It sounds to me like the grass grows in this area, but is easily pulled
up with a rake. That could be an indication that insects are eating the
roots, particularly in an established lawn.

I suspect, however, that you just strewed the top soil about, and never
compacted it, so the soil is not cohesive enough to hold the new grass
when you rake.

One of the steps that is often skipped when putting in a new lawn from
seed, is to roll the soil. This makes it smooth and sturdy. If you
skip that step, your lawn will be lumpy at best, as the forces of nature
compact it in some areas and not in others. Of course, after your lawn
has been established for a while, the soil will become too compacted,
and you will have to aerate it. The very best lawns are alternatively
rolled (compacted) and aerated over the years.

If I have read your situation accurately, I would suggest you roll the
new soil (rent a roller, or just put some water in a small barrel and
roll it over the area), barely loosen the surface with light raking,
reseed (covered with straw or cheesecloth) and keep the area moist until
you have full germination, remove the cheesecloth (straw can just be
left there; the grass will grow through it), hold off mowing until a dry
day when the grass is at least two inches tall, then mow frequently, but
skip the raking until the grass is very well established. There is
usually no reason for raking unless you have leaf coverage in the fall.
Grass clippings can be left in place to decompose.

Danimal wrote:
Two years ago I relandscaped an area of my lawn (in Northern Indiana)
that did not have grass. I added top soil from a local hardware. The
soil looks really dark and loose.

Now two years later I am still having trouble keeping grass in the
area. A few places the grass seems to be well rooted and healthy but a
vast majority of the area is so loose that the grass comes up in clumps
when ever I run a rake over it. Is this called erosion?

I notice however that other parts of my lawn where I planted grass and
*didn't* put in top soil the grass seems to grow better. I thought I
was doing a good thing by adding "top" soil but I am afraid I have
created a hostile environment to the grass seed.

Can I add something to my soil to make it more hospitable for the
grass? Or can I plant a special kind of grass that will root deeper.

The only other things to note are that it is on a very small incline
(barely perceptable) and it is mostly shaded.


Thanks for your help,
Dannie


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