Welcome to the world of new construction. Ideally you want to establish your lawn on top of a fresh layer of loom soil no less than 3 to 4 inches deep. Too much clay in the soil will hold water at a rate that creating and maintaining a lawn is more of a challenge. Additionally, clay soils – minus the other elements of good soil such as sand and organic matter – do not allow air and needed nutrients to flow freely to growing root systems. That being said, your problem can be overcome using several methods.
The most important thing is to have your soil, clay or not, prepared to be fluffy and lose at the time of application. Hydro-seeded grasses initially grow in the cocoon created by the mulch it is encapsulated in at the time of application. Days or weeks later – depending on watering schedule and other environmental factors – the mulch dissipates and your new grass has to find a permanent home for its roots. Our hydroseed mixtures can grow, and have grown, on concrete and metal surfaces only to die off when water and nutrients can no longer be found. Hydroseeding over hard, compacted soils will yield a nice plush lawn for a few weeks but then quickly lead to failure.
In your case it is a matter of budget and after care. Bringing in 4 inches of good topsoil, and having it spread, can add more cost to the project than can be afforded after all of the other expenses of your new home buying experience. If this is the case, Smoky Mountain Landscaping’s team can still loosen and supplement your clay to a level where your lawn will grow. More frequent mowing, fertilizing, aerating etc. will eventually build in the ingredients that your initial clay soil lawn lacked (see our section on Aerating & Over-Seeding). Hope this helped?
