In my days as a lawn care operator, one of the calls I was less than enthusiatic to receive was a call from a new homeowner in a brand new development. The question 'Hey Mr. Professional, help me establish a lawn.' Typical of most new developments, the organic rich topsoil has been stripped away only to leave a behind a subsoil of rocks, roots, and other debris not conducive to establishhing a lawn. Well, now I'm in that boat. I sheepisly looked out at my "lawn" and thought 'can I really grow grass here?' My wife even asked "Are you sure this work?" "Of course it will!," I hoped. Well, needless to say, four weeks later after properly preparing the existing "soil" with a slit seeder and planting a turf type tall fescue blend into this rock-clay makeup, I have the beginning of a lawn. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and soon enough the kids and dog will have a new green space to enjoy. While I'll still need to deal with the soil deficiencies, there's proof to going back to basics and keeping it simple.