I can understand the frustration, Deanna. The good news is that coarse compost will often do as good or better job of assisting germination than that of a finer texture.

Depth and extreme coarseness could be a problem. But, I bet if you keep it evenly moist and didn't get the compost layer too deep, it will still work out great.

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised! I sowed the grass seed less than a week ago, and there's quite a bit sprouting already. Whew! I was really worried all that money and work was a waste.

Deanna

Strangely, the best sprout I ever got was in an area where the county put in a replacement tree (sidenote: planting a tree in July, even around me who is going to take care of it, is a pretty good assurance that the tree is going to die. It did).

The disturbed soil (everywhere...and I do mean everywhere within five feet of that new tree) was the size of large pellets. I tossed down grass seed that fall and got fantastic sprout and growth.

Since then I haven't worried much about the size of the ground clouts when I reseed. As long as they aren't gigantic, it's fine, and it's actually better than finely-screened soils.