You could be in for a world of weed problems if you rototill, as it will unearth a lot of dormant weed seeds. Also, it could be harder to grade. I know that the theory behind rototilling compost into the clay sounds ideal, but others haven't had as much luck. Here is what I would do: 1) Put the 2" of new soil down...Make sure it is nicely graded. 2) Seed. 3) Topdress with a very light layer of compost. Last year I did that, but mixed in some peat moss into that mixture. It worked great. My neighbor did it too, and he now has the most beautiful lawn in the development. 4) Let the grass grow. 5) A year later, get the core aerator out there and do at least two passes over it, so that it looks like a mine field. Liberally apply compost at that time. Overseed. Done! Consider moving to a hybrid approach to fertilizing. I have been applying preemergent this year and some light weed killer, but have been feeding my lawn only organically. The lawn has responded very well to this approach. If you amend the soil a bit at a time through mulch mowing, organic fertilizer, and topdressing with compost, you will eventually get the soil consistency that you want.

You can start by stopping the tilling. Grasses that do well in the south will grow on top of your soil without the addition of any more topsoil, compost, leaves, or whatever you read in the newspaper. If you read Neil Sperry in the paper, just do the opposite of what he says. I don't know where that guy lives, but it's not on my planet. What kind of grass seed did you plant? When did you plant it? When you tested the soil composition, did you do a jar test where you shake up some soil in a jar of water and measure the sediment at different times after the shaking? I don't doubt that you have very hard soil, but I am skeptical that you have much clay at all. We live on limestone deposits over 1,000 feet deep; however, every now and then there is a pocket of clay, so the chances are you have limestone that is acting like clay due to the amount of magnesium in it. In any case softening the soil is much easier done than by rototilling. Rototillers are for veggie gardens, not for lawns - and I would argue that they are more damaging than helpful for veggie gardens, too. But for a lawn, they really, REALLY cost you in the long run. There are only two kinds of grass that grow easily in Austin. Those are St Augustine (no seed for St Augustine) and bermuda (tons of seed available). If you tried planting a northern grass like fescue or Kentucky bluegrass, and you did it in the past few weeks, it should have sprouted and looked good. If you tried to plant bermuda in the past few weeks, it should look sparse and awful. What was your watering regimen for the new seed? It should have been about 5 minutes, 3x per day, for the first 3 weeks. The idea at first is to keep the surface of the soil moist all the time. Then you should have had about 80% germination unless you planted bermuda. If you planted bermuda recently I would expect maybe 10 to 20% germination. Bermuda needs to be seeded in June and July here in Central Texas. Cooler temps prevent it from germinating. Answer the questions and maybe we can recover from this.

Although there could be exceptional plants, the way I'm reading your first post - the answer is no. Unless you mean soil that is starting to dry out. But in "dry" soil - no. I read an article once that said recent research shows that roots do not grow "toward" moisture, but actually grow IN soil that is moist. asically, I think that might be splitting hairs as the two tend to occur at the same time. Roots - like trees - can grow deeper as the moist layer is lower and the top dries out. If most plants could grow in dry soil, I think the term "permanent wilting point" could be erased from the books. It still depends on what plants - and if they are exceptional. I'm not aware of native shrubs and tres on the west coast that I would expect to place in "dry" soil and expect any more than the root ball drying out, passing the permanent wilting point. Somehow I think you mean "on the dry side". This reminds me of a photo I took of some adventitious roots in the upper needle mulch and humus around El Viejo del Norte last July - the 5th largest known coast redwood in the Grove of Titans. There were two kinds of fine roots: Dead ones. Live ones. The living, were from the previous autumn, winter and spring, presently just on the verge of dying. The dead ones, were from the previous summer's end, having already dried, died and shriveled. Those were surface roots near the trunk. The sub-soil does not dry out around this tree.

Do you know what kind of grass that is? Generally it's going to be fescue or Kentucky bluegrass. How much of the grass does this shade from your house cover? Or, how many hours of sunlight does the lawn get? What is your watering regimen? How often and for how long? When were the last two times you fertilized and what did you use? You used the word healthy. Healthy has come to be almost synonymous with at least occasional use of organic fertilizers. Are you opposed to organic fertilizers...assuming they don't cost an arm and a leg and they work as well or better than chemical fertilizers? Do you know why the grass is dead at the edge of the patio to the left? Don't get hung up on the possibility that you have clay soil. Chances are higher than 90% that you have absolutely no clay in your soil, but instead you have a mix of salts that makes your soil act like clay. If you think clay is a problem in your yard, then you might want a soil test to confirm the chemistry and give you an idea what to do to fix the issues. The best $25 soil test is from Logan Labs in Ohio. Sometimes concrete will leach chemicals into the underlying soil and throw the chemistry off.