Said It Here

How to grow grass over shallow rocks or bedrock

Trying to plant a lawn directly over shallow rock formations fails because there is not enough soil depth for roots to establish. Instead of digging down into solid rock, you have to build the ground level up by adding a thick layer of topsoil over the area to create a workable growing medium.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    trying to trim or break down the rock using tools like dexpan
  2. 2
    bringing in multiple yards of topsoil to grade a gentle berm over the rock

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

Ideally I’d like this to be a grassy area even if it has to be a slight mound, what are my options/ideas? Jackhammer?source ↗

Professional_Ad_7353 · r/Landscaping · 8,190 upvotes

If you are dead set on grass you need to stop digging down and start building up.source ↗

According-Taro4835 · r/Landscaping · 195 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised