[jeff_0]

This person has about 22000 sq ft of yard that looks like this. Can i just rake top soil on the clay soil. His yard is mostly clay like you can probably see in the picture.The seeds i'm going to use are perinnal rye and tall fescue And what would you charge for something like this.

 

[jeff_0]

This is what his yard looks like after having a lawn company come in last spring and put in a new yard. he said they gave him a bag of grass seeds to put on the bare spots.

 

[trying 2b organic]

A 50/50 mix of compost and sand. pure sand can make clay into concrete. Compost adds valuable organic matter. Topdress at 1 yd per k. I charge 100 $ per yard to apply.
I would aerate / topdress/ overseed.

 

[jeff_0]

any other suggestions i was just going to get top soil. but if that's wrong please let me know or is the mix with compost and sand the way to go.

 

[impactlandscaping]

It looks like a compacted mess. I would test the exisiting soil first, and then determine the appropraite amendments needed. Then , I would run a Harley renovator over the whole lawn, and introduce new soil / amendments to the top 3-6" at least. Then seed & fert, and put them on a maint. contract to care for the establishing lawn..

 

[jeff_0]

yeah, it is a compacted mess. I can't belive the last company did such a bad job. This is in a real high dollar neighborhood. I really don't think the customer wants me to renovate his whole yard. Even though it's probably best.

 

[Runner]

Aerate the living daylights out of it, and add you compost and sand mix. You can try topdressing with topsoil after aerating, but you won't have as good of results. The peat and sand mix will be much lighter and will help much more.

 

[jeff_0]

can you buy the compost and sand already mixed. any ideal what it cost by the yard

 

[dishboy]

I would not reccomend mixing soil types as they tend to layer, I would add compost and do the other things like aerate, gypsum is supposed to help break up clay also.

 

[BigEd]

Jeff ,

where are you located? Im in Harford County and can put you in touch with a place to get the compost free.

 

[David Haggerty]

I've aerated and composted some barren spots like that. I did them last fall. they show a 100% improvement. But even double the number of grass plants isn't enough. It's going to take another whole season to get these spots into shape.
So be cautious to not oversell the improvements of topdressing to the customer. What it really needs renovation.

Dave

 

[jeff_0]

i'm in charles county. so what would u guys charge for something like this. i was thinking $2800

 

[jeff_0]

anyone have some idea what they would charge. does the $100 per yard sound about right for labor. then add supplies to that.

 

[jeff_0]

ok, well i told the guy $2800.. he said he'll have to think about it and will let me know. he sounded excited when i called him back to give the price to him, but afterwords didn't sound so happy

 

[NCSULandscaper]

Ud be alot better to roundup it all and start all over

 

[jeff_0]

I thought the same thing looking at it. but when i walked the property he wanted me to just put down seeds and nothing else. some spots have rocks so i told him grass will never grow there. he said what if i add fertilizer on it. i could tell he didn't want to spend much at all...

 

[NCSULandscaper]

could always slit seed it heavily