Top Soil in Maryland: What Buyers Ask Before the Load Arrives

The lawn most people are trying to rescue is not sitting on the soil the county map says it should be. Twenty or forty years of house building stripped the original surface off, pushed subsoil around, and then drove over it, which is why a Bowie or Glen Burnie back yard can be sandy loam at one end and compacted clay at the other. That is the ground a load of screened soil has to work with, and it changes the answers to everything below.

Which ground am I spreading soil onto around here?

• In the Central Maryland Piedmont, loam and silt loam weathered from schist and gneiss, often carrying rock fragments and flakes of mica. It holds moisture and compacts readily under traffic.
• On the Western Shore and Southern Maryland, unconsolidated sand, silt, clay and gravel rather than weathered bedrock. Higher ground drains well, low spots hold clay and stay wet.
• On the Eastern Shore, sandy loam and silt with very few rocks, free draining where the ground is high and slow where it is flat and low.
• In the Hagerstown and Frederick valleys, silt loam and clay weathered from limestone, with rock ledges sometimes close to the surface.
• In Western Maryland, thin stony silt loams over shale and sandstone, with bedrock near the surface in plenty of places.

Screened soil is a balanced mix of sand, silt and clay with the rocks, debris and large clumps taken out. Its job is to be the finished growing layer on ground that has already been shaped, not to correct a grade problem or a drainage problem on its own.

How much does a bare patch beside a hot tub pad take?

Square feet times depth in feet, divided by 27, gives cubic yards. Depth in inches divides by 12 first.

• Example, the border around a hot tub pad. A 4 foot planted strip round a 10 by 10 pad gives an 18 by 18 outer square: 324 square feet less the 100 square foot pad leaves 224 square feet. At 4 inches that is 224 x 0.333 = 74.7 cubic feet, divided by 27 = 2.8 cubic yards.
• Example, reseeding a side-yard dog run 8 feet by 24 feet at 3 inches: 192 square feet x 0.25 = 48 cubic feet, divided by 27 = 1.8 cubic yards.
• Example, rebuilding the verge along a turnaround or parking pad, a 3 foot strip running 60 feet at 4 inches: 180 square feet x 0.333 = 60 cubic feet, divided by 27 = 2.2 cubic yards.

At this site's published weight for screened topsoil, about 1.10 tons per cubic yard and approximate, that is roughly 3.1 tons for the hot tub border, about 2.0 tons for the dog run and about 2.4 tons for the verge.

Take those cubic yards to the topsoil calculator for the tonnage, since the conversion depends on the density figure the tool applies to this material.

Can screened soil go straight over Piedmont clay?

It can, with one condition attached. Laying a soft, fine layer on a hard compacted one creates a boundary that roots stop at and water sits on, so the two have to be tied together.

• Break the top 2 to 3 inches of the existing ground with a rake, fork or rented tiller before the new soil goes down.
• Blend the first inch of the new layer into that loosened surface rather than leaving a clean line between them.
• Where the clay is badly compacted from equipment traffic, loosen deeper. A thin cap over a pan does not fix a lawn, it just moves the problem up 3 inches.
• Check the fall while the area is bare. Soil is the wrong tool for redirecting water, and a grade that sends runoff at the house needs cutting before the growing layer arrives. Raising a grade is a job for Fill Dirt, with screened soil on top as the finish.

What does a worn side-yard run need before seed goes down?

A strip that has been walked or run to bare ground is compacted, not just bare.

• Clear the surface, then loosen it. Seed broadcast on a smooth compacted panel mostly ends up feeding birds.
• Spread the new layer evenly and rake it to a level surface, working out the low spots by eye and by straightedge.
• Firm it lightly. The soil wants to be settled enough that a footprint barely shows, not rolled hard.
• Seed or sod, then keep it damp. A fresh layer dries from the top down and a Maryland August will take the moisture out of the first inch in a day.

When in the season should the load land?

• Early fall is the strongest window for lawn work here. The ground is still warm, rain is more reliable than in midsummer, and cool-season grass establishes before winter.
• Spring works, with the caveat that the ground has to have drained. Soil spread on saturated Piedmont silt gets compacted by the act of spreading it.
• Midsummer is the hardest, because a new layer and new seed both dry out fast through hot, humid weather and thunderstorm rain runs off a fresh surface rather than soaking in.
• Bed and planting work has a wider window than lawn work, and Western Maryland's season at both ends is shorter than the rest of the state's.

How do you get a load into a fenced back yard?

Delivery is arranged at checkout from your ZIP code, and the truck needs clear access to somewhere it can tip and pull away from. On most suburban lots that means the driveway rather than the back yard, so plan the wheelbarrow route before the day and check gate widths against the wheelbarrow you have. Put a tarp down under the pile to protect the drive and make the sweep-up quicker, and keep the load covered if rain is coming, because wet soil is much heavier to move and smears rather than rakes.

Work out the square footage, settle on a depth, then choose a quantity and a date on this page. If the area is uneven or you are not sure how much of it needs rebuilding rather than topping, send the measurements through contact first.