We did some research while we waited, and chose to purchase zoysia el toro from a local sod farm in Waimanalo (Quality Turf Grass, http://www.qualityturfgrass.com). Zoysia is a warm season grass. It does not tolerate getting very cold. It is slow growing, which keeps watering and maintenance to a minimum. We figured this was our best bet for a relatively Eco-friendly grass lawn. The proprietors at Quality Turf Grass are fantastic, they live to talk story, give plenty of advice, provide handouts to guide you with watering and care, and even invite you to bring your kids and dogs to come play on their demonstration lawns!
An instant lawn sounded appealing, but we didn't have $4000 to spend on sod. Even if we did, I would rather spend it on Disney tickets or Lindt white chocolate truffles or something. So we went the route that many people around here do and "plugged" the lawn instead. I remember the first time I saw a lawn done like this, and I frankly thought the owners were insane (when a friend saw mine she asked if the kids were going to be playing some crazy hopscotch game on it). Now that I have priced out a new lawn, I understand the wisdom in this approach, but it means a lot of extra work if you will be doing the labor yourself.
We ordered our sod in 2x3 mats and cut them up with a hand saw to make plugs. Our sod supplier suggested planting for 10% coverage. She said at this ratio, it would take about 6-9 months for it to fill in completely. We measured the square footage of our space, which is more or less rectangularishy, by multiplying the length times the width. If your lawn is a different shape, you're on your own because it's been way too long since I took geometry. Google is your friend! Heck, for all I know, there's an app for that.
Once we knew the square footage of our entire yard, we divided by ten and calculated our need based on that number. The sod farm threw in a few extra pieces at no charge.
We brought the sod home in a rented cargo trailer (don't tell U-Haul...I didn't see anywhere that this was forbidden, and sometimes it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, or at least hose the thing down well and not get caught) and laid the 2x3 mats out on the yard, more or less evenly distributed. Then we drew out "zones" for each piece by making lines in the dirt. Each chunk would be divided up and planted within its zone. This way, we wouldn't get to the end and find ourselves with too much left over (too widely spaced) or not enough (too close together).
Then came the tough, back-breaking, hamstring-pulling part: using a hacksaw to make smaller chunks (we went with about six inches square, I think) and planting them.
After struggling with holding down a floppy mat of grass with one hand while sawing with the other, Chris, our resident home improvement Macgyver, came up with a clever solution: he laid a large piece of plywood on two sawhorses for his cutting surface, then used a circular saw to make a 3 foot long slot in the board, wide enough to accomodate the hand saw. The sod was then placed over the slot for cutting, allowing the saw to pass through while being supported on both sides.
Meanwhile, I went through and planted each plug. I would dig a small hole just deep enough so that the roots would be covered on all sides and the crown was level with the ground. I didn't need to turn the topsoil beneath because we had thoroughly worked it prior to solarization. I tried to spread around the loosened dirt evenly.
 |
| Work in progress |
Aftercare is also labor intensive until the lawn fills in. The bare earth between plugs needs to be weeded regularly. Zoysia forms a dense mat that crowds out other plants well, but getting it to that point takes serious elbow grease, as we are trying to minimize our use of chemicals.
 |
| Several weeks later |
Watering is the other important ingredient while the lawn is being established. I'm not even going to try to get into specifics because so much depends on local conditions. The time and money spent on installing irrigation was definitely worth it, though, and there's no better time to do this than when you have the entire yard dug up. Almost all of our plugs took nicely and are growing. It's been about three months and I'm expecting it to fill out completely in a few more. Neighbors regularly walk by, complement our progress and commend our persistence.
All in all, it was very, very hard work. I don't think there was a single aspect of this project that wasn't longer and harder than anticipated, but the cost savings probably made it worth it...for us.
But I'm thinking I don't mind the weeds in the back yard so much after all!
