Okay a few things.  

1-No, don't bury the sod.   But you DO need to hollow out a little space, and "set" the dirt part in the ground, and make sure the edges have dirt sloping up to them.  Basically, when you have a big piece of sod, you have the middle that does not dry out completely, and the edges that get very dry, if they are not butted up against something (which they almost always are).  With small pieces of sod that you are treating like plugs, you've got to sort of "plant" that piece of sod. Use the soil to help it not die from drying out too fast.   Even with you watering plenty, a small piece, without a root ball (like a plug would have) is going to get very dry, very quickly.  So this is more work than just rolling out strips of sod, but it will pay off for you.


2-Your sprayer is fine.  Herbicide for the weeds in zoysia is what you want. So you want a herbicide that won't hurt the zoysia/warm season grass. It will be primarily 2, 4-D, but usually the formulations have something else in there too, to give it more punch.  They are usually generic and very cheap in small bottles.  You are going to overspray your turf, and also spray your bare areas.  Folks seem to really like Celsius, but you should research that.

3-I tell my customers to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get decent quality impact sprinklers from there.  Cuz they are not gonna order something specific. They just want to buy it, shove it out there, and have it work.   The ones @TheStig posted are absolutely fine.  I could recommend some truly outstanding sprinklers, but they are more expensive, and you don't need fancy just for establishment.  I do have some opinions on timers that I absolutely hate and you should not buy.  Pay the money and get the one you can run from your phone.  I can't think of the name of the rotten one. If you need that, I'll go look at the POS one I tossed in the garage.


HERE IS THE TROUBLE:

Zoysia is slow to establish. It does not spread quickly like Bermuda does. Especially at first. It can take a couple of years to really get established and covering ground.  That means you are going to be spraying that bare ground a LOT, and you are likely to go over your annual rate for the herbicide use.   This is more than just a problem on paper.  1- Weeds develop resistance, just like bugs do.  Overuse of one herbicide can make it less viable for you in the future.  2- While we say "X herbicide doesn't hurt Y grass" that's not entirely true.  The grass still has to process that herbicide, and it's going to slow down the establishment and spread even more.  

So you've got yourself kind of between a rock and a hard place here.  I do NOT recommend using glyphosate "between the plugs of sod" because you're accidentally going to kill some of it.   You can't use a pre-emergent herbicide like prodiamine because that's a root pruner.  It will keep your sod from rooting, tacking down runners, etc.  

Honestly if you can swing it, I'd either sod the whole thing, or  go with a different, less-expensive cultivar and just redo the whole thing.  Maybe put the fancy sod on a curb strip or something so it all matches in one section?

I dunno.  This is a tough one.  I wish I had a better solution.

Yes, ask questions, and show us how it goes!

So if you are going to aim for, say,  a hundred square feet per month. (just guessing...it could be half that...no idea what you are thinking) MAKE A PLAN.  Grid off your yard, and make a paper plan.  DECIDE NOW which are the first three squares (300 square feet) you are going to sod.

THEN...put prodiamine down (this is a pre-emergent herbicide) on EVERYTHING ELSE.

This will save you so, so, SO much hassle.  

I would also consider getting some bags of peat moss at Lowe's or HD, and spreading that over the bare soil, just to help it hold water and not blow away, turn into a complete mud pit, etc.  But That's a "nicety".  What you really need is weed prevention.  The pre-emergent is your friend, AND...if you do the application correctly, it will wear off in....drum roll please.....three months.  Just when you are ready to start your next square of sod.

OR you could get landscape fabric and a bunch of staples, put down the pre-emergent, then roll out the fabric and staple the hell out of it.  (And lay down some rocks, pavers, etc.)   It won't be beautiful but it will help you in the long run.  (Or you could do black plastic and no pre-emergent.)

Yes  If you haven't, you need to get a little fertilizer on that sod.  Something with phosphorus in it is good.  That helps with root development.  Like what I use on new sod is, I put down a granular starter fertilizer on the bare dirt before I lay the sod (this is NOT a heavy application.  It's just a little.)  Then I water it like crazy, then I apply RGS, (this is a liquid) which is Greene County Fertilizer's root growth stimulant.   Water that in.   Then in about four-seven days (depending) I apply a liquid 16-21-2 with humic and fulvic acid.  

Now, I grow cool season grass (fescue, bluegrass, etc) but I don't think this sod starting technique varies much between cool and warm seasons.

Very nice domination line!

How many thousand square feet? (I'm wondering how much that 100 lbs was, as far as pounds on the ground per K).

We want pics, dude!  

You got any Greene County Air-8?

Throw that to it, as SOON as you core aerate.

It is HUGELY helpful to get it in the bottom of those core holes!

That's called Cleavers.  I'm making medicine out of it today.

I expect 2,4-D will get it, but I've never tried to kill it.  I will look.

ETA: Oh...it's in a flower bed.

Shoot.

I don't know anything you can use to overspray ornamentals that will take out Cleavers.

Look for the little spiny balls (they're really small) on the plants.  It is a spring annual so it flowers and seeds very quickly, then dies with the heat.  But it leaves the  brown, ugly vines all over everything.  

Pre-emergent in the fall and early spring are your best bets to stop it. But that won't be effective THIS year.  That'll be for next year.  

Going back to read the comments.  You may already have gotten help.

@SWIRE

You're going to have to pull it by hand this year.   As you clear an area, sprinkle Preen all over your flower beds. (Try not to put it ON the ornamental plants, except for the vinca.   You can't kill that so don't worry.  Sprinkle away.)   You will need to reapply Preen every three months.

Toss the cleavers in a pile, then pick it up and put it in the trash.  It smooshes down much smaller than it seems like it would. It kind of collapses.  

FYI, this is not in fact goosegrass.   That's something else, and is a good reason to use scientific names, cuz regionally the names really vary.  But those scientific names can be really offputting.  If you type in "Cleavers" you will normally get this plant, though.  It grows pretty much everywhere around the country as far as I know, though maybe not in the deep south or southwest--not sure about that.  If @TheStig doesn't know it as a weed, maybe it doesn't grow down there.  


Since you have mixed perennial beds, you should absolutely read the label  HERE and avoid anything it says you should avoid.

It is my experience that NO granular pre-emergent herbicide is labeled for use around hydrangea (at least, it wasn't last time I looked) so I just stay back a little, away from the roots.

Pre-emergent is the key to low-maintenance perennial beds.

In GRASS, you can use 2,4-D and/or other broadleaf herbicides.  But not in your landscape beds.  

Unfortunately there is no selective herbicide that will get just the plants you want gone.  We all want that, but it doesn't exist.

So the seeds that get left from this year (and some from previous years, cuz that's how seeds roll, yaknow?) will lie there until winter.  Then they will germinate either in late fall or (more likely) early spring.  So it's important, in the fall, to put down a late fall application, and another in, say, late January/early February here.  You have to catch them BEFORE they germinate.

FYI I usually see Ginormous containers of PREEN at Sam's this time of year.  Much cheaper than going to Lowe's or HD.

You do also have chickweed in there, and of course a dandelion.  Tis the season.

Pre-emergent won't stop a second-year dandelion, but will stop the seeds of new ones.

I think your mom is lucky to have her own personal greenskeeper.

Yup, I kill it for my clients.  But I use it at my house.

Fortunately it has very shallow roots. It will also turn yellow and die back soon cuz we're about to get hot.

I know it looks like crap when it dies back, so you have to get it out of there.  

This season will suck.  But next season will be better.  If you want stuff even better than Preen, we can talk about that. But Preen is easy and available everywhere.  Great price on it at SAM's, for a really big container, too!

Welcome to the Lawn Care thread!

So...the back yard appears to have more grass, and fewer broad-leaf weeds, and the front appears to be mostly those light-green weeds.

Is that correct?

Is the new grass coming up in the front along the street, and also in the back?

When you look at it, how much baby grass do you see?  How long ago did you seed?

Can you get a close-up photo of the new baby grass?  If not, that's okay, but will help us see what kind of stand you are getting.  

Those spring weeds out front are going to turn brown and die as soon as the real heat hits here in about three more weeks.  HOWEVER, we don't want to leave you with bare dirt, and depending on when you sowed your seed, we need to be careful what you spray on it.



EtA:  We expect pics of beautiful dag to be included in all future lawn care posts.

(Not really, but just sayin.)

@Gunnie357

I've got a question about the back (pic with dag).

Did you take that photo today?

And if so, how many days has it been since you mowed?

NOTE:  We don't care when you mowed.  I'm just trying to determine what that taller grass is, and how fast it's growing as compared to other grasses in your lawn.

Only kidding about the requirement to include the dag, but it's always nice to see such a beautiful pup.



Will await your pics, and no hurry.

Please @ me so I see it when I first open the forum.

Busy time right now and I don't want to miss/ignore you accidentally.

@SWIRE

I saw this, meant to respond, then forgot.

You need to do a test.

First, take a long screwdriver.  Go out there and poke it in the ground in the area where it's wet.   See how far it goes in easily.  Then go to an area that does NOT have standing water, and poke the screwdriver in the ground.  See how far it goes in easily.  Farther?

Second...if there is some kind of hardpan under part of your yard (or a bit of bedrock or something that is not allowing the water to drain) the screwdriver is not going to reach it.  In that case it would be really educational to take a piece of rebar....a relatively long one like, say, 3' (I choose rebar not because it's the best choice, but because it's cheap.)  Poke that in the ground in the area that doesn't drain.   when you hit something hard, get a hammer and see if you can drive it in.   Try that in several spots in that non-draining area.  If I were up there, I would pull some cores and see what you've got, but I'm not.

Something is under your lawn that doesn't let it drain.

Tell me more about the topography.  Is everything except this a slope?   Is there a slope that drains onto this, and this part if flatter?  Tell me about how your property drains and what drains onto it.

If you have a serious issue under there, Air-8 is not going to fix that.  HOWEVER it might could help.  It has worked wonders for a client of mine (did I tell this story?) whose builder basicall raked about 2" of soil on top of a bedrock hill, then laid sod over it.   It was a mucky mess, and Air-8 turned it into a lush lawn.  

Air-8 is cheap and easy to apply, so not saying you shouldn't use it. Won't hurt anything.  BUT...it would be good to do some investigating and see what's the reason that one area isn't draining.

ETA:  Before I forget...

I highly recommend topdressing with COMPOST, not sand.   Yes, golf courses use sand, but you don't have that kind of high-maintenance setup, and the understanding of how layers of sand combine with layers of soil and layers of thatch to create serious issues in lawns is....complicated.  Can I go into that?  Yes, but I'm long-winded enough and really I  don't think it's necessary to elaborate on that cuz compost is a better option.  Compost, just like it helps gardens, will help the soil in your lawn.   There is nothing inherently wrong with clay.  It is the most naturally nutrient rich soil because the particles are small and therefore there is more surface area to hold electrical charges, which is what hangs onto minerals, etc.  

But sometimes it holds too much water when it shouldn't, and doesn't absorb when it should.

Compost is your friend.

A bit of humic acid on there wouldn't hurt either,  but don't worry about that yet.

When you fertilize next time, see if you can find some Earthworks 8-2-2.  It's chicken poo.  Between the compost and the poo, what I'm after is putting some carbon in your soil to mix in with the clay and give you more space in there.   Carbon and humic structures in the soil are very good things.

Allrighty then.

@Gunnie357 let's talk about your grass.

*First let's talk a bit about your overall goals.

*Then let's talk about what you HAVE, and maybe what happened this spring when you overseeded, what worked, and what did not.

*Then let's talk about how to get what you want and the possible steps to move toward that.  


Get a beer.  I can never do this in a few words.



I will try to put my questions that need answers in RED, since I'm writing a book here and the questions get buried.


Goals:

So off the forum, you told me that what you WANT is something that looks like grass, and is green.  

You are not interested in the perfect lawn.  You want something that looks reasonable from a distance.   You don't honestly care if there are mixed grasses in there.  HOWEVER, we did not talk about whether you care if part of the yard turns brown at first frost and stays brown until May.  Do you care about that? You MAY care about that, and if so, that's going to require more intervention.

We also did not talk about what you are willing to do to get what you want.

You did say that you have a sprayer.  I know you are smart enough to learn how to mix chems and use the sprayer correctly.  You said there are offers from family (mostly farmers) to provide some chems that might be of help.  




Let's look at what you HAVE

PIC 1:

This first pic is out front.   I think you said that you seeded this spring, right?  

That area appears to be MOSTLY winter annual broadleaf weeds.   There will be hot weather broadleaf weeds making their appearance shortly.

I am guessing the following:  

** in late winter this front area was mostly brown or bare, you seeded over that, before or about the time lots of spring weeds started popping up.  

**You seeded with some mix you got at the store. (I can't remember what you said.)

**You did not water.  You counted on spring rain to do that.  Did you put down straw?  Or use the existing brown plant material to hold the seed in place (this is not a bad option DEPENDING)

You can correct whatever is wrong with my assumptions.

You may or may not know the answer to this, but the yellow arrow is pointing to some turfgrass. This grass is turf-type tall fescue.  It LOOKS like it was there last year and is well established.  Is that correct?  

OR...is this NEW grass you got from the seeding?




Pic 2, ALSO out front:

In this photo, the RED arrows are pointing to what I believe is baby crabgrass.  

The yellow arrow is pointing to wild Bermudagrass (spawn from Hell.  (Sorry @TheStig) )



I mention these two things because all those little weeds?  Those are EASY to deal with.  The crabgrass is more challenging.

The Bermudagrass is what will make huge brown patches in your lawn from October 1 to sometime in May each year.  

[EDUCATIONAL BREAK:  ]  What you are trying to grow in Southern Indiana, is Cool Season Grass.  More particularly you are trying to grow FESCUE.  Ideally that would be TTTF (Turf-Type Tall Fescue) but in your instance, it's probably not going to be that, and that's not what I'm going to recommend unless I hear different from you.

That Bermudagrass?  That's what @TheStig has all over his lawn. It's BEAUTIFUL.  Cuz where he lives,  if it goes dormant at all, it doesn't stay dormant for long.  Which means it stays green year-round for him.  Here, where we get frost, it goes dormant and turns brown. You ever drive by a golf course in winter and see those brown fairways bordered by green rough?  Those fairways are dormant  BERMUDAGRASS.  

*MOST PEOPLE in your area want their lawn to stay somewhat green year-round.  I'm assuming you do too.

So here in the Lawn Care Thread, we have the best of both worlds.  I grow cool season grass and I KILL Bermudagrass (if I can.)  People like TheStig...he grows Bermudagrass and kills any fescue that dares to come up in his lawn.

[  /EDUCATIONAL BREAK  ]  

Now then....

Pic 3

In the BACK you have a better stand of grass.

This is not what we consider turfgrass, but is clumping fescue. (Nothing WRONG with clumping fescue as a rule, unless you are trying to grow something else.)

Notice how you have big clumps of wide-blade grass, interspersed with other stuff.

In this photo, the arrow is pointing to small broadleaf weeds that appear to be interspersed pretty much throughout the lawn, between the clumps.   Is that a correct assessment of your back yard?



So to keep this post from being sixteen miles long, I'm going to break here.

I will give you a chance to answer the questions and make sure I have it correct, and ALSO...be sure to let me know the following:


1-Is the front generally more important than the back, as far as being a beautiful frame for your house?  (I am guessing so, but don't know for sure.)  NOTE:  YOU HAVE A BIG DOG. THE BACK YARD IS NOT JUST FOR FAMILY BUT IS FOR THE DOG.  THIS MATTERS IN WHAT I WILL SUGGEST.

2-Do you hate lawn care?

I ask this because looking at your cute property (which I saw via text) and knowing only a small bit about you, I think you like things neat and tidy, and you want your home to look nice.  BUT....do you LIKE mowing and taking care of the grass/landscape?  Or is it something you do because it has to be done?  Do you want it over as quick as you can make it happen?  Or do you enjoy being out there, working in your lawn?

3-This question is about a-budget and b- your wishes.

Do you necessarily want to do this yourself? (you certainly can do it.  I'm trying to judge how much energy you have for it, and want to put into it) Or would you hire a company (not Truegreen, so not the absolute cheapest) to take care of the front ONLY?  Cuz I think you need one thing in the front, and another in the back.  More on that later.  A LOT of people COULD hire a company but just don't want to.  Others...they would rather do the work and save that money.  Are you:

"I hate this lawn care and will pay to not have to do it."

Or

"I don't HATE this, but I have only so much time and absolutely cannot devote any more."

Or

"I could see this becoming a hobby."

4-If I say to you, "You need to order X chemical, read the label and learn to spray it (I will offer resources) how do you feel about that?  This is WAY more involved than buying a bag of weed & feed and dumping it on the lawn.  ONCE YOU ESTABLISH SOME ACTUAL GRASS, weed & feed becomes more of a viable solution.  But right now, you don't have that grass.  We have to figure out the best program for you, depending on what you are willing and able to do, and what you WANT.





Suggestions to follow, depending on your answers.

Okay.


So...HOW MUCH AREA are we talking about with the problem soil?

By this I mean:

1-The soil that holds too much water, then dries out and cracks?

2-The soil that does not drain?

Since I don't really know the lay of your land (and without visuals, the description doesn't help me understand much)

Basically, I don't have any idea what your property looks like, so don't know what is actually possible.

Also...you have a tractor.  What are you willing/able to do to amend it?  

Bedrock at 3' is not great, but that's workable.  You can still grow good grass and get decent drainage with that, since it is not your entire property.

ETA:  Because I don't know the layout of your property, I don't know whether you could bring in several loads of soil, till it in and basically regrade/reshape that area while amending the soil.

I've seen you rebuild a bridge and a creek bed, so I do not underestimate what you are willing/able to do.

Okay got it.

My initial reaction as to your forward progress is somewhat appropriate.

I will type that as soon as possible.  Not sure it will be tonight but maybe, if late supper goes okay.

So it appears to me that that spot is holding the water that comes off of your roof, and that's a pretty big roof area. Lots of angles (best I can see).  So the big slope is carrying the water down to that more gently-sloped area, and it's holding there.  ETA:  Reading again, you're also getting some from the neighbor's property, it sounds like.

It seems to me that there are two things going on.   A drainage slow down AND your soil cold use some help.  

Do you think some drain tiles might be of help to you--taken to daylight on down the slope toward the creek?  Maybe with some surface drains added in the lowest spots.

THEN in addition to that, working in compost and trying to gently raise the grade through there a little over time, to get more dirt on top of the hardpan/rocks at the 3' depth.

Just thinking out loud.  

Surface work just doesn't do a lot to actually drain a spot like this.   It can help the soil, but what really needs to happen is that water needs to move out of there more quickly so it doesn't pool on the flattest spot you've got.

I can't really see or understand where the stone wall is exactly but I'm going to assume it is not acting like a wall to hold the water or slow down its movement?