Question
QUESTION: Hello.  I live in the Princeton, N.J. area and am a regular reader of your excellent site.  This may be a silly question, but I will ask anyway.  I have a low spot in my lawn that I would like to fill in without smothering the existing grass.  Can I add small amnounts a soil over the grass, and water it in to build-up the ground?  Will the existing grass "poke" through the soil if I add soil a little bit at a time?
Thanks!

ANSWER: I don't know how old you are, my friend, but what you're proposing is going to take a lot of time.  If you have the rest of your life to work on this, your plan will work.  Plants do rise to the occasion, so to speak.  But the increments are modest, certainly not more than 2 inches a year.  How 'low' is this section of Lawn?

Please, please Peter, do not check the Private box this time.  You're not the only one on the planet with this question.  People -- thousands of them, from all over -- show up here and look around.  If we don't give them stuff to read, we all lose.  And no, it is not silly.  Like that old gardener's saying, No such thing as a stupid question.  There is however such a thing as too much patience.  Consider tha tother old gardener's saying, the one about this being your life, right now, not the one you're waiting to have, the dip you're waiting to fill in, ... rsvp at your leisure with Public followups.  Don't worry.  They can't even see your name.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I am 43, and have alot of time on my hands.  I am looking to raise the ground about 1-2 inches.  Thats all.  Thanks for the response.

Answer
Whew!  1-2 inches -- that works.  Why not kill two birds w/ one stone, in that case?  Topdress with a thin layer of Humus lightened with Sand and if you're in the mood a sack of Starbucks coffee grounds (they're actually not acidic and the slow-release Nitrogen is a marvelous amendment that improves Soil structure).  Later on, you can top it off with shredded leaves from local Trees.  Current research indicates that Maple leaves are best.  Maple leaves contain Weed-impeding chemicals that DON'T affect turfgrass; the plan is to find out if the chemicals can be isolated and sold as natural Weedkillers.

Earthworms will do most of the work, provided you aren't repelling them with any chemical fertilizer salts.  Give them a few weeks and they'll pull the leaves and organic matter underground, and deposit high-nutrient castings across the top.  It rains, the Grass grows, the castings melt, the ground level elevates just the tiniest bit, and Putin rears his head across the maritime border... sorry I just got carried away.  Good luck w/ your project; keep in touch.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER