Granite Falls takes the mountain rain and sits on ground that falls away toward the river and the falls. Steep sides of lots are normal. Water concentrates, finds the weak spot in a bank, and leaves a rill where the lawn used to be. Sod on a steep, rocky bank slides. The bench of the lot can take it if we build soil first. The bank cannot.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98252 · 2020 population 3,572
Sod on a bench, not on a cut
Thin mountain ground needs soil brought in or built, or the sod roots into nothing and winter rain peels it. We do that prep, and we keep the sod off the slope. Erosion on the cut is a planting or a wall, not a roll of grass.
Pallets have to reach the site. A long, steep drive changes how we stage the job. We look at that before we promise a Saturday install.
The ground in Granite Falls
Properties on the edge of town back into fir and alder. The lawn, if there is one, is a cleared bench. The rest is slope, stump, and shade. We get called when a bank has started to slump after a wet winter, or when a path down to the lower yard has turned into a creek.
Rock walls and a drain at the top of the slope do more than plants will. Beauty bark in the deep shade keeps the weeds down and the mud off the house, but it will not hold a bank by itself. Tree work is practical: limbs over the roof, and sightlines where the forest is closing the drive. Aerator and seed belong on the flat piece only. Treating the whole hillside like a turf job is how you waste a season.
How we do the work
Sod is instant cover and a slow root. It dies when it is laid on compacted clay, on a moss mat, or in a low spot that stays wet. We strip or till, we fix the grade so water leaves, and we lay tight seams on soil that has been loosened a few inches down.
The first two weeks are water and no traffic. After that we want roots chasing soil, which means less frequent watering. A sod lawn that is sprinkled every day forever is a sod lawn that peels up in August.
We lay what arrives that day. Sod that sits on the pallet through a warm afternoon cooks in the roll, and we will not install it.
What we look at first
- What is under the old lawn
- Grade and where the roof water goes
- Access for the pallets
- Sun, because sod in deep shade is an expensive way to grow moss
When seed is the better buy
Large areas, deep shade, and tight budgets that would force us to skip prep. Seed costs less and roots deeper if you can wait a month. Sod is for the yard you need to use, on soil we were allowed to prepare.
The first two weeks
Water enough that you cannot peel a corner up by the end of week two. Stay off it. Mow the first time at three inches once it resists a tug. Then ease the water back so the roots leave the roll.
Seams and edges
Tight, staggered, no overlap. Edges tucked against beds so the mower does not scalpel a flap. We cut curves with a knife, not by stretching a roll around a corner until it tears.
More from this crew
- Sod installation across Snohomish County
- Lawn seeding in Granite Falls
- Lawn aeration in Granite Falls
- Landscaping in Granite Falls
- Lawn fertilization in Granite Falls
- Sod installation in Arlington
- Sod installation in Lake Stevens
- Sod installation in Marysville
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
