[hanleyster]

Hello,

I need to get some yards of soil dropped off to raise my lawn above road level.

Right now my lawn is actually lower than the road, so as you can imagine it turns into a koi pond when it rains.

Currently the grass is a mix of all sorts of nasty weeds. Since its only about 50 sq feet, I would like to just kill it all and start fresh.

Do I kill it with a spray poison? If so how long must I wait to get my soil dropped off and reseed?

How do I keep the soil from washing away if it rains prior to a good lawn holding it in place? SHould I juse some sort of edging between teh lawn and road??

thanks!!!

 

[jamiedolan]

Hello,

I need to get some yards of soil dropped off to raise my lawn above road level.

Right now my lawn is actually lower than the road, so as you can imagine it turns into a koi pond when it rains.

Currently the grass is a mix of all sorts of nasty weeds. Since its only about 50 sq feet, I would like to just kill it all and start fresh.

Do I kill it with a spray poison? If so how long must I wait to get my soil dropped off and reseed?

How do I keep the soil from washing away if it rains prior to a good lawn holding it in place? SHould I juse some sort of edging between teh lawn and road??

thanks!!!

Okay, so this is only like a 5' by 10' area?

#1: More than a couple inches of top soil will likely smother the old grass and weeds, but you may still get some seeds into the new dirt, though that can happen even with chemicals.

#2: You can pick up a bottle of roundup (glyphosate) and spray, but then you really should give it a good week+ before planting in that area.

#3:This works best if it is hot out, as then it is extra hard on the grass and weeds. Set your mower to the lowest setting. Mow everything you want gone. You can leave it sit for a couple days and watch your lawn die or just start putting dirt over it. Unless you have some really aggressive weeds, this should do just fine.

After new dirt / soil is down, mix a generous amount of peat moss in the new soil, down to 6" if there is that much new soil. Then plant grass seed; top dress with peat to keep the seed moist. Water generously, but do not flood.

If there is a tree in this area, please post photos, as that will need to be addressed, do not simply fill dirt in around the tree.

Re: washing away; You can use some annual grass as well as regular grass seed, the annual will take hold much faster, within a couple days if the weather is warm and the area is well prepared and watered. Hay (ensure it is weed free) or straw put over the area may help. Without a photo, it is hard to say. Use some temporary edging if you feel it is needed.

 

[user1007]

I fear you underestimate the grade change you are making. You are going to have to retain the lower edge with something. I don't know what since I don't know the angle of slope you are trying to reverse. I suspect you may need to build or pour a real retaining wall but perhaps 2x8 to 2x10 redwood would do. Lawn only grows so deep and might hold the top layer from washing away but will not contain the rest of the soil you need to accomplish the grade change.

If water standing in the general area is currently flooding your lawn? Reversing the grade situation is going to flood the street? Something tells me your municipality is not going to be happy with the situation and it could get expensive if all is traced back to you. You might as well figure out how to grade so the water does not pool and just moves along to ground lower than yours?

Much to resolve before you worry about replanting turfgrass seed.

 

[Piedmont]

If it's going to be at least a couple inches, cover what you have now with newspaper or cardboard then cover with a couple inches of dirt and plant. The paper/card board will prevent what you currently have from being able to reach the surface and survive yet decay to let the new grasses roots go deep enough. Just try to avoid the shiny colored ink paper (typically advertisements) you want straight cardboard or the black & white newspaper.