There’s a part of our lawn… area maybe 30×50 or so. It’s where the drainfield is and has been for 20 years. When they installed the drainfield they didn’t bother to grade-rake the soil. There’s a very motley grade of grass growing, and it’s acceptable, but the underlying soil is corrugated, crennulated, full of rivulets and miniature chockholes, and it’s miserable to mow in addition to looking heinous. Now, it is fairly flat–all of the personality is below a pretty decent looking flat plane, and there aren’t any hills or humps. It’s just that the mower wheels fall in every few seconds as you push along.
So, to fix this, I’m thinking two or three things. One, get a load of soil and do some hands and knees labor, filling all the low spots, then broadcast some grass seed. Two, get 2-3 loads of soil and top dress the whole thing, using a grade rake and maybe a water drum to flatten and compact a little bit. Three, get someone with a small tractor to plow the damn thing up, break up the turf clods, and reseed it. Running a tractor on the drainfield is probably a no-no.
I don’t know what it is about things like this. Lived here 5 years now and never got a bee under my bonnet about this particular problem. Now I need to fix it, but I know jack about grass.
Replies
Got off my chair and shot a photo:
David,Till it, add fertilizer, lime if needed and sod it.KK
I wouldn't till over a drain field. No?Scott.
The drain field should be down far enough it will be safe from surface tillage. I would however, just get some top soil, and start spreading and raking it every month, until the surface is leveled up. The idea is to add a little bit of soil at a time, so as to not kill the grass. Also every time you dump the soil, you could over-seed with a grass seed for what you want. It might take all this summer and part of the next, if the problem is really bad though.
Grass...as the extension agent said the other day..."the hardest crop you will ever grow."
Ok, you're lucky. My health dept. made me put no more than 1" of dirt over the drain rock which has prevented anything from growing above. I've got six strips of dirt in the middle of a lawn.How deep are your drainage tiles? I'd like to know if I can safely heap some soil on top of the field now that inspection is over.Thanks,Scott.
strange. They require a minimum or 2" topsoil here to get seeded.
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>>>strange.Yup. Needless to say, the health dept. people around here don't have many friends or much respect. The old adage about "grass growing greenest over the septic system" just doesn't happen here. Nothing grows on 16" of drain rock covered with a skiff of soil. Bummmer.....Scott.
I seen no need to till, and I would go with a whole lawn aeration and overseed with a top notch fescue, with maybe 3-4 passes with the aerator in the problem area. Top dress that area after seeding with a loose organic blend out of a bag,(trucked in topsoil varies too much and generally has too much weed seed.) Starter fertilizer and water. I agree that lawns require a little work, and some parts of the country aren't lawn-friendly at all, but with a little attention they can be a treat for the eyes. my front lawn this am....
Edited 4/20/2009 1:59 pm ET by MgGuy
Edited 4/20/2009 2:00 pm ET by MgGuy
They might have been requiring the minimal overfill to promote aeration in the leach field. There are methods using physical vent systems to provide the same aeration, that allow backfill over the top.Mine has about 6 to 8-feet of cover over the leach field. It is an older system, but seems to be working well thus far.
I feel your pain! I've paid big bucks to get grass to grow--top soil, hydro seed, sod, blah, blah, blah. It all turns to weeds eventually for me, so take what I say for what it's worth.
Last week I was told the key to a healthy lawn in this area is lime. Then, if you're into it and it's needed, fertilize and weed killer.
As for your problem with unevenness, I was a super in a sub-division where a homeowner complained about the very same thing (though not nearly as noticeable as yours). The landscaper said all he could do was fill in the low spots with top soil and reseed. Either that or tear it all out and start over, which he wouldn't guaranty to be perfect either.
Maybe you should just hire a neighbor kid to mow it...
very interesting approach just filling w/ sand
I'd throw at least 1/3 "top soil" mulch in there for diversity if you can find it up there
both the roller & the extra wide maybe 36" wide rake are invaluable and yes some rain in between to help in settling
two or three applications of the fill rolling & raking w/ some rain mixed in & you are ready for some seed / sooner than later better
You think you have problems....
I've spent over $3500 in the last 2 years trying to get grass to grow in my front yard. I have several folks out and each one suggests something different. I feel it's a lost cause and am looking for other alternatives such as a low growing ground cover.
I would recommend that you watch some of the TOH episodes and see what they did. I believe they tilled the area (no more than 3") with a mixture of soil types and put down sod.
Just my 2 cents ....
I've already tried this on my yard to no avail ....:<(
Someone came over to Over the Fence and suggested we take a look at this thread. Actually the advice isn't too far off-base so far. What you do is really going to be based on what you want, how hard you want to work at getting it and how much you want to spend. The grass around the problem areas appears to be thick and healthy so, personally, I wouldn't want to till the whole thing up; and tilling just the leach line zones would make grading hard at best. Filling in with soil is also a bit difficult. The easiest solution is to fill with sand, no more than an inch at a time (the slow-fill method advised was sound), and let the grass grow up through it before adding more sand. Once it's up near finish grade, the sand will be really easy to grade out flat. If you have or can get some well-aged compost to add to the sand so much the better, but avoid topsoil. Remember, top-soil is simply the soil on top, which means it can be anything from a nice loam to heavy clay loaded with rock. The grass will grow through the sand much quicker and root through it much quicker too. Good luck!
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
Before you go and till the whole thing up, you might try renting an aerator and raking a 1-2 inch topdresing of loam or loam/compost over the area (after cutting the existing grass to about 2 inches). Then overseed, apply starter fertilizer, and keep watered. I have had decent luck with this approach for a similar problem, though I skipped the aerating and wish I hadn't.
In our area the accepted method of leveling pock marked lawn is to backfill with sand or soil, raking it in over several applications to allow the grass that is in the depressions to grow through. I don't think we ever rolled it, just let gravity do its work.
In Daytona Beach we used what was called yellow sand. You could either buy it or go by the rural roadways and fill up several mud buckets at a time from the banks by the road.
Dave, As one said, grass is hard to grow. Although you're in a rainy area, I'm coming around (finally) to realize it may not be the right thing to do - try to grow such extensive and perfect monocultures. Oh, it's certainly nice to look at, and I have too much myself, but really, the cost and effort that goes into the process should cause more of us to consider alternatives.
Nicely designed multch beds (wood chips, stone, whatever) can go a long ways towards keeping the nice look and less effort and cost.
Depending upon the answers to several of the ?'s already (depth of tiles, etc.), as well as other hydrodynamic characteristics, perhaps this is a decent spot to grow some shallow rooting shrubs or vegatables.
Maybe a paver patio. Still keeping the drainage characteristics, but no further disturbance of the soil.
But I agree with countrygardner, the sand is quick and easy. Topsoil comes with it's own set of other problems.
I agree about lawns being a huge time and money pit. If I didn't know it would really piss off the neighbors, I would let mine die, and plant native species, like sage brush. I already started trying to reestablish the sage brush steppe ecosystem on my back acre. The old gal, (late seventies at least, probably in her eighties), on that side is all for the idea. She even had the grand-kids, and great grand-kids come help me gather seed off the ones growing back there now, and rake it in last fall. I should know in a few weeks if any of it took.
Hi David:
If you have a Pacific Topsoils near you, they sell a sand/topsoil/compost blend that's pretty good for seeding lawn. Better yet would be a 1:1 mix of sand and Cedar Grove compost (you would have to mix it) as a "top-shelf" option. Your timing is perfect: now is the time to seed a lawn out here.
In my experience, getting a decent lawn out here is a multi-year effort, but only a little work at each time.
Year 1: level (sand + compost), seed heavy, keep it moist all summer. Leave it on the long side, it holds more moisture in. It might be worth running an aerator over the area first (it's the rental tool that leaves the little "goose poop" pellets) before spreading the sand and compost.
Year 2: top mulch with a little compost, reseed any failed patches, give it a drink during the real dry spells
Year 3: Thatch, aerate and compost. Repeat every other year until the sun burns out and the mountains wear away...
Skip the "Scott Lawn" garbage - it's like crack for lawns: they perk up for a little while, then they get burned out and useless.
Make sure you pick up a lawn seed that's right for the area. Usually most of the nurserys have a "northwest blend" that's pretty forgiving. Make sure the seed is from this year - the viability goes downhill rapidly. With two year old seed you might as well just plant dandelions and moss and get it out of the way...
I was filming at Yankee stadium and spoke to the grounds keeper about there well know lawn. He told me the base was sand (for drainage), then top soil and sod. Water every day in the morning and mow every other day a very high cut. So the best way to get a golf course lawn is to start over.