perfect time to plant.

Thank you AikenGdnr. That's what I thought, but I was hoping we could get some grass down to cover all that dirt!

You can sod but you will have to water it every day till it cools off. It might root fast in good loose dirt but no way around it getting a lot of water.

Linda, can I ask a really silly question?

Hope you said yes cause I am going to ask it...

When you had the old concrete removed who did it and where did it go? I mean do you take it to a land fill? or something similar? Does the land fill charge for having this kind of material brought in? If so do they charge for the amount or weight?


I know that a gentleman a few miles from me (I own a home in SC) does concrete work. I am going to have him do our slab for the garage. But I was thinking of asking him if when he does a removal job if he would bring the broken pieces to me instead. If this would save him money I want to point it out to him and ask that he only bring me peice that are between the sizes of 8X8 to 20X20. If this would not be a finacial gain for him then I wont be so picky in the sizes.

Thanks

We had a local landscape/tree service company dig up the concrete with a bobcat and they hauled it to the landfill. I assume the landfill charged by weight (I'll have to check if it was weight or volume). I don't think there were any pieces as large as 8x8 when he was done though ... it was broken up in smaller chunks, probably because of the closeness to our house and ease of handling by the bobcat.

It certainly is worth talking to your cement guy!

When they break up concrete it will be much smaller than 8X8 in fact it would be a lot of trouble for them to take out pieces that big.

Carat, are you talking inches or feet? If you are interested in the smaller pieces you may be in luck. In most counties they do have to pay to dispose of the material. I got some once - for free - and used it for rip rap along a river at a previous home.

I am talking inches not feet. I need to be able to pick them up and move them with a small cart.

Ahhhh ... inches makes more sense!

Linda: We put down St. Augustine grass last August. This was in a pretty shady section of the yard (hence St. Augustine), and it did fine BUT....we watered it deeply, every day, morning and evening. We lost one "square".
So, if you area is sunny, definitely wait or be prepared to drain a nearby lake to keep it going. :) If shade, you could do it but as Aiken said, labor-intensive. :)
Deb

Thanks Deb! I think we will wait since it has been so hot & dry this summer ... my flowers and new (spring-planted) bushes are definitely stressing.