Question
My wife and I just bought a 50 year old home just outside of Philadelphia.  They lawn/soil have been neglected over the years.  The soil is hard and very compact and it appears as if there is a lot of clay.  If you were to walk around the yard, you would immediately notice a lot of bumps and ruts.

I would like to start start a new lawn from scratch but do not know where to start or what equipment I will need.  Do I have to have the old soil and grass trucked away?  

Answer
Truck away the old soil and grass?  Don't be silly, Jim!

Start with a little Rototilling.  Not too much.  Just enough to break up the clay.  You want to keep as much of the soil intact, as hard as it may be, to protect the tilth you have.  Till in a VERY generous amount of organic matter.  Since it's autumn around the corner, you're in luck - leaves are perfect, along with grass clippings (which you may have to get from neighbors), humus, kitchen compost and whatever manure you can dig up at the garden center.  The idea is to make the earthworms under your soil happy.  They will quickly transform your hardpan into beautiful, rich earth that will grow beautiful, green grass.

No kidding here!

After you Rototill and add your amendments, rake smooth.  Remove debris and rocks.

Clay has a bad reputation from all over.  But the reality is, Clay is a great thing to start with.  It's got lots of minerals and has the most potential of anything you can begin with.  You're probably right, you probably do have clay.

In the meantime, get a sample of your soil to your local state cooperative extension, which in your case would be Penn State University, one of the premium agricultural research centers in the world (www.psu.edu).

They will tell you all the things that your soil has and all the things it is missing.

I would grow a cover crop like alfalfa for the winter to further enrich the soil and break down the clay.  Alfalfa roots are so effective for this it is scary.  They pour Nitrogen into the soil, and they penetrate the clay beautifully without disturbing the soil structure.  You want to build your soil up, and this is just what the doctor ordered.

You can ask the Penn State people to confirm, but don't ask them for shortcuts.  You need to do it the right way and you have the luxury of starting from scratch here.

In the spring, put down a natural preemergent - any Corn Gluten based product will be perfect, and it will break down into high Nitrogen fertilizer after it destroys all germinating weeds and miscellaneous grass seeds poking up.  Then pick out a nice sod or if you want you can grow grass instead; sod will be faster, and there is no waiting period to worry about since the grass has already germinated.  You'll have a nice basic bed to grow the Sod on.

There's your answer.  I hope you're ready!  Busy week ahead for you.

Any questions?  I'm here!