View ChannelsFeatured: Finance
View ShowroomsFeatured: Radiantec - Radiant Solar Heating

BobVila.com

Home

Installing a Sod Lawn

Bob meets with landscape architect Juan Capote to discuss the installation of a sod lawn. Juan discusses the initial grading and sod types used in this project.

Get Adobe Flash Player to see this content.

Chapters from this episode

Constructing Kitchen Cabinets and Shelves from Surell Now Playing

Constructing Kitchen Cabinets and Shelves from Surell

Constructing a Patio Lanai Now Playing

Constructing a Patio Lanai

Installing a Sod Lawn Now Playing

Installing a Sod Lawn

Clip Transcript For:

Installing a Sod Lawn

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Now tell me that the sod is grown on sod farms around here that is correct yes grown in various -- on -- south Florida. The atypical saw that it used mostly here is called for a tan and there's various grades. Of the sports -- anywhere. -- being the best that's to say and they just truck it to the site and is it and dump it and here you have it and now I notice that your. I mean you prepared the soil someone already aren't what we do in the areas we we great everything first of -- try to cut the area it's flat as possible. And we lay about an inch inch and a half. A 5050 topsoil which is a mixture. Regular black dirt mixed in with various. Fertilizers. It's got anything like nitrogen has got organic. Manure it's a little mixture of everything it just it pushes the assistance of the growth so I and I suppose. You don't need to fertilize your lawn after you install Iraq for the next three months after three months plus. We're going into the rainy season right now in -- all these afternoon showers will be a perfectly green carpet. When we're done okay and the sun comes not like I'm used to seeing it in roles that almost like rolling out a carpet. But in sections not. Yes what what they do and in these fields that they have a machine and it just goes right through. Right on top of the side and it's cutting pizza on and it's loading it on for you and they're and I got to just wear them down. And they just put everything there they just lay everything and then. It just becomes a carpet within six to eight weeks. What do you pay for -- down here. Bob it's the -- your confidence square and in any of the squares run from anywhere between fifty cents to sixty cents a square. Why are member at a nickel a piece you get at their homes that are. So we you have basically thrown it down Robin now you have to figure out how to trim the edges. Like when you lay carpet you want to stretch it you want to pull you want to make sure that all the ends are tight and close to the wall side has the same way. What we do is we grab a machete and we start cutting we can build our edges."

" Illegal and we start rattling them."

" And the -- is very easy to cut. But you can say it's all runners -- all runners. What we do is we -- mulch we circulate it very nicely so it looks smooth in the in the corners. And again. Fit lawn maintenance we'll take a big role in this afterwards. The wherever does the lawn maintenance and is going to have to -- and -- just cut the area against its sides of the runners will look. We'll just go right through now will it start to knit itself together where you put Littleton about 6 -- weeks. I will be able report that's right it's gonna be right but that's just know it takes a good month and it you know -- the role that you know I've been doing and this is for attend you'd throw this anywhere and practically will grow about watering it. That's the most important feature here now got a water every day play a lot of -- we don't get a summer shower to be still my water out here about a half an -- today."

[-]

More Videos »Related Videos

Landscaping Design on a Sloping Bank

Bob checks out the sloping bank that comes from the Western red cedar deck to the yard. Salvaged granite curbs serve as steps set into the bank, leading to the lawn. Foster explains that the gardens will be green, with junipers and yews for low maintenance, varying height, and deep green coverage. She also shows Bob the batch composter for making rich mulch or "black gold" for the plants and gardens. The gardens are dressed with two inches of pine mulch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in the soil. She closes with a self-watering window box that will complete the low-maintenance gardens and flowering boxes on the new deck.

Sustainable Landscaping in Florida

Angela Polo from the University of Florida's Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program is on hand to show how the Punta Gorda yard exemplifies the nine principles of their program: right plant, right place, efficient watering, recycling, protecting the waterfront, reducing stormwater runoff, attracting wildlife, managing fertilizers, and managing pests. Bob and Angela discuss the soil in Punta Gorda, which is typical of new Florida construction and is sandy with no percolation or drainage. Bob talks about the native palm of Florida, the Sabal Palm or Cabbage Palm as it is commonly called, as an example of selecting the right plant for the right place. Brian Kendzior from Sun Scape Landscaping explains the landscape design for this large corner lot with screening for privacy, minimized functional lawn areas, and large beds. Kendzior talks with Bob about addressing hurricane issues and landscaping so that the home and surrounding areas are protected from damaged landscaping and wind-borne plant debris. He explains how landscapers have reduced the size of plantings near the house and moved to sturdy, native plants to reduce hurricane damage. Kendzior also talks about plant selection and maintenance. Sustainable planting tends toward native plants that require low maintenance and thrive in natural conditions. To that end, the irrigation system provided by Toro uses a pressure compensating watering system that uses weep holes to water perimeter plants. Polo also adds that raised beds will be installed by the canal, preventing turf from going right to the edge of the bulkhead. This reduces the chance of runoff from fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides into the waterway.

Creating a Low-Maintenance Front Yard

In the last couple of weeks, the landscape on the front of the yard has been replaced. It used to be somewhat scruffy and sloped right to the sidewalk. A beautiful recycled stone curb has been installed along the front of the house and acts as a retaining wall. Bob talks with Ruth Foster, a landscape designer, and Nick Christy of Atlantic View Landscape Construction. A low-maintenance garden was put in place because this a busy household with two young children. The lawn was taken out because mowing lawns requires a lot of time. Pachysandra is being installed as ground cover because it does not require a lot of care. Pachysandra takes a year or two to develop but once it does, the ground will be completely covered. The pachysandra grows by sending out roots and sending up little plantlets. The plant requires no fertilization or watering. The front yard was filled in with eighteen inches of loam to reduce the slope to the curb and enrich the plant bed. A red Japanese maple that can grow to around 30 feet in height is at the center of the new yard. This tree will also need limbing in the future. Holly and rhododendron were also added to the front yard for low-maintenance bloom ing bushes. Daffodils and blue muscari were also put in, providing a blue and yellow accent in the spring.

Controlled Water Use for Lawns and Gardens

Greg Peterson from Lawn Logic explains how their soil moisture monitoring and control system overrides an irrigation timer and prevents unnecessary watering when there is enough moisture present in the soil. The eight zones around the house are set for moisture requirements depending on plant and soil needs. The control center prevents overwatering or wasted water in a given zone by measuring the actual moisture present and sending a message to the irrigation system. Lawn Logic works with all types of irrigation systems and soils.