One of the major determinants of whether a lawn will be successful or not is the type of soil you have in your yard. Ideally, you should always aim to ensure that the quality of the soil matches the type of lawn you are interested in getting. If you happen to have a very rocky yard, it will be difficult for you to grow the grass in such a manner that it will look even and beautiful. In order to avoid this, one of the strategies you can adopt would be to replace the soil in your yard. There are many people who might not think that this is a good idea, but it’s usually the best way to ensure that the lawn has an ideal foundation for growth.
What you need to do first
If you are thinking of replacing the soil in your lawn, there are a few things you need to first sort out to ensure that the whole process is done in a practical manner. For one, you should get an expert to inspect the soil to find out what you need to do to it in order to make it fertile for the growth of a lawn. Some of the things that they are likely to look out for when doing such an inspection include checking the pH of the soil, as well as physical characteristics such as the size of the particles in it.
The importance of doing this preliminary check is to assess the need for the replacement. For instance, if it turns out that the only major problem with the soil is acidity, there might be no need to replace all of it. You can simply get some lime to modify the acidity to suit the type of grass you want to grow on it. This is cheaper and easier to do.
In addition to that, you also need to assess your needs. If you are interested in growing a particular type of grass in the lawn, you need to find out what type of soil it needs, so that you can get the right kind.
Doing an analysis of the soil you want to get
If you are sure that you want to replace the soil in your lawn, it often makes a lot of sense to first identify and study the source of the soil. You can have an expert check the quality of the soil you want to get, so as to make sure that it’s in line with what you need. If it turns out to not be ideal, you would rather find another soil source rather than waste your time with that one.
If you happen to be buying the soil from a high quality firm, this might not be necessary. Most of the companies that engage in this kind of business will have technical data sheets that have information about the soil they are selling. This way, you can be sure about the exact nature of what you are getting without paying for an evaluation.
How long will it last?
Once you replace the soil in your yard, you can expect it to support the growth of the lawn for a few years. Of course, there are a few things you might need to do to increase the longevity of the lawn. These include designing the lawn in such a manner that not too much soil is eroded, so that you won’t need to keep replacing it. In addition to that, you should also consider using some organic fertilizer on the soil on a regular basis to keep it fertile. One of the cheapest ways of doing this is by designing a compost pit and then using the products of the pit to fertilize the lawn.
Should you do it on your own?
When you want to replace the soil in your lawn, you might be tempted to carry out the entire project on your own since this might sound cheaper. However, as has been intimated above, there are many technical details you need to keep in mind to ensure that the outcome is satisfactory. Even after finding the right type of soil, you will need to go through the process of digging up the lawn to make space for the new soil.
All these are processes that are best handled by a professional landscape artist. They are usually skilled and equipped enough to get the job done quickly and effectively. It might cost you just a little more to use them to replace the soil, but the extra cost simply reflects the ease of which you will get it done using their service. Of course, you will need to insist on working with a landscaper who has carried out such a project before for them to be worth it.
