Build Up a Hard Packed Lawn

PL1899 – posted 04 September 2001 10:13

My front lawn is Fescue/Bluegrass in Northern Virginia and is about 2500 sqft. The soil is hard clay and acidic, and has become depressed (slightly below sidewalk level) over the past two decades. The lawn is shady due to a big oak tree. The grass is OK but thin, and not growing as well as I would like.

I can not till my lawn because of the oak roots just below (sometimes at) surface level. I do not want to harm this big, old tree.

I am looking for a way to gradually build the lawn level up, while adding nutrients, alkaline, and softening the soil. If this will not work, my second choice would be to put a few inches of new soil on top (again without tilling) and reseed.

Any help would be appreciated.

school boy – posted 19 September 2001 08:13

Try to put some Nitrogen,Phosphorus,and Potassium to your lawn but check with a landscaper first so you don’t put to much on.

sorry I used your name I am at school.

tdkx – posted 25 September 2001 19:01

You’ve answered most of your question for yourself. Do you want the nice tree or do you want a lawn? Repeated topdressing would help you if you have a spare 20 years. Otherwise it looks like you will have add a condsiderable amount of soil and reseed. Consider this though, you could add soil where it is needed and not have to reseed the entire lawn. Just “feather’ it out like any good auto-body man would do with body filler. Maybe this will work?

TDKX