Question
I live in Central Louisiana and have St Augustine grass. Recently I "tok down" three trees and have endeavored to "even out" the lawn from that project.

Now, I am considering another one. On/about Feb 15, renting a lawn aeriator and aeriating the entire lawn. Then, fertilizing with Scott's Turf Builder. Then taking some more top soil (by the bag) and spreading it over the lawn and then rolling the lawn. Then refertilize the top of the lawN.

"Theoretically, this should give me a good base-the lawn is already seeded with  St Auguistine, and by the end of July I would think I would have a good base and an attractive lawn.
  
1 Is this a reasonable plan of attack to have a nice lawn by August?

2. After I aeriate and fertilize, how long should I wait before applying the top soil?


Thank you for your time and information.

Answer
Scott, with that name of yours, I can understand why you would figure a product called Scott's Turf Builder is something that has your name written all over it.

Unfortunately, my friend, my position is probably going to be somewhat different from those of others you speak with on this matter.  Because in my view, Scotts is in business to make money which means they must do their best to sell their most profitable products.  Fertilizer is cheap to make, and provides them with a nice profit.  Nothing wrong with that. I like capitalism.  But there is so much research on Grass now, we know there are cheaper ways to grow better Grass.

Looking into my crystal ball here, I see your St Augustine Grass starting off very nicely, then diminishing in vigor until there are large circles of sick Grass over the areas where you used to have Trees... because you still have roots and things down there.  Do you, Scott?  Those roots may give you a few headaches where your Grass is concerned.  I'll elaborate if you like.

If this was my Grass, sir, I would not buy anything called 'Top Soil' until I'd had my Soil tested.  I see you have not heard my Get Your Soil Tested speech yet.

Yes, I know.  You're reading this and you're thinking, TEST MY SOIL?  ARE YOU CRAZY?  What a WASTE of money!  Who needs to know what's in their DIRT?

Listen to me, Scott, because that Soil sample will save you MONEY!

A Soil test tells you what you HAVE in your Soil.  If you HAVE it, you DO NOT NEED TO ADD it.  Therefore, you DO NOT NEED TO BUY IT!

Good, right?

Look at it this way.  Let's suppose you wanted to bake a cake.  Ever done that, Scott?  You get out the cookbook and you find yourself a nice recipe.  You look at the Ingredients, you make a list, and you get ready to go out to the supermarket to buy them.

But first, before you leave, you look in the cupboard to see what you have.

Do you have Flour?  If you already have Flour, you don't need to buy it.

Maybe you have Eggs.  Cross those off the shopping list.  You finish checking, and then you go out and buy only what you need.

Now, Scott, What's the temperature of the oven?  You have to check, right?  You can't just turn the oven on and expect the Cake to come out right!  It's got to be the right temperature.

You didn't test for that?  How are you going to set the oven temperature if you don't test it first?  How are you going to bake a cake, Scott, if you don't know how hot the oven is?

You need to find that out!

What's the pH of your Soil?

You don't know!

A Soil Test will tell you what's in the cupboard, what's the oven temperature, how long was the cake in there, if you have Eggs and Butter and Flour... These are things you NEED to know.  You can't grow the ultimate, most wonderful Green Grass without this information.

Scott, I can help you with that.

Because I know EVERYTHING there is to know about WONDERFUL Green Grass.  I LOVE to grow Grass!  I love to TALK about it.  I love to WRITE about it. I study it all the time.   Even in January, with snow on the ground here on Long Island, NY.

But you have to get a Soil Test.

And here's where you can do that:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/lawn_garden/home_gardening/landscaping/Soil+Testin...

Find your local Parish's Cooperative Extension branch there.  They do Soil testing for a modest fee.  It will cost you less than a tank of Gas, and it will be done by scientists in a laboratory with all kinds of high tech equipment.  Splurge on the Organic Matter option (it's $1 extra) to find out that key detail for your plot.  Follow their instructions VERY CAREFULLY... because Garbage in, Garbage out.

Sorry this is a bit lengthy and I haven't even begun to scold you for using that bag of Scott's Turfbuilder -- still, given this is your first name, how can anyone blame you?  In a nutshell, let me just tell you that de-thatching is almost always a great idea for St Augustinegrass; adding organic matter (NOT Topsoil) is going to build up your Soil from the inside out, which is the best way to grow strong Roots and beautiful, healthy Grass.

Any followups welcome.  I'll shut up now.  Thanks for your question.  God Bless Louisiana.