Sandy Soil & Grass Help

[Sandmannd]

We built a home in Anoka County and have very sandy soil, two acres of it. Almost of an acre of it we want to be yard like. Tried seeding it last year with a seeder and failed miserably. There was a down poor later that was only supposed to be a "light rain". So I ended up with some crop circles in my yard. Some have told me you have to dump thousands into top soil to get anything to grow. I don't really have thousands. Others have said if you just put down a good amount of seed and keep it watered well it will grow. You have to baby it, keep seeding it and keep it watered but it will take and grow.

I'm just curious if anyone out here has experience with the babying and taking time method? Or if anyone else has any other alternatives other than thousands in top soil.

[311Hemi]

I have the same soil in northern Anoka county. I spent the money on black dirt, sprinkler system, and hydroseeded two years ago and my yard looked great last year.

Neighbor across the street did the sprinkler system and hydroseed last summer and it came in good as well from what I could see.

The yards in our neighborhood that put down seed have been working at it for a while and they still look rough. They did not put anything down (straw or anything) on top of the seed and the rain took it's toll washing their seed away. None of the lots are level...so that played a part in it as well. One of them finally started using some seed blankets last year and is now starting to make progress.

On top of that, seed need water.....and without sprinklers or rain it's going to be a tough to get that seed going in the sand IMO.

[LwnmwnMan2]

You will need black dirt (or decent top soil) for decent grass. I live a bit east of you, just north of Wyoming.

Still sand here, no sprinkler. You'll never have a decent yard, sod looking yard. If you put irrigation in, you'll need to be on a well, as the amount of water you'll need to keep the yard green won't be cost effective.

For an acre of dirt, graded, AND seeded, should be about $2500-3,000.

It would be up to you to keep it watered.

[Tom7227]

Give some thought to going with some native grasses and forbs that will grow in that type of soil. A good source of info is Prairie Restorations.

[leechlake]

amen on the Prairie Restoration, the do a lot of work on the common ground in my neighborhood and they know their stuff.

As for growing in sandy soil a buddy of mine is a golf course superintendent. He can grow grass in the shade but he can't grow good grass in the sand. With all the clay in my yard we could do a 50/50 swap and we'd both be better off.

[delcecchi]

UMN extension has a lot of stuff about low maintenance turf grass.

Start here

http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/turfgrass/

I bet if you called this guy

Brian Horgan

Associate Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist

[email protected]

612-624-0782

254 Alderman Hall

1970 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

he would have some suggestions as to what to do.

[otterman91105]

I also live in linwood twp which is near stacy and it's all sand. If you want a nice yard you have to bite the bullet and get black dirt and then seed and i would get sprinklers.