Calling all professionals! An Alabama homeowner submitted his yard problem to us in hopes of getting some answers. What would you suggest he do to create a healthy yard?
Letter from homeowner:
So here’s my question: Am I crazy to try to spread a little dirt on my flipped over sod and try to grow a new lawn on it?
I bought a house with a disaster for a front lawn. The lawn is about 7,500 sq ft on a 20-degree slope from down where the house is to up on the street level. Most of the lawn was leftover winter rye, patchy tall fescue, bare areas, moss and exposed roots. It also receives about 5 hours of direct sunlight, with the other daytime hours receiving filtered sun from tall oak trees. I decided the best way to revive it was to start by cutting up the entire top layer with a sod cutter, then flipping it all over so any remaining grass would die and I wouldn’t lose all the good topsoil I still had. My next step was going to be to buy 8 or so yards of topsoil and spread it over the surface to fill in cracks in and around the flipped strips of sod/earth. Then I’d seed with new fescue. Now I’m doubting two things – that spreading this thin layer of topsoil will make the lawn even enough and that leaving the flipped sod will be fine under the new seeds without stopping roots from growing. I’m hoping others have had to deal with “non-traditional” sloped yards. Thanks in advance!
