OOzz's Soil Test - 2021

[Oozz]

Hello -

I have absolutely no experience with lawn care, so would prefer to go with the most simple approach. Honestly, I just want some decent grass i can walk on barefoot, that isn't going to kill me to maintain.

Live in Northern Virginia. I have a small area in the back of my townhome that I am trying to grow grass on. The yard was on a slope, so I built a retaining wall and regraded the area to be more functional. I backfilled most of the area with dirt that was removed for the retaining wall foundation. I noticed that the soil wasn't draining water very well around the edges of the wall, so I recently turned all the soil and its draining much better, but its not tamped down.

Right now, its just a bunch of turned dirt (clay and rocks). In a couple of weeks a variety of weeds will start growing. Before I found this site, I was planning to remove some of the excess soil, regrade, then add topsoil.

Area: 177 sq ft
Sun: Direct sun from 12ish-sundown
Irrigation: I'd say our backyard can get very moist, so irrigation is big concern of mine.
Grass type: TBD

Thank you!

[Oozz]

[andy10917]

Well, now...

I've got to think about this one. There are challenges to consider - like how to apply fertilizer or calculate rates in a 13 ft X 13 ft area.

Cool though ...

[Oozz]

Bumping this to see if I get any responses.

[andy10917]

There are really only two people on the site that do soil test interpretations and plans on the site. One is starting a new job and I'm currently busy trying to keep on on a big project and building a house for my son. This is the slow season for soil tests, and I will get to it Monday or Tuesday.

[Oozz]

There are really only two people on the site that do soil test interpretations and plans on the site. One is starting a new job and I'm currently busy trying to keep on on a big project and building a house for my son. This is the slow season for soil tests, and I will get to it Monday or Tuesday.

I apologize. I understand that this is a free service you are providing. thanks for the response.

[andy10917]

For an area the size that you're discussing, I don't think that the topsoil replacement idea is unreasonable - by your description, you've mixed rocks, clay and subsoil and it doesn't drain well. It's not going to win any beauty contests. I'm going to skip the normal analysis and just help you to avoid a few mistakes. You can do another soil test next year and we'll fine-tune the final product.

Remove the existing soil to a depth of 3" - 4", and remove visible rocks. Replace it with good topsoil (bag or bulk), but make sure not to create a defined/hard line (called a Horizon) between the deeper old soil and the new imported soil by gently mixing the bottom inch to blur the line. Horizons are not good news.

A bale of peat moss mixed into the top 3" would be good. It may settle a bit in the first year, but you can top-off the mix if that happens.

KBG and TTTF (or a mix of both) would do well in your area, and it should drain OK.

Your biggest challenge is going to be downscaling the lbs/K fertilizer recommendations that we use.

I hope you realize that we're not reading the soil test results because you'll be discarding that soil.

Retest next May to get a full-year plan with you handmade soil.