Question
Thanks for responding Charlotte!
There is not hard clay but garbage dirt with clay down below it 8 or more inches.
When I used 16-16-16 it greened up, but then I had to keep cutting it twice a week.
What I would like to do is broadcast topsoil over the top during the rainy season and let it work its way down.

Thanks.
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Followup To

Question -
I have a new home that is a year old. The builder put down minimal topsoil before sodding. Now my grass won't turn green and dries out quickly. How do I add topsoil to my existing lawn to thicken the topsoil base?

Thanks!

Answer -
Hi Ron;
Bet the builder put a tad of topsoil on top of hard clay.
Put a shovel into it to see how hard it is.
If it is hard to get a spade into, and is full of clay. You would be years better off to till it all up, and till in things to loosen up the soil.
If it is clay under there, that is why it won't grow. Roots have a hard time getting through that hard clay, and grass roots are just not strong enough to do it. Water also won't soak into clay, it just soaks in a little land runs off, or sits there on top until it dries out.
You can add things topically to loosen up the soil, but not enough to make a good lawn this year, or get what is there strong enough to go through the winter.
If you decide to till it up, write me, and i will tell you some things to till into it, and if you decide to try to correct it like it is, I will tell you what the best things to put down are.
Charlotte


Answer
when we bought this house, I didn't know anything about soil additaves. that was 40 years ago.
I bought good soil to try and build up this awful clay.
i planted the grass. there were a few inches of good soil.
I let the grass grow to about 5 inches high, and put down 2 inches of soil. that left the grass blades above the soil to catch the sun.
It grew, and spread out more roots that came up, so i let it grow to 5 inches and put down 2 more inches again.
Then i let it grow and mowed it a few times. when it was really thick, i let it grow high again and put down a couple inches more soil.
One word of caution.
If you lawn is now level with your sidewalk and drive, build a retaining wass of some sort.
Railroad ties, rocks or bricks etc.
when my soil got nice and high, I got a lot of runoff of water , and it was hard to soak the soil, and the soil at the edges would run off some, and have to be edged.
It gave me fits until I built a rock retaining wall, to keep the water and soil in.
Charlotte
PS;
When you are adding that soil, be sure to take advantage of the time to switch to organics.
adding some organic compost, alfalfa meal, lava sand, things like that, will green it up and make it gorgeous.
Corn gluten, if you can get some, is what Howard Garrett calls the best weed and feed he has ever found. It also kills out fungus.
Haven't tried it yet, but I have tried the lava sand and alfalfa mea. I added it to soil I put in containers, and the plants are doing great.
I also threw some down around a florabunda rose bush in my front yard, and it got so many new leaves that you can't see the canes, and they are almost twice the size of the other leaves.
Alfalfa meal can be added to the soil, or oput on top and watered in, or you can make a tea by adding 1 xup alfalfa meal to 5 gallons of water, leaving it overnight, stirring well, and useing it to water with, or strain it and put it in a garden sprayer to foliar feed.
It is good for all flowers and grass etc, because it is full of nutrients.
Lava sand is great too. think about it, after a volcano erupts, and the lava cools off and everything settles, gorgeous plant life covers the area.
everything grows larger and better. Look at Haiwaii.
The lava in the soil there is what feeds those Edens.
Last wee I threw alfalfa meal all over my front yard.
don't forget the sugar too.
You can use sugar at the rate of 1 pound per 250 sq.ft. or dry molasses at the rate of 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.
I like the results I get wit sugar better than the results i got with dry molasses, myself.
Charlotte