Move.

If your PH is that low and sandy there is nothing you can do to fix it other than bring in a front-end loader, dump truck, remove the top 12 to 24 inches, and haul it all away. Then replace with good top soil. However that will not fix the PH problem b/c it would return shortly due to your envioroment.

Your only other option is to live and deal with it as best you can b/c it will be a never ending battle that eventually Mother Nature will win.

"The soil pH is very high, so I know I need to add lime"

I'm confused. Is your pH high or low? Acidic soil has low pH, alkaline soil has high pH. If you have high pH, adding lime will make it worse.

Sorry, I mean low. It's highly acid, low on the pH scale.

Too bad I can't send you half of my soil and you send me half of yours. Mine is clay and alkaline, so if we mixed the two together we'd have nice soil.

I think your best bet to try to increase you soil's ability to hold water as well as to help with the acidity is to add as much organic matter as you can. You can just add it to the top, and microbes and worms will take it down into the soil. You don't want to spread it more than 1/4 inch thick, but you can do it several times throughout the year. As each layer decomposes, you can add a new one.

Mulch mow your grass and in the fall, do the same with your leaves. If you can make enough compost, that's a good thing to use. Free coffee grounds from Starbucks (they're also a mild fertilizer). Sometimes tree trimming companies will deliver a truckload of chipped wood (saves them the cost of dumping) but you may have to take a full truckload, which is a lot to spread at one time.

With any luck, as you improve the condition of your soil, the grass you want will do better and the weed problems will lessen.

bgreen,
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. Right now I'm looking for a low-cost alternative to purchasing compost. I'll give your ideas a shot.

Strange thing--I have no earthworms at all on my property. Two years ago I applied a grubicide and wondered if that did them in. Most likely they just don't like the soil either.

Thanks for all the good ideas, you guys.

P.S. This acid soil does grow the most beautiful hydrangeas you ever saw.

I think it's likely that the grub killer killed at least some of the worms and maybe all of them.

since it was two years ago, adding the organic matter should get some worms to come back. There are probably at least a few worms in the area, and they just need something to eat.