"Weather Bookie" wrote in message
...

The backyard dries out after just a day without rain.

Through hard work and TLC, I have a basic lawn established but I can tell it
will never be nice unless I enhance the soil.

I have about an acre of problem area and a nice assortment of lawn tools to
attack it with.

Any suggestions on how to improve my soil ?

What I did with my red clay yard that was rock hard and wouldn't perk. I
found a horse stable about 5 miles from where I live that had a large pile of
well rotted stable cleanings - free for the taking. I hauled enough stable
cleanings (called 'black gold') to cover the yard at least 6 inches deep. I
then wet it down until it was wet to the clay. I waited a week and went to
roto-tilling it into the clay. When I had it all cut into the top 6 inches of
clay, I spread 200 pounds of high nitrogen general purpose fertilizer per
1000 sq. ft. and another 6 inches of "black gold" and roto-tilled it into the
soil. The roto-tiller I used could go to 12 inches deep, so when I finished
the second roto-tilling I had 12 inches of loam that would crumble between
your fingers and held water like a sponge.

That was 6 years ago and my lawn is still dense, green and never needs
watering, even here in GA where we had been in a severe drought for 4 years
until lately. I do add lime and fertilizer each year per soil test
recommendations.

Tom J