Sod - HELP!
Calling in the troops! First, let me preface this by saying that I'm still young and hopeful that some of you have made similar mistakes... some lessons you just have to learn the hard way, I guess. Trying to keep this short...So, my wife and I wanted to redo our front yard and put in grass instead of rocks. We knew we didn't want to take on the manual labor ourselves, so we hired some guys (unlicensed and uninsured -- our big mistake) to take the rocks away, till the soil, and lay the sprinkler system and sod. To make a long story short, the sod came before they were ready, and the sprinkler system wasn't ready even the day after the sod arrived (though they did get most of the sod down). We fired them and hired someone else to finish, who finished the sprinkler system (and gave us better sprinkler heads)... here's my concerns: 1. No starter fertilizer was used, though there was previously some manure in the soil and we had a large tree cut down, so sawdust was mixed in the soil. 2. No top soil was used. 3. The grass wasn't thoroughly watered until about 3 days after it arrived and is starting to show signs of dying in parts. My big question is, what should I do now? Before the grass really starts to take root, should I have it lifted up and lay down fertilized soil in sections? Can I wait until the grass takes root and just re-sod or overseed sections that don't come back to life? I don't want to have to spend $400 ordering new sod if I don't have to... on the other hand, I'm so fed up with our experience that I'd like to just let the sprinklers do their thing and pray that it comes back to life. Also, the sod company says I should water 4 times per day for 10 minutes each for the first two weeks... does that seem correct? A book I have suggests watering deeper less often to get the roots to grow deeper, but I'm guessing that's for an established lawn. Comments? Marc