I was sort of in the same boat last year. I did a small scale experiment in the back yard the same time my builder spread seed and straw on the rest. What I have found is that any topsoil will do. I bought the Lowe's $1 per bag cheap stuff and the Scott's $2 per bag topsoil. I spread the two types of soil in seperate areas of the yard that get the same amount of sun. The Scott's soil did not help the grass grow any faster or thicker. (Remember this was my experience) Both mine and my neighbors yards were put in on the same day and mine is doing a ton better. There were two things that I think really helped my yard develop better than the guy next door. 1) Rake up all straw once your grass starts to grow. When I did this, the grass seemed to fill in a lot more than my neighbors. I had a fraction of the weeds also. I found the best way was to rake it all up into rows and run over it with the mower with the bagger on. 2) Arriate. My neighbor did not do this, but I did last fall. You will not notice very much difference by the time snow hits, but in the spring the results are night and day! If you haven't done this before just beware that clay will cake to the tires of your mower and you will have to clean them off. Not a big deal. Lastly, I bought some of the Scott's Patchmaster this spring to re-plant in an area where we had a drain put in. I didn't think there would be much of a difference, but man that stuff really works. It grows in pretty thick too! If I ever put in another yard, I will definately be using the hydroseeding.

What is your watering regimen? How often and for how long do you water? When was the grass installed? Mushrooms are not a problem. They are the result of too much water causing the normal fungi in the soil to fruit. Mushrooms are the fruit of fungi just like oranges are the fruit of orange trees. You don't have to like the way mushrooms look, but they do not indicate an issue per se. But they do indicate you've had a lot of water, so if you're supplying enough water for mushrooms to sprout, then you need to back off. If Mother Nature is raining and causing it, there's nothing to do about that except not contribute to the excess water by adding more.

I got a couple of things...first of all don't get discouraged with what you already have. Second, put everything the guy told you on hold. "Clay" is almost NEVER clay, but it's easier to call it clay and get the owner to throw out all hope of recovery. Here is a picture of a lawn that actually is in true clay. So if that is satisfactory to you ;-), we can set that as a potential goal. But first let's determine what you have in your soil. The previous posts mentioned getting a soil test at Logan Labs. LL is the premier soil test lab in the lawn care world. They have been vetted by several people who have sent samples in to many labs and LL came out far and away superior to all of them with one exception. UMASS is on par with LL for quality of tests, but they missed a beat with reliability and repeatability. The LL test is $25 and they will email you the results within 4-5 days. Post your results here on this forum and morpheuspa will give you about $200 worth of free advice about what to you have, what to apply, when to apply, how much, how often, and where to get the materials. So given the distant remote possibility that you have clay and the high probability that you have a salt imbalance, morpheus can help you fix it. That picture above is morph's lawn, so if you need some credentials, there is it. In the mean time ignore everything the lawn guy told you. Don't add starter fertilizer or gypsum until your soil test comes back and tells you whether to use it, how much, and what kind. Morph will tell you all that. But why else might your lawn look more like morph's neighbors than like morph's lawn? Watering. The watering mantra is deep and infrequent. Deep means one inch all at one time (we'll address the hydrophobia, too). Infrequent means to allow the soil to dry out completely before watering again. The photo above was taken in July several years ago. It was a dry summer so Morph was watering deeply once a week while his neighbors all water lightly every day. Both were watering about an inch per week, but deep and infrequent clearly works better than light and frequent. This works in Phoenix, Philly, and Washington. Time how long it takes to fill several cat food or tuna cans placed around your yard. That time will be your watering time from now on. Then you watch the air temperature to determine when to water. With temps in the 90s, water once per week. With temps in the 80s water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s water once every 3 weeks. Water once a month the rest of the year. Rain counts so if it rains, then start counting days after the last day of rain. Or if you only get a light rain with little accumulation, you can supplement with the sprinkler. You said your lawn was shedding water. We call that hydrophobia. There is a fungus that can cause that. Normally it is seen on golf courses that water every morning or multiple times per day. They break through the hydrophobia by using a surfactant called Cascade Plus (not related to the dish washing detergent). Cascade Plus costs $90 per gallon, but you can get the identical effect by spraying the lawn with any clear shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. I used generic baby shampoo back in 2012 and my lawn is still soft and the water soaks right in. You can use any clear shampoo that you like the smell of. Spray the lawn with the shampoo using a hose end sprayer and then water it in with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. The water should penetrate the soil much better. You might have to water it for 15 minutes and wait 15 minutes in cycles to get the water to penetrate the first time. After that it should penetrate easily. You will also notice your soil softens with the shampoo treatment.

Hello, Has anyone experienced a white powdery substance on a certain part of their grass. In front of my house looks great but the side of my house is not turning out great. There's about a little more than 8 feet between my neighbour and me and my 4 feet of grass on the side doesn't look great at all and has a white powdery substance growing and looks like it's killing it. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated?