newbie question

hello all, first some background...

my entire rear garden area was once a tarmacced area, in fact it still is underneath, there are areas of gravel, paving etc and some railway sleepers have been used to raise the level slightly for a grassed area and planting etc

1. my grass goes terribly mossy, ive put mosskiller on before and it comes right back, ive just treated it with some granules but im after some more tips/info if anyone has any

2. none of my plants seem to be growing particularaly well, in fact one little conifer has been brown for months and it doesnt seem to be coming back, the soil is very rocky and **** anyway, what can i do about this?

thanks in advance

Gaz

 

First of all, how deep is any soil over the area which is planted?

 

the soil is around 1ft deep

 

I think it may not be deep enough. Any moisture that would ordinarily seep away will sit ontop of the tarmac. Therefore there isn't enough drainage for a lawn area. The conifer roots although not particularly deep, would have reached out and down and come to a) the wet stagnant soil beneath and then the tarmac it's self. Some of the nasty's will penetrate the water table and will have an effect on the roots of any plant.
The sleepers, are they a bit sticky as the oozy cr@p from them will also seep into the soil and have an effect. Sorry chum, but i think you need to break the 'pan' of tarmac and increase the soil in depth by atleast 100%.
Conifers, once dead never grow back. So you may need to replace that one.

 

Beat me to it. The tarmac for sure wants breaking up and removing if possible. Moss on lawns is normally caused by a combination of poor soil and poor drainage. There should be enough depth for grass at a foot, so try feeding the soil with one of the lawn foods.
No tree is going to be too happy with a solid surface only 12 inches down.

 

i thought it might not be deep enough, but im struggling to think of any way to make it nice and deep without major work, are there any particular type of plants that i could plant that dont have deep roots?

the tarmac is broken to allow drainage as i assumed it would be able to do so below the hardcore below, did this when i was digging it in the past (except under the lawn)

with regard to the connifer, i should remove that now that its dead then?

the sleepers arent sticky at all

 

Hi Warped. I really do feel for you, its a lot of work to do. :eek: But could you not try to do it in stages! get rid of everything thats no good especialy the tarmac and get some topsoil deliverd, start your planting area off first, then you can re do your lawn. I asure you it will be worth it in the long run.
Ive been digging bricks and concreat up for a couple of month now, and finally its all coming together. Best of luck! and let us know how your getting on.
MEF750

 

Have you tried putting a layer of strong plastic sheeting or old matting over it, then two to three inches of stones for drainage then the soil, plant small plants and with the hot summer we have been told we are to get it might work until you can take the termac up, But what will be under that :confused:

 

well like i say, i really would rather not go to the trouble of taking up the whole garden

i have taken up the dead conifer yesterday and would now like to look into plants/trees that are shallow rooted and will like the waterlogged tarmac bases lol

any ideas?

thanks for all help so far