Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeTimes
You said 'Next to Septic tank' - Any chance it's over your leach field? Back home, a good portion of my front yard is over our leach field and growing grass has ALWAYS been a challenge to say the least. Leach Field is only 7 years old (was redone as a contingency when we bought the house). Usually, over leach fields, they don't put a lot of top soil, so tends to dry out quickly and kill off the grass and its roots. I considered adding more until I spoke to a few landscaping companies and septic company and they all told me not to as if you have too much soil, the leach field won't vent properly. The landscape companies said because of liability, they would never even sign up to add dirt (Even by wheelbarrow) to any existing leach field due to the risk of killing it or giving it a much shorter lifespan as it makes it harder to 'breath'.
I would consider it questionable and just one opinion, but when I checked with 2 other landscaping companies and a septic company - all said the same thing.
Not sure if this helps or not... but something to consider and look into. Could also tube down and see how much 'topsoil' you have before sand/rocks.
If not over a leach field and have solid topsoil - wait until after Sept 15th (rule of thumb) - mix in some quality top soil with current soil, seed, water and smile come spring  |
Landscapers are not septic designers....
A typical septic drain field trench is 18 to 30 inches in depth, with a maximum soil cover over the disposal field of 36"; or per the USDA,
2 feet to 5 feet in depth.
The variation in depths are due to differences in geographic climates and design requirements that vary from state to state. As a general rule more\deeper coverage is for areas where the field has to be BELOW the winter frost\freeze line. Minimum coverage is supposed to be sufficient to keep the grass cover from rooting into the leeching area. If the field design is such where venting is required, not all do, a vent is installed (candy cane).