Hello all,

I have been struggling with my yard since we purchased in April of 2013. This home is a new construction home with just dirt as a lawn. The heat in the area at the time was incredibly hot so I have been waiting to plant grass. Over the summer we had about a month of straight rain. This rain has caused erosion of the land and caused long trenches in the yard. Also the dirt around my foundation has dropped a full two feet in some areas. This was to be expected being a new construction but is has become so hard to keep up with. I have received one truck load of dirt from the builders to fill in the low spots. I have been wheel barreling loads of dirt to low areas over the last month and feel I have gotten nowhere! This dirt is in clumps that are impossible to break up with force. But I digress, the yard became a weed lawn in mid summer with crab grass everywhere. I have sprayed weed killer and killed all the weeds so now it is a brown wasteland.

My question to the forum is what is the best method to remove the dead weeds in the yard? Also would a tiller help me level out the yard and help fill in the eroded areas?

I don't have a lot of money to spend on this project and I have contacted multiple people to use a skid steer to level the yard and help grade it. Too costly in my book so I will continue the wheel barrel method to move the dirt. But I have considered renting a tiller to remove the dead weeds and to help make the soil easier to spread and level with a rake and shovel.

Any advise will be a great help and appreciate any and all feedback! I will see about getting better pictures for those interested.