messed up lawn.

Hello everyone,

I hope someone can help me out here with some advice.

I bought a new build home with a fairly large 13m x 13m back garden with nothing in it apart from the old site soil and a n amount of rocks of which I tried to remove most of the larger ones. It is also very heavy with clay so waterlogging is an issue to an extent. Anyway, I got a gardener, or so he called himself, in to lay a new lawn. He told me to get the turf which I did and 2 sacks size of soil. I thought that this would not be enough for the back garden but he was the expert so I bought what I was told. He levelled the garden and laid the turf. After the settling in period I walked on the grass but found it to be still very 'hard' to walk on. Not 'soft' as you would normally find when walking in say a park or most back gardens.

Needless to say I am not happy with my garden now and it is too late to do anything about it in regards to the gardener.

My question is this. My garden raised and is completely walled on all 4 sides. So in a sense I have wall-to-wall grass carpeting. what would be the best thing to do to get my garden 'soft' to walk on? If i I buy more soil for the top I assume the grass wouldn't just 'Grow Through'?
Or would I be as well to just put another say 2 inches of soil on top of the garden now and then lay new turf on top? Would the grass underneath interfere with the new top lawn in anyway?
I feel that these questions will raise a laugh or two with the more knowledgeable members but I need more knowledgeable people to help me out here I could post pics if anyone would like some visual help.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards

Stig

 

I don't think that putting more soil under the turf will make it "soft" ...

... but its never going to be right if the rubbish the builders have most likely left behind is all mixed in with the soil.

So, as Loofah says, the turf needs to come up (that's not too hard, turf-cutter, roll up 1M lengths, and stack the rolls; they'll be happy for a couple of weeks at this time of the year - keep the frost off them though).

A self propelled cultivator (not a Merry Tiller type) to churn up the soil. Remove all the brick bats and so on. Level off - spread some topsoil to get an even finish if you need to (I would buy it in big builder's bags, but that might be tricky to get to the back of the house?). 1 inch spread over 13x13m is going to need 4 metre-cube bags! Then relay the turf.

You won't be able to get a rotavator into a heavy clay soil until it dries out - March maybe? (and if we then get a dry spell you'll need to water the turf to get it reestablished)

If you want some flower beds you cold do them at the same time - an area around the walls perhaps? Get some compost in (farmyard manure or similar) and spread where you want beds, then rotavate in. I would relay the turf so that it covers where you want the edge to the bed by about 6", and then after the turf has re-established (3 months, but leaving it much longer is also fine) then cut a nice tidy new edge exactly where you want it.

 

Thanks for the replies so far folks. They are greatly appreciated. To add further to my original post, Before the lawn was laid originally, my brother and I did rotovate the soil for approximately 2 days solid constantly going round and round, back an forth but still there was some stone. The large ones were removed and I was told that the 'smaller' ones if left would help with drainage to some extent (more so than if i took them ALL out). I am confident that there is no actual builders junk left. The area is a fairly heavy Clay soil area (I am in southern Fife). Also the garden was originally meant to be purely lawn however I am thinking that I maybe should plant a very thirsty tree or bush of some kind to sook up some of the water. Any Ideas on that?

My garden as it is just now looks like this:

 

As above, lift the turf, rotovate then put down a decent layer of quality top soil minimum 2".


How about a willow, manadge the height by polarding, will also give you some summer shade.

 

I agree with Pro Gard regarding a pollarded willow - I've grown one in a dark damp corner ( a north facing junction of two high walls) Its nice to watch the branches waving in the breeze in summer and it also supports a nest box. Easy to grow from a pruned branch and fast growng too.

With regard to your lawn, it looks like it is at least growing reasonably well. The softness you are looking for doesn't result from the underlying soil, but (IMHO) develops over several years as a thatch of roots and shoots builds up. You can accelerate the speed of thatch/softness development by top dressing with a mix of compost and sharp sand every year and also by leaving grass cuttings on the lawn, though you need to have the mower set for a fine cut if you do the latter.

I'd also go with Kristen's suggestion about flower beds around the edges, apart from anything else it would help you mow right to the edge of the lawn.

 

"my brother and I did rotovate the soil for approximately 2 days solid constantly going round and round, back an forth but still there was some stone. The large ones were removed and I was told that the 'smaller' ones if left would help with drainage to some extent (more so than if i took them ALL out). I am confident that there is no actual builders junk left"

Excellent! That doesn't sound too bad then.

It doesn't look too bad to me. You might get away with feeding it (wait until the Spring though). Depends how good a lawn you want - it will be quite a lot of effort to lift the turf, put down topsoil, and relay.

How much topsoil went down in the first place?

"2 sacks size of soil" doesn't sound a lot, but maybe they were builders bags?

 

Yeah they were big builders bags but the turf company's website calculator recommended 6 bags to give a good 2 inch depth for that area.

Many thanks for all your replies. It has certainly been helpful and given me some food for thought. Any more is still welcome too.

Thanks again. :gnthb:

 

Hi Stig,
Noticed that your wall at the steps has no cope. If the water gets between the blocks then freezes, you will end up with the wall being forced apart. I suggest you fit some coping on as soon as possible to avoid this.
G.man :thumb:
Lawn looks good and I agree that the condition will improve with age if you look after it and add top dressing regularly.

 

If it is heavy clay, surely a thirsty tree won't solve the problem on its own. Wouldn't it be necessary to dig in loads of compost, sand and grit to get the soil up to some sort of serviceable quality? If it is all clay, then every time it has a good rain, the ground won't absorb the water fast enough and the whole lot will become one big duck pond.

 

Yes I thought about that however unfortunately we had to build the front wall ourselves as the garden was originally on a slope from the back wall (from about two to three bricks higher than the grey bricks you see at the bottom of the wall) to the back of the house. I think it was about a 13:1 gradient or possibly a little more. The coping stones that are the same as the surrounding walls and match the rest of the site are extremely expensive (for me anyway) and I have yet to get the money together for them. The builder who built the wall for me though did put in those little plastic drain things that you see on the outside of houses to help let the water escape. It is still a priority to get coping stones as soon as possible though. .

Yes currently it squelches when you walk on it (no ducks yet though :( )
I think I need to see if it is possible to put drainage in it somewhere. I'm not sure if that would be any use in a high clay quantity garden though.

 

"I'm not sure if that would be any use in a high clay quantity garden though."

Should be fine.

Dig trench, put a inch or two of gravel in, then a perforated pipe (corrugated pipe, comes on a roll, has little slits all along it), then cover that with gravel and back fill with soil. Top of the gravel should be about 12"-18" below the surface, so trench is going to be about 18"-24" deep. Another 6 inches would be fine, but don't go any shallower.

We have back-filled ours with "chimneys" of gravel right up to, or very close to, the surface. So when we get a huge downpour, and there is standing water, it can more easily find its way into the drain.

 

Excellent. I'm really so glad that I found this forum. So very helpful and friendly to us new gardeners

 

I wouldn't plant a willow close to the house or other houses even if it is pollarded.
If you have puddles arter it rains then you have a problem but lots of people manage with a clay soil and it suits a goodrange of plants.

You could try obtaining some dogwood cuttings - but thats on another thread.