Adding top soil for leveling yard

jimtnc2002 – posted 02 September 2004 07:26

I have quite a few low spots around my yard that I plan to fill in. Some of these areas are 4-5″ low spots within a grade sloping toward the house, but then slopes away at the house for natural drainage. From what I’ve been reading, it appears the standard practice of handling this type of repair is filling low spots a little at a time. I really don’t want to wait years to get this leveled out. Is there anything wrong fixing it now, wherever I find a low spot? Not really concerned about most of the low areas because I’m gonna seed over anyway.

I assume that aeration should be done prior to adding soil. Are soil amendments added after leveling is complete and before seeding? I’m trying to get a timetable established since there’s not much of it left before winter.

I have fescue grass now, but want to graduate to zoysia. I would like to establish a test area from seed, and could I do that now prior to the dormant period? Someone also said I need ot look at other varieties rather than zoysia seed, but I thought that the new Zenith Zoysia was somewhat the king of carpergrass seeds now. Wrong?

Thanks, Jim.

[This message has been edited by jimtnc2002 (edited 02 September 2004).]

jimtnc2002 – posted 03 September 2004 04:59

doesn’t anyone have any ideas, thoughts?

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 03 September 2004 12:04

Impatient huh. Check out some of the other posts with zero replies from a month ago!!

You can fill them all at once if you want. You might overfill a little as the dirt will settle down, not up.

I don’t aerate and almost never suggest it. Proper watering (infrequent and deep) takes care of your soil tilth and softness.

Zoysia has one problem that makes it a non-starter for me. When zoysia gets a fungal disease, it dies and does not return for months or years. How often does it get a fungus disease? Usually once and the owner tears his hair out because he knows how slow it grows. If the fescue is growing well, I’d stick with that.

jimtnc2002 – posted 04 September 2004 04:38

thanks dschall. You noticed that impatience thing too? 🙂 Yeah, I saw the post count yesterday and was hoping mine wouldn’t be one of them. Hehehe. I’m gonna start spreading some topsoil this AM.

Sure wish I could find some kind of “compost drop spreader” that could be pushed or pulled and is wide enough to lay down a good stripe.

Thanks for the other info. I’ve just had it with fescue. I did hear about a new variety called “combat” or “crewcut” fescue that is more heat resistant and creeps like bermuda, also with rhisomes…but don’t know if it’s a worthwhile investment. This pasture grass I have is junk.

texasdiver1 – posted 08 September 2004 11:31

If you’re in a hurry and the low spots are not so large, you can always use a square shovel to remove the turf over the offending area and then fill it up with topsoil and packing it before replacing the turf. That’s what I did around some of my sprinkler valves that were sunk to low in the turf when installed. I had to dig up the valve boxes and raise them before filling around them with top soil and putting the turf back. Topping off with sand wasn’t going to work for me in those locations because I would have ended up burying the valve box covers

Alex_in_FL – posted 08 September 2004 13:39

If you are going to reseed then level the yard and reseed afterward. Simple, fast, finished. Not reseeding? Then agree with Texas Diver. Leveling 5 inches will take a while otherwise.

Agree with Dchall on fixing your yard but not about zoysia [as usual we agree on most fixes but not about zoysia ]

Zoysia is a great grass. I love it! However, if you can grow fescue then I suspect you are up north. Zoysia turns brown with the first frost (nice because you don’t have to keep mowing) but if you want a green lawn in winter using zoysia you will have to overseeding a winter grass.

Alex

jimtnc2002 – posted 09 September 2004 05:32

Ok, thanks guys. I’m outside of Raleigh (transitional zone) and right now I have fescue/K31 junk grass. I’m gonna seed this or next weekend (depending on what Ivan does) with Confederate fescue after leveling out some low areas. Then next spring, I’m gonna seed Zenith zoysia, unless someone talks me out of it, or this Confederate seed turns out so good I won’t want to redo.

Thanks, Jim.

[This message has been edited by jimtnc2002 (edited 09 September 2004).]

lbk_atlanta – posted 24 September 2004 09:14

I’ve got a similar situation in Atlanta with wanting to move from fescue to zoysia. We aerate and overseed every year and even had a lawn service for the last two years and the fescue still gets overgrown with crabgrass every summer. I would love to sod but with 15000 sq ft of lawn, I’m looking for a cheaper way. When you said you might seed with zoysia next spring, are you overseeding the fescue or are you preparing the soil by killing the fescue first, then working up the soil, then planting?

jimtnc2002 – posted 28 September 2004 09:27

I really haven’t decided, but I’m leaning toward slit-seeding (I’ve got a spike aerator I’m gonna use for this), and seeding over top what I have now. It’s just too much work for me to do otherwise. I haven’t found the proper way to apply the seed yet because of the small size of the seed, but at $40 per 2lbs I better find out the best way to get it into the ground. I understand it’s slow growing, but with hot full sun I should see some good coverage the first summer.

[This message has been edited by jimtnc2002 (edited 28 September 2004).]