starting a meadow from seed: my dilemma

So I'm building a wildflower-and-native-grasses meadow in my backyard, and I'm currently cold stratifying a large quantity of Indiangrass and little bluestem seeds. My plan is to put down newspapers and cardboard under mulch to smother the existing lawn. However, I have a dilemma: how should I sow the grass seeds once the lawn is dead? It seems to me there are two alternatives, neither very appealing:

1) Move mulch and newspaper remains, then dig up dead sod, sow seeds over the top of exposed dirt, then re-mulch.

2) Add vast quantities of topsoil to the mulch in place, then sow seeds.

#2 would require less backbreaking labor, but it would be more expensive, and it would raise the height of the yard by several inches when all's said and done (seems to me that would risk erosion too). The yard's small, about 1500 sq. ft., but I still can't imagine digging up that much grass this summer. Maybe the solution is to do only half of it this year and the other half next year. But since I don't know that we'll be living here more than 3 more years, that solution doesn't appeal to me. I want to see the meadow start to come in before we sell.

I'd go for option #1...with #2 unless you add a ton of topsoil, your seedlings might have a hard time getting their roots through the newspaper/cardboard layer. Option #3 would be wait until next year, then the carboard and the grass under it will have rotted and you can just sow your seeds. Option #4 is rent a sod cutter or dig up the grass by hand--you may end up having to hand pull some that tries to regrow, but hopefully your wildflowers and wild grasses will have started to get a foothold by then. Option 5 is use a weedkiller to kill off the grass, then plant your seeds (make sure to read the directions on the weedkiller--with some you can plant new stuff fairly quickly, but others the effect lasts a while so make sure you get one that's going to kill the grass and then disappear).

But...since you mentioned that you're not planning on staying in your house very long, I'd like to propose option #6 which would be keep your existing lawn. I hate to even suggest this option because personally I hate the idea of lawns and I'd much rather have a wildflower meadow (and I'm sure many people here would agree too), but unfortunately when you look at the non-gardening-addicted public who you'll be trying to sell your house to, the lawn is probably preferable. If you were going to live there for a while then it's all about making yourself happy, but if you're getting out in a couple years then you do need to think about the impact on resale. If everyone in your neighborhood has normal grass lawns, I think you'll be hurting yourself by taking it out and putting in the meadow. Plus some people who aren't as into gardening as we are might see a wildflower meadow and think "yard full of weeds". But maybe you live in a more "enlightened" area where the meadow would be appreciated by the majority of buyers...if that's the case then by all means go for it.

Thanks for the suggestions. As I've thought about it, I think I will do a combination of digging and smothering (#1 and #4). I think I will sow the majority of the area in the fall, since my stratified seed will only cover about 1/5 of the area anyway. So I'll dig up about a fifth of the yard this spring, sow the stratified seed, smother the rest, then direct sow fresh seed in the fall over the smothered part. I'll also buy a few plants to put in for instant gratification.

It's hard to know what people around here will think. I'm trying to make my plan tasteful, with a winding field-stone walkway through the yard, only short grass species, plenty of showy native wildflowers, etc. So long as the experiment doesn't [i]hurt[/i] resale value (even if it doesn't help it, as one would ordinarily hope that landscaping would), I'd be willing to go forward just for the experience of it, and to hone my techniques for wherever we live next. It's not really a "normal" house anyway, as we're right on the edge of a little commercial district - definitely not in the middle of a uniform neighborhood of endless lawns, thank goodness. And I'm keeping the front yard in a more formal style.

jsorens, good luck on the wildflower garden. Last spring, i tilled up the old "garden" area that was here. I sowed native grasses and wildflowers. Probably about $800-$1000 worth i'm ashamed to say. ordered from 2 different prairie co.'s. Unless they come up this year, it has been very disappointing. I saw a couple of mexican hats. I know the birds probably ate most of it. They are uncanny about me planting seeds, whether it's birdseed, lawnseed, or prairie seeds.
In one of the prairie seed books it says that if they don't come up the first season, they might or should the second. I've since planted some of that area with roses and flower bulbs. We'll see. I live on the prairie and i guess that is why i don't have any indigenous plants is because the weeds and newer grasses seem to be hardier or better able to compete. The biggest problem is that most native grasses and flowers are warm season and grow later than the earlier cool season grasses and weeds. good luck!

Thanks - Last year I tried to sow some cold-stratified native wildflower seeds in the spring, and they never germinated. Just a bunch of weeds. It was multiple species too. I thought the summer drought might have hampered them, and I also sowed them a bit late (mid June).

I've already started bribing the rabbits with carrots; maybe I'll have to take the same approach with the birds this year. Fortunately the yard is small enough that the investment is more in time than money. We'll see - it'll be an adventure either way!

I sowed mine early spring. But like i say i had 2 mexican hats out of the millions of seeds i planted. lol. But hey maybe this year we will both have millions of flowers and grasses! Perhaps i should worry about that now instead. When i planted all those seeds i was a little concerned that they might spread and populate the entire county!