I know I will get some hassle for the dumb mistake I made, but I am at my wits end here :)

Last summer I came upon a huge amount of free compost, not thinking it would do much harm I put it all over my front lawn as my grass was really bad, and I had a lot of moss in the yard. I removed all weed, moss, debris before laying out the compost. I did not mix with top soil.

Seeded, watered every day and for about a month (once growth was maximized) I had a great lawn, really thick and green. I missed a day of watering, during a really bad heat wave...that seemed to be what started it. After that the entire area where I applied compost completely dried up and died. I left it for the winter, and am now looking at a bunch of short, dried, dead remenants from last year. Much of the yard is actually dirt, and the dead stuff comes up really easily.

I would like to put down some proper soil and try again, but I wonder if enough time has past for the chemicals in the compost to have neutralized - and also is this even what killed it to start with?

I appreciate your advice, and I will try to get a pic up here after work today.

Thanks all!

If the grass really died after one day of heat, after a month, then you have other serious problems.

You need a soul test, and you should also do the 'soil jar test' to find out what kind of soil you're dealing with.

How much compost did you put down? Haw many yards over how many sq feet? How thick of a layer? Did you drop grass seed on top of the compost?

Depending on the answers, the only thing I can think of is that your grass roots never reached the soil and we're only in the compost.

What kind of grass did you plant?
What was your watering schedule after the grass came up?

There is nothing wrong with good compost. It certainly has no chemicals in it. In fact compost is used to normalize the effect of using chemicals. Did your compost smell fresh as a forest floor after a spring rain, or did it smell sour? Was it warm at all?

I'm against the free addition of soil for most any reason other than to build up low spots for proper leveling. Mother Nature does not add more soil when She reseeds a prairie. No, your grass came in fine. Something else killed it. I'm thinking disease from too frequent apps of water.