There's never enough said. What are we looking at? It looks like you're digging a grave in your lawn. Or are you angry that your soil looks tan instead of a richer brown? What?

Funny guy. You're looking at yet another utility company destroying my front lawn. This time they dug a hole the size of a grave for some reason. Go ahead, how many years will that take to settle?

Yes, I wish the soil was richer, but that's the cards we were dealt here in the Piedmont Triad - sandy loam. At least it's well drained.

We would be happy to have soil like that!

3 years to settle. Be sure all the soil goes back on top of the exact hole it came out of. It will be mounded up - as you already know.

If they don't get it back in the hole quickly you might have an issue under the tarp. At least they used a tarp so all the soil is collected.

What if I level it and keep adding some sand each year as it settles so I don't have a mound?

Since danielj_2009 kept insisting I sent a soil sample to Logan Labs, waiting on results. Looking forward to getting some more insight into this soil and Morpheus' recommendations.

Maybe they'll make it a good one and throw some KY31 seed down and cover it up with a bunch of hay.

Hey, if you have a challenging environment (transition zone) then the more information you have at your disposal, the better!

Damned savages. OK confession time. The last time they did that on my street I yanked the fuses out of the back hoe parked in front of my house in the middle of the night before they got to dig in my yard. It took 3 days for them to find the missing fuses & they dug it by hand instead--Much smaller hole, so mission accomplished. Shhh, don't tell. Now that you already have a hole, do what DC said & make sure they fill them properly.

If they don't have that hole filled by the end of the day I'm going to fill it myself with a shovel, I don't plan on letting the grass get killed under the tarp too. Then they can dig it again tomorrow.

I would get one of the tampers like this: http://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-10-in-x-10-in-Tampers/50299975# Fill some of it in and water lightly, then flatten; repeat until almost full. Finish filling with the rest of the soil. Can you get a few pieces of sod? I would be mad also, you have a beautiful yard.

When they dug up my lawn to replace the water meter they sodded into my St Augustine with common bermuda and nutgrass. I didn't really do anything except mow high with deep and infrequent watering, and it all turned into St Aug.

I agree, they're doing the best they can. I guess it could be worse, they could have started digging in October, at least I can fix it in the fall.

I'll have to cut out some pieces of sod from the back again and put them down in the front.

They dug 4 holes total, another one on the other side of the driveway.

Looks like I got some rocks in there.

I guess they plan on putting those piece of torn up grass back on top.

ugh.....don't use that soil for a sample because its mixed in at different depths. I think you want to pull it from a consistent depth like 4" or 6"

Water meter is the reason they dug mine as well. Converted it from analog to digital, but somehow the reader guy still has to read it manually...Progress? Not really.

Can you not make them pay to fix it or do they "own the right" to do that whenever they want?

There's an utility easement along the road so they can do whatever they want. They will run their cable and fill the holes, but then I'll have to deal with the mound that is going to create for the next few years. Not much that can be done about that at this point. I definitely wouldn't want them fixing the grass though, I'll probably end up with KY-31. Just very disappointing to see a year's work trashed.

The dirt is being put back in . They are using some sort of hydraulic tamping machine to compress all the dirt back into the holes and it looks like they saved a lot of the grass and are putting it back on top. No mounds, it's coming out level. I will post photos when they're done.

Here's the aftermath. Could have been way worse, they managed to pack all the dirt back in. Not sure how much of the grass they put back on top will survive, but I can fix it in the fall.

Write a letter thanking that contractor! You're lucky & with a little fish fertilizer (I know how much you love organics!) it'll be back in no time.

Yeah id have to say they did a much better job than I was expecting!

I did all the same stuff myself digging irrigation trenches this year.

your turf will be fine.

One thing I did was sprinkle some Milorganite into the soil when I back filled. I also took some Black Kow composted manure and out a thin layer overtop the area after I put the turf pieces back on.

about 3 weeks later, it was like nothing ever happened.