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Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard

When the soil conditions are right, your lawn will be a pleasure to behold.

Soil is the cradle of your lawn, determining to a large extent the health of the turfgrass growing in it. If your soil doesn’t offer the right composition, your lawn can’t live up to its full potential – and it’s going to suffer…or even die. That’s why it’s so important to learn what your soil has and hasn’t got, so you can create the best growing conditions for your grass.

Assessing your soil involves two questions: What is the state of your soil, and what type of soil does your turfgrass or groundcover prefer? To help you figure the answer to the first question, you’ll need to determine your soil’s density. For existing soil, you first want to know its density – whether it’s light, sandy soil or sandy loam, which is quick-draining but holds few nutrients; or if it’s dense clay or clay loam, which holds moisture but is so hard that tender grass roots have a tough time penetrating to take hold. Either type is undesirable and requires correction.

The best way to determine what kind of soil you’ve got is to perform a percolation test to see how fast your soil absorbs liquid. You can also get a clue about your soil’s content simply by picking up a handful of it and making a fist. When you open your hand, does the soil sift through your fingers (sandy), stick together (clayey) or crumble lightly (loamy – a mix of sand, silt and clay)?

No matter what type of soil you have, check to see if it’s compacted – compressed by foot traffic (or other means) so that it lacks essential oxygen for plant growth. Compacted soil also has few microbes or earthworms to help keep it fertile and aerated, and it’s often too dense for many roots to break through. If this is the case, you’ll need to aerate your soil before planting any new grass.