My front yard has zoysia and though it's quite thick in most of the yard, I have one area that is pretty much bare. 2 or 3 years ago, I was cutting the zoysia out from around my front garden as it was starting to invade the garden and I decided to remove it in plugs and then plant it in the bare areas to see if it took. Well, it did. However, my front yard slopes down from the house toward the street and my sandy soil slides down toward the street as well in areas with bare soil every time it rains. The areas I plugged have filled in nicely, but because the soil slide downward in between the plugs, the area is quite uneven and bumpy. So I have two questions here. If I keep adding soil an 1/8"-1/4" at a time to those low spots, will I eventually be able to build those spots up to level?

I plan to try to plug more of the area this up coming growing season and would like to try to prevent these hills and valleys from the start. Anyone else out there ever plugged zoysia on a sloped area in sandy soil? If so, do you have any tricks on how to keep the soil between the plugs in place? I could get some sort of erosion mat that would break down over time (biodegradable type) I guess. Any suggestions, tip or tricks on the best way to go about this would be great.

Thanks!

flo

I have a front lawn that slopes up to 30 degrees in some spots. It is an ongoing battle to keep the soil in those areas. If you read my posts on the subject, you'll see that winning the battle can require things like seeding at times of the year that aren't generally recommended - just to keep the soil.

Plugging makes it even more difficult. You might want to consider something like PR as a longer-term nursery grass, and then discourage the PR as the Zoysia matures. Yeah, it might be a little funny-looking when the Zoysia goes dormant and the PR stays green.

Winning this battle means adding that 1/4" of soil in the times when rains ARE NOT plentiful. The newly-added soil easily washes away in the Spring rains and Fall Noreasters, which is when you will panic and want to add more. Do it instead from late May until Labor Day, so that roots and natural proceeses make it resistant to washouts over time.

It's a marathon - sprint solutions don't work. I've tried everything.

Thanks, Andy - very, very helpful. PR would be better than the weeds currently growing in the bare spots. I'll go back to see if I can find any of your previous posts on sloped areas.

flo