Top Dress gone wrong NE Ohio?

Northern US & Canada (or cool season)

Some areas of grass in the back yard have been pretty thin. I think due to erosion as we’re are in a slope and surrounding trees. Pretty compacted.
I had the area aerated and ordered top soil for top dressing. Was told it was triple screened topsoil.
It was applied by me over the weekend.
Going through the lawn afterward, I’m raking up clumpy sections to get some knocked down grass to stand up. I’m noticing it is extremely dusty and pretty rocky. When cleaning the driveway the runoff is more red than black in color. In hindsight, the pile of dirt was more brown than black in appearance before applying.
What I’m afraid of is that I essentially received something more akin to regular brown fill type dirt vs black topsoil.
Freaking out that the lawn will turn to concrete and nothing will be able to grow through it. Shared these concerns with the landscape company and they assured me I received triple screened topsoil and I shouldn’t worry about it too much.
How freaked out should I be, and what are possible next steps? The material is mostly worked in as well as it can be so I think all I can do for now is continue to water and pray.

Posted Jun 2, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC

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