Just lay it on. It's not necessary to till it in. I've done this several times with sod and it works great. Sod would grow very nicely on a 3" layer of compost. I should show you a picture of one of the patches of sod that was planted on top of pure compost. It looks fabulous and hasn't even flinched during this nasty drought we're getting this year. And this is on subsoil that is pretty nasty. Hard, compacted, acidic and generally not conducive to plant growth. But throw a thick layer of compost on top of it and the grass thrives.

My bigger concern is the lack of sunlight. As you say, grass will eventually poop out if it doesn't get enough light. So what are you thinking? A shade garden perhaps? Can you thin out some of the trees?

-Diggity

Diggity -

The biggest culprits in the shade problem are a pair of large maple trees that are my wife's favorites (i.e. I'll get cut down before they do). I am taking down a number of smaller trees (maples and other volunteers) along the western fence line and that should get some afternoon sun into the yard. There's not much hope for full morning or midday sun, it's heavily dappled at best. I've already taken down >10 trees along the eastern fence line without any real effect. The lots here are long and narrow and our neighbor to the east also has a big crop of tall trees that combine with our big maples to keep the shade fairly consistent for most of the day.

The yard was never much to look at before and I'm not really sure what I'll be doing with the area yet. I -am- sure that whatever I decide to do, I'll need decent soil to do it.

If I put down a 3" layer of compost in October, another 3" in March, and yet another 3" next October, am I going to be creating good conditions or just a mess?

Yes, 3" of compost is lots. I would be reluctant to add 6" more. An annual application of 1/2" will be more than enough.

My suggestion would be to put in a yarrow (Achillea millefolium) lawn. That stuff grows everywhere and anywhere. This is if you want just a lawn. Otherwise you can have a nice shade garden. There are lots of very interesting plants for shade gardening.

Is this area over the new septic system or over the old?

Be careful about adding too much material over your new drain field. 3" of compost is probably as much as you want over that area. Stick with grass or very shallow rooted ground covers over a septic system.

If you really want to put more compost over the areas not covering your new drain field you probably can but that is a huge amount of material. 3" for the first application and then 1/2" to 1" yearly thereafter is probably enough.

There are some people who will also say to sprinkle corn meal over your ground to feed the microbes in the compost.

Another thing that can help your sand is to cover it with mulch. Leaves, grass clippings, hay, straw, sawdust, (we use lots of wood chips but they are hard on the mower), just about anything organic that you can spread out without causing problems.

There are lots of IMO lovely ground covers that work well in shade. Some of them can even tolerate a little foot traffic. Many people will concider most of them a terrible weed though since they compete with grass quite well in the shady locations that grass doesn't grow well anyway. I like one we called golden money wort or creeping jenny. It grows low enough that you can probably mow right over it to cut off any weeds that poke through.

The area to be "rehabilitated" is over both septic tanks. By law, the contractors are required to pump out and then fill the old tank. That created a mostly circular spot about 25' in diameter. Then there was the "3-ring" setup that they planted for the new tank which made another 25' spot that butts up to the first one. They they leveled off the surplus "sub-sand" and left us with about 4500 square feet of sandy, rocky crap to deal with.

I'm not looking for an overnight solution (that would require several cubic yards of money), but we're only going to be in this house for about 18-24 months while we rehab it for resale. (It was inherited after a lengthy estate fight and that's why the landscaping was, ummm, *ignored* for so long.) From what everyone has said, I think a 3" layer of compost will be going down over the next few weeks. And then a mixture of shade grass and shade plants if I can't get some more sun into the area.

Start with about 3 inches of compost and either seed or sod that and then mulch mow both the grass and any leaves that those maple trees produce because you will need to keep adding organic matter to that soil every year, until you sell. If you were to till that compost in you would need a lot more.
With my sand many years ago after we purchased this I imported lots of other peoples grass clippings and the back yard was then covered with about 6 inches of them. Today that grass grows so thick and fast that I need to cut it twice a week or it is so tall that the clippings are too many to get pushed down into the turf and they lay on top where they do not belong.

I think you could add 3" of compost now. But your plans for future compost, should wait and see how the area turns out after you seed it. If you have established a ground cover, then future applications should only be 1/4" or so.

I would seed the area with a woodland/edge savannah type mixture. Skip the lawn...its not going to grow well there anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: woodland seed mixture

There are shade tolerant types of grass to consider. I used creeping red fescue in a shady area and it worked. A woodland seed mixture as reccommended would also be nice and some would prefer that. However, I know Long Island well enough to know that a lot of your buyers will be looking for grass so investigate what is best to market your house.

Thanks to all for the recommendations.

At this point, I think that I will be putting down a 3" layer of the freely available municipal compost, just to get the process started. As I go forward, I will be taking down a fairly large number of unwanted trees and clearing some of the "wilderness" area at the back of the property. This should A) Get a bit more sunlight to the area that was disturbed by the septic work, and B) Give me a LOT of organic material for soil amendment.

All of that work should take me through to the spring when I can get a better idea of what may be possible in the landscape. If it goes really well, I may get rambunctious and till in 6" of compost and then put down the 3" layer on top.

When all of the soil amending work is done, I am thinking that I will probably do a combination of shade-tolerant grass and a few areas of shade garden. Bob64 is absolutely correct in saying that LI homebuyers are going to want something in the way of a "lawn". I'm a complete newb at this home-owner gig and learning as I go, so plans will probably change a hundred times before it's time to plant anything :)

clearing some of the "wilderness" area at the back of the property.

Have you identified what is growing there?
oy - may I ask you to wait before you clear and read a book?

Here is a link that might be useful: Noah's Garden

joepyeweed,

Thanks for the link to the book, it looks like a good thing for winter reading.

The plants that I can identify:

1) English Ivy - recently learned that Cornell University Extension classifies this as an invasive for this area. Since it covers almost half the property and is in the process of pulling down several trees and a good-sized chunk of my neighbors stockade fence, I would have to agree with them. But given the difficulty of getting rid of it and my limited timeframe, most of it will be staying when we sell the house.

2) Maple trees - two Norway maples that are >75' tall and more volunteers than I care to think about. These are the primary culprits in the lack of sunlight that affects the lawn area. Aside from the two large ones, many of them will be coming down, especially the ones along the fencelines and any that are less than 4" in diameter.

3) Several evergreen shrubs that were likely part of the landscaping when my in-laws bought the house back in the early sixties. Now in varying stages of health, none are native and all are UGLY. Most if not all of these will be going away.

4) Rose of Sharon - a handful of these exist in a massively overgrown state and will be going to the municipal compost facility as soon as I can reach them. Call it a personal prejudice, but I do not think there is a plant that I dislike more than these. Probably a leftover from my teenage years when my parents had both sides of their property lined with hedges of it that I had to trim regularly.

Aside from those, the rest are whatever has found its' way into the back half of a 1/2 acre lot over the past 40 years.

Future plans: Though I *do not* intend to go in with a brush-hog and a barrel full of RoundUp, I *do* intend to cut a loop-path through the ivy so that I can get to the entire yard. Although I cannot see all of the yard through the trees/ivy/scrub, I can see at least two dead trees and MANY windfalls that need to go away. Once I can get to the entire yard, I'll take a closer look and see what can be done with what is there. Aside from the items mentioned above, I'm trying to keep an open mind about what stays and what goes.

As long as you have identified the stuff, and you know its not desirable, then go ahead and remove it.

I wince when I hear the word "clear", because sometimes not every thing needs to be cleared, but in your case - good luck. You will probably never be rid of the English Ivy, you can control it, but it rarely ever goes away entirely.