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| Hi all,
I'm a new homeowner in the southeastern area of michigan. The house I bought has a lawn that has been neglected for a couple of years. I also found out that the soil in my yard underneath the sod is essentially sand and gravel (lots small rocks!). I have decided to reseed the lawn in the fall. But before I do that, I want to figure out what is the best thing to do. The yard is not big... About 2500 sqft of actual lawn areas. I have been reading various things on the web and I have came across the following possibilities. If some of these are nonsense, please forgive my ignorance... 1. Put couple of inches of topsoil/compost on top of the current lawn (which is essentially all dead) and reseed. This seems to be a little bit problematic when the roots of the current lawn and weeds in there decays...
If there are more practical methods or some advice on how to do this properly, please let me know! Thanks so much for any help!! Yiran |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Soil is nothing more than rock. Sand is coarse rock parts, silt is finer rock and clay is the finest/smallest pieces of rock. So you already have soil, unless uour soil is only a couple inches deep or you need to fill in some ares you don't need to add soil. Now your soil might not be good, but that can be corrected with ammendments. Orrganic matter gives soil its tilth and water holding capacity. Roots and dead weeds are organic matter and will decompose. As organic matter decays it returns some chemicals (like nitrogen) to the soil for new plants to use. So contrary to the dead roots being a problem, they are actually a benefit. You just need to RU the lawn and scalp and bag and rake up the loose matter. Also remember that compost is just decaying organic matter and once fully decomposed there isn't much left--so not a good fill material. Do not till, that is just going to cause you more grief. I recommend you do two things first: 1. Get a soil test ASAP. Logan Labs in Ohio (about 150 miles due south of you, does a thorough test in about a week or less for $20. 2. Do a jar test. Clean the grass/weed growth off the surface of a small area and collect a sample of the soil down about 4-6". Pick out any stones and place it in a mason or pickle jar until the jar is about 2/3 to 3/4 full. fill the jar almost to the top with water and shake to get all the zoil suspended. Use a magic marker to mark the level of the settlement after 2 minutes, and again at 2 hrs. What settles out first (first line) will be sand and gravel, then silt and finally clay. This will give you a good idea of what you have. Also the hole you dig will show how much soil there is between the surface and the stone--by stone I mean a gravel bed--not just some stone. How far downbefore the soil is more that 50% stone? Post back with what you find. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Wed, Jul 25, 12 at 0:03
| All three of your approaches suffer from the problem of adding soil. You only add soil when you need to correct a drainage problem. If rain drains away from your home and your neighbor's homes, then your drainage is fine. Leave it alone. NEVER till the soil in prep for a lawn. I just replied to a topic where the guy rototilled a few months ago and then the rains hit. He's afraid he'll have to replace his mower because it is hitting the bumps from the uneven settling after rototilling. Unless your soil has been poisoned, any soil can be fixed repeated applications of organic fertilizer. |
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