# Rate this soil for new lawn.



## D4R3K68 (May 5, 2020)

Hello

I am in the process of yard renovation and landscaper just put 2" of top soil. I want to achieve best lawn I possibly can and I am afraid that the quality of this top soil will prevent me. It's full of pebbles, twigs and who knows what. Am I overreacting and it's normal or should I have him replace it? He told me that I have to get compost in order for the soil to be clean of anything. Thanks


----------



## Lawn Noob (Jul 26, 2020)

How big are the rocks? Grass should grow fine in the dirt in your pics. Unless you'll be reel mowing, a few rocks up to 1/2" wouldn't bother me. I have fescue growing well in an area I later found out has lots of gravel in/under it from when my pool was put in.


----------



## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

It doesn't look too bad to me. I hope your grading is still correct (everything draining away from the house). Years ago I had a lawn guy convince me to add topsoil and I've regretted it ever since. The ground is now higher than the sidewalk and I'm cutting at an angle when I cut parallel to the sidewalk, scalping some of the grass. What is the reason for topsoil? Only good use is to fill holes or low spots. You're also bringing in whatever weed seeds are in it. At this point, it's already there and may cost a lot to remove.


----------



## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

It's worth taking a rake and raking out the big stuff.


----------



## Bombers (Jul 14, 2020)

Compost is good for your soil structure but it will break down over time and your lawn will settle over the soil. You'll eventually have to bring in sand or a sandy loam to level it out to avoid scalping certain areas. Not a bad thing, just more work and part of the game.

Also too late but you should've specified screened topsoil to avoid the large chunks. What you have is pretty standard for new construction, which is fine to grow grass in, but you're doing a reno and want to up your lawn game so I would bring in the premium stuff.

Not sure how big your yard is but you can go over that with a leaf rake and screen out the larger twigs and rocks and remove them.

@Virginiagal I always thought topsoil was standard as a final grade layer over native soil before laying sod or seeding. There are superior mixes where they add compost, sand, gypsum, etc, but topsoil is always the base of any lawn project.


----------



## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

@Bombers In new construction, they often scrape off topsoil during construction and then have to bring some in at the end. If you have just subsoil, you need some topsoil. But if you have topsoil, you generally don't need to bring more in. For seeding, just loosen up what you have.


----------



## D4R3K68 (May 5, 2020)

Lawn Noob said:


> How big are the rocks? Grass should grow fine in the dirt in your pics. Unless you'll be reel mowing, a few rocks up to 1/2" wouldn't bother me. I have fescue growing well in an area I later found out has lots of gravel in/under it from when my pool was put in.


 Rocks are 1/2" - 1''



Virginiagal said:


> It doesn't look too bad to me. I hope your grading is still correct (everything draining away from the house). Years ago I had a lawn guy convince me to add topsoil and I've regretted it ever since. The ground is now higher than the sidewalk and I'm cutting at an angle when I cut parallel to the sidewalk, scalping some of the grass. What is the reason for topsoil? Only good use is to fill holes or low spots. You're also bringing in whatever weed seeds are in it. At this point, it's already there and may cost a lot to remove.


The yard was in very bad condition as at one point there was a lot of trees and previous owner never cleaned up leafs. Weeds everywhere. Landscaper scraped the top, graded, manually raked and now in process of adding top soil.



Bombers said:


> Compost is good for your soil structure but it will break down over time and your lawn will settle over the soil. You'll eventually have to bring in sand or a sandy loam to level it out to avoid scalping certain areas. Not a bad thing, just more work and part of the game.
> 
> Also too late but you should've specified screened topsoil to avoid the large chunks. What you have is pretty standard for new construction, which is fine to grow grass in, but you're doing a reno and want to up your lawn game so I would bring in the premium stuff.
> 
> Not sure how big your yard is but you can go over that with a leaf rake and screen out the larger twigs and rocks and remove them.


I wish I knew I had to be specific about top soil...screened or not. Whenever I had to buy bulk top soil for smaller projects, I went to local supplier and bought yard of soil that was advertised as top soil. It never contained any stones or other "garbage" so i didn't come to my mind to be so specific.

I spoke to landscaper yesterday and we decided to move this soil to the areas where will be plantings and it will mulched. He is going to bring better soil for the lawn area.

We are going to have 24h of straight rain and its a mess right now...


----------



## Lawn Noob (Jul 26, 2020)

Good luck getting grass to grow thick under all those trees. Soil looks fine. Nice property.


----------



## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I am a little concerned about the health of the trees after all this soil disturbance. Here is a publication you should read:
https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/em8994.pdf


----------



## VALawnNoob (Jun 9, 2020)

Lawn Noob said:


> Good luck getting grass to grow thick under all those trees. Soil looks fine. Nice property.


Great looking property and nice designs planned out. What variety/cultivar will your grass seed be? The shade is a concern so that could be a factor in what you choose.


----------



## D4R3K68 (May 5, 2020)

Virginiagal said:


> I am a little concerned about the health of the trees after all this soil disturbance. Here is a publication you should read:
> https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/catalog/files/project/pdf/em8994.pdf


Interesting, yes some of them are already not in best condition. We already cut half of what you see there to let in some sun. I ll have an expert to inspect them.



VALawnNoob said:


> Lawn Noob said:
> 
> 
> > Good luck getting grass to grow thick under all those trees. Soil looks fine. Nice property.
> ...


Thanks. I ll be using GCI TTTF. I have been observing sun light and the grass area is getting full sun for at least 4 hours a day.


----------



## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

I'm glad you'll get an arborist to inspect the trees. But maybe you should get some expert advice before you go piling up even more dirt under trees in the mulched areas. You can kill a tree by making a planting bed under it if too much soil and mulch is used. Your landscaper should be on top of these things but if he is going along with the idea of moving your somewhat rocky soil in the lawn area to planting bed areas, which all seem to be under trees, you have to wonder. Also make sure the drainage is correct. You don't want rain water flowing toward the house.


----------



## D4R3K68 (May 5, 2020)

This is the aftermath of lots of rain. I really think he shouldn't put top soil before all this rain and even when we are not ready to seed yet. Stones everywhere….


----------



## Lawn Noob (Jul 26, 2020)

Now that you can see them, get the bigger rocks out of there.


----------

