Hi all

I live in Beenleigh Qld. I have what was once a lawn in the front of my
house - now it is a completely dead, very hard, dry, compacted soil
surface. I have noticed that when we have gotten some rain over the past
couple of years, what grass was still alive greened up a little but
never actually grew. It seems to me that a complete renovation of the
soil is needed to take advantage of any rain that may eventually come
our way.

I read somewhere that you should be able to hand force a screwdriver 3
inches into a lawn . Well, I can't penetrate my ground even one inch
with a screwdriver. It is not rocky - just very hard clay. I have been
considering renting a machine lawn corer - but I suspect that the
machine would not actually be able to core this ground.

Short of using dynamite - does anybody have any suggestions as to what I
could do with this ground to make it even a little bit desirable for
grass seed to grow when/if the rains come? Would a rotary hoe turn it?
If so, what should I do with the broken ground then? Dolomite, fertilizer??

I have an area of around 300 square meters that needs help.

Thanks for any advice from any who have faced a similar situation.

Barry