PaPaPeng wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 18:16:24 -0400, default
wrote:

If it was me, I would roto-till the area before adding more dirt,
but it's probably not necessary. What's buried under there, and
how deep?




It was a former wheatfield. When they rezoned it for residential
development most of the topsoi lwas removed leaving perhaps only 2 to
3 inches put back to nutrure the grass. The dirt below is real
sticky clay. On open building lots easily 1/2 to 3/4 inches of wet
clay can build up on the shoe soles by just walking on the stuff.
Fortunately my front and back yards slope outward so there is no
stagnant water around the house.


I'd get the total topsoil depth to 6 to 9 inchs if I could, depending
on the grading. Considering the effort involved in doing this, it's
worth doing it right, so the grass will have a good root system. In
areas where only a couple inchs of topsoil can be applied, I'd
rototill some humus material in. Anyplace where the grass won't be
killed by covering it, I'd kill it with Roundup. You're going to have
to reseed anyway, so you might as well do the whole thing with a good
grass. I'd look at getting the best seed you can find for the
application. I'd check online sources like seedland.com, as they have
better varieties and more choices than the local home centers. The
newer seeds can have better resistance to disease, better color,
better drought tolerance, texture, etc.