Spreading Topsoil
2006.05.24
It has been raining off and on for a few days now, turning my nice soft dirt into clumps of mud. After working through last weekend on a project at the office, I am taking the rest of this week off, in hopes of finishing the lawn project. Unfortunately, the weather forecast calls for rain every day until Sunday.
I got out today while it wasn’t raining and did some rough grading, as well as scraping off soil from some high spots and dumping it in some low spots. Part of this included moving the soil I’d extracted from the little flowerbed (and dumped on the edge of the front yard) to a lower spot in the yard where the sidewalk to nowhere had been.
The forecast says it will be dry tomorrow morning, but then rainy all afternoon and evening. Friday and Saturday look like rain all day. So tomorrow morning is probably my best bet for making any progress.
Therefore, I put in a call today to order some topsoil to be delivered tomorrow morning.
2006.05.25
The topsoil arrived around 8:00 this morning. After some discussion with the driver, he tried to get it on the yard as much as he could, but inevitably about half of it was on the driveway. My only concern with that is the fact that the driveway was now completely blocked off with piles of dirt. I’d have to move topsoil out of the way to get my car out.
I ordered a unit of topsoil, which is about 7.4 cubic yards. It’s a big pile. And as much as that looks like, by my calculations it’s only enough to cover the lawn to about two inches.
Yesterday I went to Lowes, and among other things, bought this landscape grading rake. It was about $40, but I figured renting one would be about $15 a day, and I’d surely need it more than one day, especially dodging the rain, so why not just buy one.
I started in the front, along one edge. It is a process of loading up the wheelbarrow, hauling it over, dumping it, grading with the landscape rake, and then going back for another load. Usually I made two or three trips with the wheelbarrow before grading, as it typically took two loads to cover the space between the porch / planting bed and the sidewalk.
It is difficult to tell how deep you have spread the topsoil out. Of course the existing soil underneath is not a table-flat surface to begin with. So I just had to make my best judgement as I went along. In general, I am probably not reaching a solid two-inch depth, but I’d rather be a little conservative until I’m sure that I have enough topsoil to cover the entire area.
By 11:30, I had the front yard covered in topsoil and graded to some extent. As you might be able to tell from the photos, there was even some sunshine at this point. But I could see the heavy clouds all around, and every time the wind kicked up, I knew the rain was coming soon.
A couple apartment-dwelling neighbors stopped by, and commented on how much work this was, but that it would surely look good when I was finished. One older guy seemed quite impressed with all the landscaping work I have been doing, particularly the raised corner planting bed. I was surprised to hear people who rent, especially in such a low-come area, expressing appreciation of the work I’ve been doing. It gave me a little hope, as in general it seems that the people on my street don’t care about the appearance of anything.
I was making a dent in the pile, but still have a long way to go.
When I had nearly reached the topsoil pile, I started laying out topsoil on the back yard, starting at the southern edge as I had with the front. The forecast had said the rain would start around 1:00, so I knew I didn’t have much time left.
I made a little progress along the back, before the rain started coming down. These photos were taken at 11:45, and it started raining about 10 minutes later.
I stayed out in the rain long enough to shovel topsoil off the driveway and onto the yard, so I could clear a path for my car. This last-minute, hurried effort really did me in, so other than running a couple errands, I didn’t do much for the rest of the day.
2006.05.26
Only worked about half an hour today, in a short break in the rain. Everything was a wet muddy mess, however, so I could accomplish little.
New Lawn