Lawn restoration advice needed.

[turbo36]

When I had my house built a couple of years ago the landscaper I hired really screwed up part of the lawn. On the north side of the house ( where all the shade is) he brought in blue clay topsoil before laying the sod, the problem with this is that it is either too wet or too dry depending on the season so the sod never developed a deep root structure. I want to start over but I'm not sure what I should do, the clay depth is any where from 1" to 6" so I can't just rip in down and replace it because it varies in depth too much, plus there is underground sprinkling and house drains in place.
What I thinking is to rip a couple of inches off and the apply 3-4" of lighter (sandy) soil and try to roto-till it in best I can. Anybody do a similar project?

 

[AlanB]

We encounter this (clay soil trying to grow grass) pretty regularly in our area.

We usually add topsoil, and depending on how bad the stuff underneath is try and bury it or admix it in.

If you can pull a couple inches off (I would be very hesitant to do this in our area with a sprinkler system installed) and then just add back in high quality top soil, I would say you should be golden for grass.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Before you start ripping anything out, try core aerating and then topdressing with about a 1/4 inch of compost. Do that a couple times a year for a couple years, and you should be in good shape.

 

[SCOOBY14B]

When I had my house built a couple of years ago the landscaper I hired really screwed up part of the lawn. On the north side of the house ( where all the shade is) he brought in blue clay topsoil before laying the sod, the problem with this is that it is either too wet or too dry depending on the season so the sod never developed a deep root structure. I want to start over but I'm not sure what I should do, the clay depth is any where from 1" to 6" so I can't just rip in down and replace it because it varies in depth too much, plus there is underground sprinkling and house drains in place.
What I thinking is to rip a couple of inches off and the apply 3-4" of lighter (sandy) soil and try to roto-till it in best I can. Anybody do a similar project?

Before you do ANYTHING you need to do a soil analysis. It may be something you can correct with soil supplements.

 

[RonR]

Agree with a couple of posters here, and then our story:

Soil Test. Then add compost via core aerating. Then overseed.

We have clay so tough that when it's dry, it's like concrete. Blindfolded, you couldn't tell if you were walking on the driveway or the yard before.

A buddy suggested compost and suggested I read any lawn website. The usual cure to any lawn ailment is not adding sand or new topsoil, but ORGANIC material.

We have a place that sells composted zoo doo for like $30/yard, you haul. We spent 3 Saturdays driving out there buying a yard each trip, then spread it on top of a 10K square foot yard. We had a decent stand of old fescue, so we just parked the trailer by the yard, and SLUNG the stuff (it's light) on top of the yard. Light raking helped move some of the thick spots, but we had it at least an inch deep all over.

Not having a core aerator, we just watered it in. A good alternative would be to verticut after applying it. We didn't need to fertilize for two years. Our lawn now feels springy when you walk across it. You do get some exotic weeds (elephant hay?) that have to be sprayed.

That was 3 yrs ago--we're thinking of adding another layer this summer.

Highly recommend it--and it didn't smell as it was aged and tumbled a lot. This approach would be much easier than trying to remove/replace soil.

ron

 

[turbo36]

Thanks for the good ideas. I have core aereated acouple of times per year but I vaen't add any organic matter. I also heard that Gypsum helps.

I think I will get the rototiller out when the snow finally melts and try to mix in a few inches of compost and then reseed.