Sandy soil on hill

[Birch]

My dad has tried planting grass at the bottom of a hill. The hill is lined with cedar trees and very shady. The soil is also very sandy. He is concerned that in a large rainstorm, the soil could slide down past the cedars into the neighbor's yard. He wants to plant grass to help prevent that, but the grass gets overtaken by weeds. We've had success with planting some hostas, and will add more.

I'm thinking we could replace the sandy soil with black dirt. Do you know how much we'd have to put on? Any other ideas? I am in Zone 4, southeastern Minnesota.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I would say mow, mow, mow. Leave the cuttings there to add organic material to the soil, don't let it grow so tall that the weeds start to dominate or the cuttings leave big lumps that kill what's under them. If you do it every time it gets over a couple or three inches tall the grass will survive and the weeds won't on the whole. Of course there will be a few, such as clover, that don't mind the mowing, but when the grass starts to predominate start to rake. The weeds that are left will get caught by the rake, the grass will slide through. It is not quick, but it beats things like using weedkiller or trying to amend the soil, you would find a heck of a lot of black dirt would disappear into it before you made a lot of difference, and you would still have to get your grass growing.

 

[oneeye]

You won't have to worry about the sand moving if you have good vegetation growing in the area. Tell your dad that when there's no vegetation then it's time to worry. Like Mr. Oliver said mow a lot and that should be enough. At the end of the Season, on the last mow, you may want to let the vegetation grow without mowing to help hold the sand in place over Winter. I love your yard friend so pretty green and healthy looking. .