"The Data Rat" wrote in message
news:wnIuc.8955$Tw.1619@lakeread06...
My yard smells. It is heavy clay and when it rains, it holds moisture and
turns green with either algae or mold. (I have had 2 loads of top soil
brought in, tilled it and amended it per the dept. of agriculture. It
always started out great, then turns back to clay. Overall, I have spent
about 3K on the back yard)

Oddly enough, where it smells the worst is in an area that gets full sun
to
bright shade all day. The yard is graded correctly, it slopes down, away
from the house. I do not have any trees in the yard, but there are very
tall pine tree's behind the yard.

My question is what can I put on it to neutralize the smell?
I am getting ready to deck the remaining yard in so I don't care if it
kills
the grass, (what little there is). I also have 2 dogs and the smell of
urine stays forever. Baking soda doesn't work and I have actually tried
Febreeze. It's just a rank smell.

Thanks!

Suzi


The problem is your neighbor's yard. Think of it this way, you fixed your
yard, removed much of the clay, but, all the land around you hasn't changed,
so there is an impermiable layer of clay all around your yard. Your yard is
now a giant bowl, holding a lot of water, just under the surface.

If you can drain the sub-surface water, the smell will go away.

dig a test hole to see how much water collects in it over a 24H period, how
many inches to the water. If you can get the water down to 5 feet below the
surface, (in a flat region, 3 feet on the side of a hill) that should take
care of it.