"clueless" wrote in message
...

Well there is no grass yet in the backyard..it is all soil because it is
a new development houses so everything is so new, the houses and soil
are all new. It is soft and muddy when, after the snow, and it snow a
lot here for the past months...but i recognized when i go in my
backyard before the sun's out in the morning the soil is very hard but
then after noontime...it gets watery even if the snow already melted
for days, that is why I can't go back there because my shoes get muddy
up to my socks...I dont know if i have to wait til summer to put some
grass or i can do it now,can I just add more soil in there and kinda
pressed it to the ground or it will not help at all?...I am worried
that if i put grass now, it will still be soft..well thanks for the 1st
response, hope u can help me and understood my explanation more...thank
you!

Is the soil any good? The new developemnts around here scrape off the top
soil before building and only return a fraction of what they nicked (the
*******s then sell the top soil they nicked from your garden commercially).
If there is only a very thin layer it may be that the *******s who developed
the house just left you with a scraping of crap soil.

Have you tested the ph level, for instance. Is that showing a normal level
for growing grass?

I would be tempted, if I was in your shoes, and time and energy willing, to
plough in a good layer of compost or manure or other organic matter to give
the soil some depth and body (some lime added if the soil needs sweetening),
letting it weather for a period with good rainfall and then look at starting
a lawn in another season. My understanding of soil is that when in the
correct balance it is self regulating and requires little intervention from
humans. This is most often true with vege gardens and lawn is an artifical
use of earth, ie, nature would not use earth for that purpose.

The starting point for a vage garden, if the earth is poor, is to super
charge it with organic matter and fibre. I see no reason that a lawn is
different. Get the soil right and you should get the lawn right. I spent a
lot of time pouring chemicals and synthetic fertilisers on my lawn. It
killed the weeds but wasn't that good for the soil. I wised up a while ago
and have worked since to get my soil into decent condition and I think I am
starting to see the results in the lawn.

This is only my opinion however I spend a heck of a lot of time mucking
around with grass.

rob