I have a low spot near the sidewalk in the front yard that is maybe 9x7 feet I'd say that's all very hard dry dirt. It also needs to be filled in a little to bring it up to the rest of the lawn. In the fall I want to try and grow some grass there, but I have to level it out first. Do I have to dig up the compacted soil or can I just throw topsoil or loam on top and plant the grass in that? Once the roots hit the compacted soil underneath will they be able to get through?

We had a weird die-out a few years ago and went to a lot of trouble to bring in dirt and re-seed the dead spots. This was a large area, about 12x12. It appeared possibly related to something falling from the neighbor's tree that arches over our lawn. Anyway, after the new grass came up, we could see the new grass in the seeded areas does not match the rest of the lawn. It is very fine, soft, and thick and flattens down when you walk on it. But at least it is all green. How I ended up with this is beyond me--it was just a big box store bag that appeared to be typical seed types. A couple of weeks ago, we had extended heat and drought and a lot of the lawn dried out. Worse, the newly-seeded area dried out much worse than the rest and is very noticeable. It is silvery and laid over. I have been watering regularly, but it is still very ugly. So I am wondering about killing off the new stuff and starting over--trying to get seed that will better match the rest of the lawn. I'm wondering the best way to do this and get a nice looking lawn without using roundup and without just hiring someone with large equipment to remove the whole lawn.