I would take care of it now …as it will most likely be easiest to deal with before it dries out and hardens…especially if you have a clay content in your soil…

It's good you listed SoCal in your screen name, if, for no other reason, than I can ask you where you live in SoCal. As you know, because you live there, El Segundo climate and soil is different from Big Bear Lake climate and conditions. If you live in El Monte, don't come back with East LA. Be as specific as you can.

Currently there's nothing to take a picture of because there is a deck in the way. I agree with mindshift in that you should mow what you have and see what it looks like. If you have water pooling up in the area, then it might need more soil, but I'm a firm believer in tuning up the soil you have rather than bringing in more soil and then tuning up that soil.

Chipped tree mulch is excellent. We had a tree removed and had the guys dump all their chippings on the driveway. It took us a couple months to get it all distributed, but it is a great product. If you see someone in your neighborhood having tree work done, ask the crew if they will dump their load on your lawn/driveway/whatever space you have. Hard surfaces are much, much easier to shovel off of than anything else. Mulch will go a long way toward tuning up your soil for you while you decide what drought resistant plants to put in.

If you decide, against many people's judgement, that you want a lawn there, AND if you have full sun in the area, then the grass I like is called UC Verde. It is a variety of buffalo grass which spreads fast and does not get seed heads like seeded varieties of buffalo. UCV is only available online (I think). It comes in plugs and, again, spreads fast, so you can likely get away with a lot fewer plugs than they will try to sell you.

Mindshift - thank you! Excellent point. I will nix the tarp. (And really the cardboard thing is for when people plant over it, so, that is probably out too, as I don't plan to plant anything now.)

btydrvn - this is also a good point - I am pretty sure it is already pretty dry though. That area only gets a bit of runoff from some container plants nearby - it gets no water of its own. (I find weeds inspiring. Also annoying. But, inspiring. Some are taller than me now. Anyway.)

dchall - hi! I'm a big fan from the Lawn forum! We are just north of the 405 in north OC. For many years, it was so steadily pleasant here that I grew up not noticing the climate at all. Except in winter, when it might rain and we could race wood chips in the gutter. Now, it gets really quite hot here on many days. So, we are no longer immune. That is only fair I guess.

But, back to the soil ... now that we are getting rid of the deck, I will be able to do one of those soil tests. (I have seen the directions, I should be able to do that much. We have pickle jars...)

All I know right now is, it's pretty hard to dig in when it's dry. We did used to have fruit trees growing happily with little to no care at all, so, I hope that that too will mean something nice. (Years before me, I have been told that the topsoil was all scraped off when they put in this neighborhood all at once. I could be wrong though.)

The reason I mention filling in is, I am worried about drainage if, eventually, I hope, we do get more rain. Through the cracks in the deck, I can see there is maybe 7 or 8" or so of space in there, in places.

So, I think we will go with your tree mulch suggestion. There is an (old) pool next to this bare spot - and a wall that goes along the side of both - and, really, I just want to make sure I don't create any new issues. (I may be worrying for no reason. Or, not. It's so hard to tell!)

I am definitely thinking of a small bit of grass. I made some notes about sun in the winter, I'll check them again - I think the center of the patch does get pretty good sun. UC Verde might be just the ticket. Any rain that falls, I prefer to go into the ground and not just run off. (Though if it runs, I'd like it to go where it should go.)

So, tree mulch - we will look for tree mulch!! Thank you!

If it is shady spot think about mosses …some of them are gorgeous colors (for a darkish spot) as well

also no mowing or maintenance

So Garden Grove / Stanton area. My grandfather and my ex-wife lived in Stanton (at different times).

The mulch should make digging much easier. Put down the mulch and give it an inch of water one time only. That should take care of it for months until you finalize your plans. The microbes in the soil will soften it for you.

Thanks, dchall!!

Yes, we are right near Los Alamitos area. It is kind of a small world sometimes. ; )

btydrvn, I think it is not quite a shady enough spot for moss, unfortunately. It's a good idea though, I wish I could, it's beautiful. Tho, even with shade, my luck with baby tears is not good. I don't know if I could handle moss. Maybe a Corsican mint though. Hmm.

After remvoing the deck, I would smash down the weeds and cover them with brown cardboard, moisten it and then put manure down and a few inches of mulch.

Needs, if you are in any kind of fire areas as we are, now in Northern CA, it isn't a good idea to put wood mulch up near your house.

You might want to do the cardboard as a temporary thing to kill the weeds, then think about succulents and a place called steppables.com that has a bunch of drought hardy groundcovers that you can walk on, are low lying and attractive!

Also, rock isn't flammable and can be quite attractive!

I don't have this on my phone, or I would post the pics of how fast my succulents have gown!

Thanks, W Wang and nancyjane_gardener!!

These are good suggestions. I will definitely check out steppables. I rather doubt we will end up with all of one thing anyhow. (But all I know for sure is, there will be some type of lemon bush/tree. That will go against the wall. And then - once the drainage issue is addressed - something green and flat, which will probably be grass, but could be other things too. Esp around the edges.)

I love rocks, actually - I like the big ones. (Well, I mean suburbia big, not Yosemite big.) Some of our neighbors have those in front, it can look really great. (I am pretty tight with a dollar though.)

S Wang, that is a good idea. I have heard of people getting good results using cardboard as a layer.