You can grow grass in clay without much trouble. Getting those rocks though looks to be a lot of work. I wonder if it would be worth it to rip out whats there, rent a rockpicker and start over.

That's not all that bad, really.

No, I'm not being sarcastic. Mine was so much worse. The soil was practically white, small rocks abounded, and the pebbly stuff was everywhere.

You might want to bite the bullet and have it York raked, but you can also ignore it and see how it goes (picking out the larger rocky stuff yourself over time). I chose the latter.

Since replacement isn't what you want to do, aerate as well as you can. Top dress, by all means. Feed organically to build that soil, and the clay will do great things for you (while my lawn is far from perfect, it's not awful--as the pics show).

You can certainly try for fescue this spring but you'll likely fail. Still, with compost and organics, it may be worth a shot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos, if you're curious

Are you sure that's clay? Mine looked like this ...

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I put a layer of 3 to 4 inches of sand on it and mixed the sand with the top 4 inches of clay to get 8" of supersoil. A year later and things are looking better. No sprinkler system needed and the savings on water will pay for the sand in three years.

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My grass grows on crushed limestone rocks. I think organic program made the grass grow much better. You don't have to do all the work. I'd core aerate the lawn, spread compost and plant seeds. Unfortunately, it's too late. Fall time is the best time for it. It's going to be too hot in a few months for young grass to handle. At this point, I don't know what you can do. I think you should go with wood chips about 2-3 inches deep on the lawn and they will break down and improve the soil. It should be much better by the fall. You just have to look for tree trimmers around the town with wood chipper machine. Most likely, they would be glad to give them away for free. It might look ugly for a while but it would be worth it for improved soil for the grass to grow in the fall.

Get a bag or two of Annual or Perennial Ryegrass if you really want a green thick lawn for the next 5 months or so.

You'll be surprise how well Perennial Ryegrass handles your clay soil... Be sure to seed with a special Spring Crabgrass preventer and fertilizer, otherwise you are going to end up with crabgrass by the time June rolls around.

Thanks for the tips everybody. Yeah, I am definitely dealing with clay. That is all we really have in my area of North Carolina (red clay).

Don't worry, while I looking for advice here at the beginning of spring, I have no plans to overseed until the fall. It gets way too hot here in the spring to expect much success with fesce overseeding in the spring.

Again, I appreciate the insight and advice!

Forget Fescue. Get a 50lbs bag of perennial ryegrass, a bag of Scotts Starter Fertilizer with Crabgrass Preventer, seed, water by hand, and boom - you've got sod.

I doesn't get easier than that. Perennial Ryegrass is by far the easiest to grow and prettiest turfgrass on the market today. It handles Georgia Clay soils quite well because of its agressive nature.

Look at the picture on the left: 100% Perennial Ryegrass grown on 100% Clay soil in Cary, NC. The grass on the right is an elite Kentucky Bluegrass lawn.

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"Get a 50lbs bag of perennial ryegrass, a bag of Scotts Starter Fertilizer with Crabgrass Preventer, seed, water by hand, and boom - you've got sod."

Thanks for the response, but it was my understanding that seed and Crabgrass Preventer (Pre-emergent) don't mix. Doesn't the pre-emergent stop the grass from germinating.

I will look into the Rye grass. Again, thanks!

If the preventer is Tupersan or Siduron, you should be home free. If it isn't, it'll take out the grass just like anything else.

Auteck's got a good idea, if rye pleases you. It does him, I prefer bluegrass, others prefer other things. PR is certainly one of the easiest to get established, happily jumping up practically the first instant it can. Bluegrass kind of pokes along like the proverbial tortoise.

auteck,

Where do get your PRG from? What blend do you like? Can you find it in the box stores like Lowes or Home Depot? Does the PRG thin out and die in the heat of the summer to where you have to reseed it again in the fall?

Clay can be a mineral rich material and holds water well. The challenge is to open it up a little so air and water and roots can get deep into the soil. If you have the patience you could do what I did with my stony clay. I made big beds of compost on top of the existing soil and tilled it all together when the new stuff was ready. If you stop by the soil forum they call this "Lasagna Bed" composting and go into more detail. The post above by lou_midlothian_tx suggests something similar which ought to work too.

First get a soil test done so you know what amendments and fertilizer your soil needs. The least expensive course to good soil is aerate, mulch mow clippings and mulch fall leaves. This takes years instead of the few minutes to read about it here - patience is a virtue in lawn care. Any other organic matter you can add is money ahead. Don't worry about the rocks, just pick them up over time as they work their way to the surface. Your focus should be to get grass growing. Aggressive aerating and overseeding with a good TTTF blend or mix twice a year for several years would be one technique.

I'd get the soil test but I gonna go out on a limb and predict the % of organic matter is going to come back very low. You'll want to see %'s in the 4%-6% range and that's not easily done in a short period of time. Aerate and top dress is a great plan but you'll also need to mulch clippings back into the soil, leaves too. Fertilize with a product that will stimulate the microbes in the soil. Restore is a good product but there are others out there. Look for something that has a grain meal as part of the ingredient list. Soymeal, cornmeal, or even Alfalfameal. But be fully aware that it will take time.

You can go the Scotts route and you'll get much faster results but the chemicals do nothing to address the fact that you have crappy soil. Chems don't build soil fertility so if you make that choice understand that you'll be using chemicals to fertilize and deal with weeds and pest/disease issues for as long as you own the property.