Question
Hi, I live in San Diego and we do have clay. My lawn is dying. I understand that I need to add organic material to help the grass grow (the grass is Tall Fescue..I believe it is a cool season grass). There are dead patches and I have been fighting to resurrect my back and front yards for over 3 years now. How do I add the organic material without having to dig up the whole yard? Should I cut the grass really low, then add compost etc.? Should I till the compost and other organic material in (after cutting the grass down)? I do the aeration etc., but it is not helping. To dig up the whole back and front yards is going to cost me an arm and leg. What can I do to have a greener lawn? Please help. I bought a big can of "Plants choice" the other day and I was told that, it works wonders on Clay. Please let me know if that can be used. I am desperate for help.

Answer
Adding organic matter in the form of humus and similar materials is both expensive and cumbersome. You would be dealing with a large volume of the material. Grass can grow quite well on clay soil and it will improve the soil over time. So your grass is dying in patches. This tells me that the clay is not the cause or else all the grass would have died. Your best plan is to determine what is causing the dead patches. My guess is that it is a fungus. Treat that and in the meantime do the all the things which will favor the tall fescue. I myself am not familiar with the grass but you can find out the optimum mowing height and set your lawn mower at that height. Cut the grass regularly; you do not want to remove more than one third of the grass blade when you mow. Use a mulching mower and do not bag the clippings. By far the biggest challenge will be irrigating. Clay soils are not easily wet to any depth. And when they are, they dry out very slowly. Aeration helps in that the water gets down in the spaces created by the machine. Allow the soil to dry until it almost starts to crack before wetting it again. It is this wetting and drying that will enable the grass roots to penetrate to any depth. Over time, a long time, the clay will change and anything will grow better on it. Fertilize with organic products like "Milorganite". Above all, do not strive for a golf course effect because the things you will need to do will keep that clay in its present under-performing condition.