Question
Hello, I have recently purchased a new home without a lawn in Utah (high desert climate).  The soil on my property is hard dirt with plenty of rocks of all sizes.  The soil doesn't saturate water well - pools of water are very common on areas with no slope.

I would like to bring in some top soil prior to using sod.  My questions are:

What steps do I need to take in terms of soil preparation if I'm using top soil?   I have already taken out all the bigger sized rocks from the top layer (I'm pretty sure there are more if you go deeper) and just used a bobcat to grade my yard and take out most of the weeds.

Do I need to break up the soil by rotter tilling and using compost - if so, can you provide me with best practices, I'm a total beginner.

I doubt all top soils are made equal - what do I look for in top soil?

Lastly, I had plenty of weeds, most seem to be broadleaf prior to using the bobcat today.  I don't plan on bringing in the topsoil until about September.  What steps can I take to keep them from coming back?
Is there a specific product you recommend to kill / prevent weeds  - I have a 0.10 acre lot

Sorry, this is so open-ended, but like I sad, I'm a beginner.  Your answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer
Hi Paul;
The best weed prevention I have ever found is a total organic program.
Weeds like poor soil and don't thrive in rich soil.
Concentrate on making rich soil and the weeds and insect problems will take care of themselves.
for every harmful insect that can invade your lawn and garden, there are hundreds of beneficial ones that will feed on the harmful ones.
chemicals kill all the beneficial ones along with the harmful ones, but killing the natural predators make it a perfect enviornment for the harmful ones coming back.
Lizards, toads and grass snakes will take up residents in a healthy enviornment, and the toads will eat, ants, slugs, and a lot of other nasty pests, lizards will eat ALL the aphids that invade roses. they keep mine aphid free.
Grass snakles and lizards eat a lot of pasts, and get fat and sassy, and don't harm any of your plants, or make a nuisance of themselves.
I haven't seen a weed even come up in my lawn for at least 5 years. i started my organic program 8 years ago.
I put down sugar and watered it in well. Fertilizers kill the baneficial microbes that enrich your soil. sugar nourishes them.
These microbes work round the clock, all year long, enriching and making your soil better.

Chemicals CAUSE problems, they don't cure them
I worked my self to death and spent at least two smal;l fortunes trying to have a good lawn, and battled weeds and grubs, army worms, you name it, for over 40 yeras.
Then 8 years ago, when I started with just using the sugar, the weeds started fading away in a couple of weeks, and fewer were there every week, until in a couple of months there were none.
I had about 50% weeds, because my next door neighbor had a weed farm that seeded my lawn every year.
I threw the sugar down again in the fall, and watered it in well.
the next spring, about half as many weeds came up as had the year before, and in a few weeks they were all gone, with no chemicals and no pulling or digging.
the third year, none even came up.
I have not put anything on my lawn for 8 years except sugar in the sopring and fall.
I always water deeply, to a depth of at least 6 inches, to encoyurage a deep root systen. That protects against heat, cold and drought damage, and prevents a thatch buildup.
All we have done to the grass for 8 years is feed it sugar twice a year, water deeply, mow and edge.
Our lawn id thich and lush, and dark green, and weedfree.
Buying topsil is an unnecessary expense.
Turn what you have into top soil.
Add bark mulch to loosen it up.
You can mix 3 parts bark mulch ( cedar is best), 1 part humus, and 1 part peat moss. Mix these together and put down 3 inches of this mixture, and mix it in with the top three inches of your existing soil, and in about 4 to 6 months you will have 6 inches of good topsoil.
Ot, you can do enough bark mulch to cover about 3 inches deep, add lava sand, and corn gluten.
Mix thet with 3 top inches of your soil, and that will also make good top soil.
You can go ahead and plant right away in this soil, and it will grow.
I am just saying mix, because I am assuming you won't want to try to till with all those rocks in there.
Lava sand is full of nutrients, and corn gluten is both a weed and feed, according to Howard Garrett. He is Texaas organic guru.LOl.
He is a degreed horticulturist, has other degrees relating to agriculure too.
His website is   www.dirtdoctor.com
I have joined his ground crew ( paid the $25.00 fee to have total access to forums and videos on his site) and I am really learning a lot of new things to do, organically to improve my lawn and garden even more.
If you can find some granulated gyp[sum and just put about 2 inches of that down, water it in, and let it start working.
As it works down into the soil, it breaks up that clay. You could put it down again in the fall, just before you lay down the sod, and it will work further down.
I used it about 40 years ago to loosen up the clay in the yard of the home we bought.
It has to be the snow white GRANULATED gypsum. they have some peleted gypsum out. It is gray funny looking little pellets. I used it, and it didn't do diddly. Isn't worth a nickle in my opinion.
You can use the powdered gypsum you can get at US Gyopsum, but it blows aroung and makes a mess.
If you come across some scrap plaster wass board, don't thropu it away. Break up that plaster and put it on your lawn. that is the same stuiff as the granulated gyp[sum.
Or you can just put it in a l;arge drum or something, add water and water with the water off of it. It will disolve, and that is good, soil loosening water then.
A lot of my answers are on loosening and amending the soil, and using herbs to keep ALL insects out of the house.
Read some of them.
I think you will find some things in there, that I have tried and worked with, that will help you a lot.
I just wish I had know what I know now, 50 years ago. I might still have a back and knees that work. LOL
Charlotte