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I would like to remove the top 2 inches of my compacted clay soil and replace it with the best soil to grow Bermuda grass. In other words my current soil is garbage that nothing will grow in so I plan to till it and remove the top 2 inches. After that I plan to lay down 2 inches of new top soil then planting Bermuda seeds. I don't know what type of top soil I need to plant my bermuda grass seeds into. Can someone please advise? Thank you in advance.

Landscaper3345
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Do not mess with your soil. I've been reading comments from people in your part of the world (my family comes from SC) and they mostly HATE Bermuda and go with Zoysia. Do get sod. Make your edges well defined and use a consistent radius for each curve. Big long curves look best. Reduce your lawn as much as possible. Zoysia likes a bit of shade. These grasses do just fine with clay. Clay has gotten a bad rap by those who unknowingly screwed up the management. Do not rototill. Grade best you are able when the soil is dry. You can then bring in topsoil (not sand) to fine tune and fill in dips. Compact with a water filled roller, grade again and roll again. Then install your sod. Roll again. Water and in 2 weeks go ahead and fertilize. Do not worry about weeds or weed killer. Later you should be able to spot kill with glyphosate and a tiny paint brush. The edge should be a 6"X6" trench between your plant beds and lawn. This will help keep the grass from invading the plant beds and makes the perfect edge. Clean out and toss on plant beds before adding mulch once a year. I'd have a gas 'weedwacker' line trimmer for sure to keep that edge in control along the trenches as well as your concrete walkways. And a gas blower (Stihl is my go to for these lawn tools). Fertilize with the proper formulation for the time of year and blow that fertilizer off your concrete/asphalt. Forget about shaving off 2" of soil. Below that is more clay that is even more dense that the 2" you want to take off. Try to have some slope for water to drain into the trenches where it is able to be reabsorbed into the ground slowly. Clay holds onto water and fertilizer well and will reduce your costs for upkeep.

stormy
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stormy is right. removing the top 2" will leave you with even more compact earth underneath. What you need is to add organic matter to your soil

Tyler K.
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