Wood floor for my lawn :)

With all the talk about burying wood, I thought I could use the concept on my lawn renovation.

Here's what I'm working with:















So my plan is to go out in the woods and gather up rotten logs... you know... the ones you step on and they immediately crumble like soggy corn flakes. I'll spread those out on the ground, then cover that with grass clippings and leaves from my compost pile (which is new for the year, so it hasn't moved along much), then cover the whole mess with fresh, sifted topsoil I'm excavating from another location on my property.... about 3-4 inches worth.

At first, I was a little trepidatious about putting wood near the house for fear of providing a nice home for termites, but there doesn't seem to be termites in this wood. I think its too old and too close to being dirt for termites to care for. The only bugs I find are centipedes and ants. The second thing that concerned me was I may be putting too much carbon in the ground and leaching the nitrogen. Again, the wood is so far along in rotting, I'm not sure how much it would leach. Whatever it does, it would be slow about it. The benefits of the wood "floor" would be that it breaks down slowly, and as it does, it moves and keeps the dirt above from being compacted. 2nd, it contains air pockets. 3rd, its like a sponge and is always moist. 4th, its well draining. 5th, its a source of nutrients as it breaks down.

So, what could go wrong?

I'm planning to plant kentucky bluegrass (against everyone's better judgement),,, in georgia,,, in the summer,,, in the shade. I'm just looking for a battle

Anyway, I guess I don't know what I don't know, so I don't really know what to ask. You folks are smarter than me about this kind of thing, so what would be your concerns? Could the wood introduce some fungus that would wipe out my KBG? Am I going to get lots of grubs? Should I be worried about termites? What about the nitrogen thing? What else should I ask?

Thanks a bunch!

What part of the state are you in? I've found that overseeding with deep shade fescue seed along with an organic fertilizer works very well for shady, mossy areas even with hard rocky ground.

NW GA. Yes, I can get Creeping Red Fescue to grow (that's the deep shade stuff). But I bought $200 worth of Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass, so no turning back now!

Hey Randy, Murray County here. The wood mulch will definitely help to hold in the moisture, which looks like a big problem in your yard and most of Ga, as the ground isn't at all absorbent. As for termites, just don't put it up against the house and you'll be fine. I'd do everything you've got planned and put some lime down later this fall, after the grass is took.

And don't cut it so short. My mower's max setting is 4" and that's what I'm cutting it at now that it's all grown in.

Small world. I'm in Murray also. What are the odds?

This is what I like about Creeping Red Fescue... I haven't cut any of this grass all year and I 'might' have hit it once last year with the weedeater just to knock the tops off some of it:



I think the midnight kentucky bluegrass will be the same. Just don't cut it at all. The max height is 6-8 inches (I've read).

Now if it will only stop raining for a few days, I can get some work done. I'm starting to wonder if I should give up the grass and start building an ark! lol

I hear ya on the rain. I've been trying to dig a well. They tell me I have natural springs on my place, but I can't find the wet spot. Wherever I try to dig, it just fills with water.

According to the well driller around here, you have to go down 100-145 ft to hit artesian water. Anything less is water table water, which you can hit in as little as a few feet.

Please forgive me if this is completely inappropriate but I have to ask: Why are you going to all that trouble just to establish lawn, which will continue to be a whole lot of trouble? As long as you are going to such lengths to improve the soil, why not plant something edible, or something to attract pollinators, a simply a groundcover that does not require weekly expenditures of time, money, effort and above all, fossil fuel?

We have lots of lawn space and I am on a constant campaign to reduce it. I want the lawn tractor to become obsolete as quickly as possible!

Heidi Hoff wrote:Please forgive me if this is completely inappropriate but I have to ask: Why are you going to all that trouble just to establish lawn, which will continue to be a whole lot of trouble? As long as you are going to such lengths to improve the soil, why not plant something edible, or something to attract pollinators, a simply a groundcover that does not require weekly expenditures of time, money, effort and above all, fossil fuel?

We have lots of lawn space and I am on a constant campaign to reduce it. I want the lawn tractor to become obsolete as quickly as possible!

Sure, I like questions!

Edible things are a pain in the butt. My garden is nothing but work between plenishing the soil, fighting the bugs, the drought, the weeds. Ugh! The work never ends! My peaches... I spend all kinds of time pruning, mulching, and spraying just to get a handful of peaches from 4 trees. My strawberries I constantly pull weeds and water only to have the deer and slugs eat all the berries. In 5 years I've yet to have a decent pear from my pear trees I'm always tending to. The birds always beat me to my cherries. I'm tired of playing servant to plants which give little in return. I want grass. Nice, short, dark blue-green, kentucky blue grass. I won't have to do anything to it except admire it. I won't have to water it. I won't have to feed it. I won't have to cut it. I won't have to fight the wildlife for it and when strangers come by, they will know he who lives here cares for his surroundings with such a fine ground covering, unlike many of the inhabitants of this area. That's why I'm going through all this work.

And as far as the lawn tractor becomming obsolete, that tractor helped me collect several tons of high-nitrogen grass clippings for mulch for my trees, garden, and compost piles. If the tractor becomes obsolete, that must mean there is a more efficient means of collecting grass, and therefore, I'm all with you on that!

Oh, Randy. I don't know where to start, so I won't.

I wish you all the best in exploring the ideas presented in these forums and in all the fabulous books and videos on permaculture. They offer so many wonderful ways of getting beyond all the problems you mention.