my lawn is mostly fill with hardly any good top soil so I was thinking spreading composted cow manure over it after having the lawn aerated this fall. any dos or dont's with doing this?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: fredflintstone,

well Fred, compost is best used as an additive to soil. I would suggest you get as many yards of topsoil that you think would cover your yard to ,I dont know what depth, . Till it in with the soil that there. and add the compost if you need it next year

good topsoil is a mix of four items... sand... clay... humus... and loam. type of soil depends on the ratios.

what I think you're going to need is to dump a few inches of loam on top of that sand, and then you can spread some composted manure. bring in some earthworms and let 'em loose to complete the soil mixing. the manure is not going to do any good until it gets blended into the soil, and worms do it best.

if you have any "organic soil" outfits in the area, use that stuff. what it is, is generally a mix of ag manure and soil. the guys we buy from every other year are scooping out their turkey barns into the farmyard, taking a few passes with the bucket to mix it, and after it works a bit, it's ready for sale. if this stuff was spread at a graveyard, there would be a couple thousand folks come home to dinner that haven't been expected for decades, it's that good.

what are you doing with your fallen leaves in the fall ???