What exactly do you mean by "the dirt is bad"? What makes you think that?

Since the dirt was free, I 'm going to assume it is fill dirt since tat is pretty much the only dirt or soil product that is routinely given away. Other than being rocky or rooty, fill dirt is not necessarily bad although typically devoid of much organic matter.

Since you are on a budget, I'd propose you work with it rather than having to pay to have it hauled away and then pay more for some quality soil to be brought in. It may take a bit of effort and elbow grease but remove as much of the rocky material as you can - a soil sieve can help with that. Then pay for some some decent compost or other composted organic matter to be delivered and work the two together until they are fully mixed. The resultant soil mix should be pretty suitable for your needs.

btw, a load of compost is relatively inexpensive.....maybe as much as $50 a cubic yard. And that's about all you need.

Thanks for your response! The dirt has plenty of sand and rocks in it so it seems that it would ruin the grass in our yard …

I too am curious about the bad. Is it contaminated with something? That would be a bummer, to get fill from a gas station lot or something else bad like that. If it is that kind of bad, then you might need to pay to have it hauled off.

But otherwise, dirt can be screened and amended, as suggested by gg. You can buy a screen, but it's pretty easy to make one from hardware cloths too.

Sand won't hurt the lawn a bit but you would want to remove all the large stones and rocks. Smaller than a dime you can ignore.

That is what the sieve is for. You sift the rocks out. do you have a wheelbarrow?

https://www.homedepot.com/s/sieve%20for%20dirt?NCNI-5

Scoop up and screen the dirt into a wheelbarrow. Whe full move to where you want it. If you have too much, just put on next door for free. People will come get it for raised garden beds.

I have a lot of nickle and quarter+ sized stones in the soil I have for a lawn. They really don't seem to hurt anything. I do have to make sure that if I dig to plant a tree, I throw the stones in the hole early so they're no right on top.

They never seem to float up to the surface and a few are fist sized.

Also, If I had a lot of dirt to mix with compost or whatever, I'd pick up a used portable cement mixer, or rent one for the day. You could mix a wheelbarrow at a time and be done in a few hours.

Great thanks for all your comments …it is a LOT of dirt (and small rocks) so this will definitely be a big project. Ordering a sifter now! (Already have a wheelbarrow)

Thanks everyone!

Spread the dirt to level the spots you want level and rake the stone out into little piles as you level surface with a steel or mag rake. Then go back with wheelbarrow and pick up the piles of stone. Easier that way than trying to screen it all before you spread it.

Will

Stones and rocks in the soil will not be a problem, unless they stick high enough above the soil that they get hit by the lawn mower. As you are spreading the dirt, ,you can remove the big stones while you are spreading it.

Don't make a lot of extra work for your self by making the removal of rocks a separate process, Doing it as a separate process will only mean you have to handle the dirt twice. It is heavy enough that moving it once is enough.

If you find big stones, they are a valuable landscape feature. I use small 8" and up, to line our flower beds. Check out the prices on rocks at your local landscaper.

Once you have grass, you will forget about the stones. My lot was wooded, the trees were between 30 and 50 years old. When I plant anything a pick axe is just as important as the shovel.

I can only judge from a single pic, but that soil "looks" pretty darn good.

Rocks release minerals into the soil via moisture. acidity and bacterial action. That's how minerals vital to much of plant life get into soils. Granted, some processed soil will not have any rocks and already contain the minerals, but thinking rocks are in general "bad" is not realistic.

Screening the soil. If you decide to screen the soil as a second operation, I would not use the small screens that were suggested in the one post. If it were me, I would buy a couple of 2X4's and make one big enough that the job could be done quickly. This is 1/4" mesh screen that would be more that adequate to do the job.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fencer-Wire-1-4-in-x-3-ft-x-5-ft-23-Gauge-Hardware-Cloth-CA23-3X5MF14/307313100

This has definitely been a learning experience! I Greatly appreciate all your comments!

You may already be sifting with your new screen. I did that for a long time when I was trying to get the good compost out of my single pile. Sure, it took some time, but my screen was big enough to cover the entire wheelbarrow, so it did go pretty smoothly.

When I was in college I worked occasionally in the "pile moving" business. One thing the boss told me was to always scoop from the bottom of the pile to make it easy on your back. When you move around taking scoops from random places your back gets stressed more than when you always take from the bottom. Seemed to work for me.

Your original soil was likely fine as is. One thing adding soil does is change the way your yard drains. I'm running into a problem in the garage where the previous owner created a moat by adding "1/4-inch of topsoil every year." Added for many years, so the soil dam seems to be directing water into the garage when it rains. Now I need to remove soil so the rain drains away from the house instead of into it.