Greg Miller wrote:

Hello all,

I've got a lawn, about 50' x 70'. It's more than half weeds, despite
several years of half-hearted spraying and picking. The grade is
wrong; it slopes to the middle of the yard.

So basically I want to start anew. My intended course of action is to
flip over the lawn (after the fall) by shovel to a depth of 8" (so
that no weeds return). Then bring in topsoil and grade. Leave over the
winter for further settling. In the spring, fix any holes caused by
settling and then seed.

This is a major project, so I would really appreciate any suggestions.


First of all, you are talking about shoveling about 86 cubic yards of
soil. A monumental task. Even more so since the existing sod will resist
being shoveled.

You don't want to leave the soil bare over the winter. I assume you're
in a place where there is a real winter and the soil will freeze,
otherwise you could just start a new grass crop in the winter. If the
ground freezes, you will eventually encounter mud season, where the top
layer of soil thaws but the bottom layer is still frozen. This leaves
water no place to go but horizontally, and it will take the soil with
it. You will lose your topsoil to the spring rains, or at least your
yard will be a classic exhibit of serious erosion.

The natural time to seed grass is in the fall. After all, the grasses
produce seed over the summer, so it drops to the ground in the fall.
Since grass likes fairly cool weather to get started, fall is the best
time to do it.

Don't expect a new lawn to be weed free. You have weeds now. They have
produced seeds. Just turning the soil over doesn't get rid of the seeds.
They are there, just waiting for good conditions to produce new weeds.

Turning over the top 8" of soil will not change the grade. If you want
to do that, you are talking about moving much more than 86 cubic yards
of soil (depending on just how bad the existing grade is).

Given the size of this project, I would seriously consider hiring
someone with (1) lawn starting experience and (2) the necessary
equipment. You won't save any money, but you will save your back.