We have several acres of wooded area but are left with 1 acre that was previously clear cut, thus the copious amounts of mulch.
We want to turn this acre into more usable grassy area for kids, dogs. I can’t play fetch with my dog safely without her worry of her getting stuck by the copious thorny brush or a rouge branch that would stick her when she’s on the run.
Any ideas on how to approach this?
- Round up any large debris and sticks into burn pile
- Rake up loose mulch… the big stuff doesn’t decompose fast enough. How useful is the more fine mulch? Is this good to save for growing a garden? Good base for grass seed?
- What to do about the thick woody plants with a tough base and stumps?
by aLifeOfPi
5 Comments
I’m doing this exact thing currently. Previously it was just blackberries and shrubs. I used the box blade on our mini tractor to scrap the blackberries and topsoil into a pile to compost. I then took a couple hundred 2 inch plugs of grass from the good part of the yard and transplanted them into plug holes in the blackberry area. I didn’t worry about weeds, I just kept mowing the whole area weekly to keep everything short. Nothing but the native grass plugs can compete or reproduce. Last year it looked like a botched hair plug job. This year it’s 3/4 native grass 1/4 field pennycress. Next year for sure it’s gonna be just grass. Good luck op! I hope this helps!
Grass is great but mix wildflowers for bees & colors. Dogs’ll love it too trust me
Buy the cheapest hay and spread it thin. Hay bales are full of grass seeds. The hay will keep humidity to help breakdown dead material and help the seeds germinate. On top of that it will fertilize as it decomposes.
I think you just leave it for a year and it takes care of itself with whatever grows around there. Don’t bring in any non native species.
Run a brush hog over it a few times a year, or burn it if your can and spread hay over that