New build lawn soil like clay.

Hi, I hope you can help me.

I'm a gardening novice and recently bought a new build house. The house had been built for about a year.At first, even though the weather was dry, the soil was un-walkable. It would just move under your feet. The lawn, as far as i know, was seeded and not turffed. I think they have mixed some of the grass types because some parts grow rapidly faster than others. There are no trees are obstructions to block sun light, but despite this, the lawn is covered in moss and dandelions.

Action i have taken so far: Sprinkled some lawn feed with moss and weed killer. I raked up the moss and pulled up the weeds. Some parts were so matted with moss that i was left with a patch of dirt and no grass. I've tried putting some grass seeds in, with no joy. The lawn looks like a disaster now and I'm wondering if i should rip it up and turf it.

Can anyone help?

DS

 

Hello and welcome to GC.

Here's my guess:

Clay soil is a nightmare. Some will say its brilliant because it holds moisture and nutrients. True, it holds them so tightly that only stronger tap rooted plants like dandelions can thrive in it.

When clay gets wet, it easily compacts. The top few millimeters of it will form a crust or 'pan' that rain water struggles to penetrate. Consequently the surface is prone to being damp. Damp soil in the shade of the blades of grass makes perfect conditions for moss.

Moss killer wont do the trick. It will short term, but the moss will just keep returning. you need to address the underlying problem which will be that the soil doesn't drain well enough.

The simplest way is to simply aerate with a fork, then top dress with sharp sand. Aerating it will help it drain, and the sharp sand makes an environment inhospitable to moss.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Dietspam.

You should know that a name like that puts the fear of God into a mod

There will be someone along in a bit to help

 

Thanks for the advice, CL1. Will grass grow through this? I've laid lots of seeds over the past two months without a blade growing :( I've forked the 'soil' and put the seeds under, waterd and patted. But they just surface to the top and lay there. The bald patches are, as you say, crusty.

Don't worry Ziggy, I keep the spam to a minimum!

 

Can you stick a pic on for us to see? (of the lawn that is )

 

New Build often have all the builders rubble buried and covered with some topsoil (or the original soil put back, all mixed up top-soil with sub-soil). That can never be made to work, so the first job would be to dig it all out. I suggest digging a, deep, exploratory hole to see if there is rubble down there, and then we can see about helping you to sort the garden out.

 

No need to dig, i can already see lots of bricks. I'll get a picture up.

 

I am busy with a few new gardens in a new build area (a new village)

what the builders do, is bring in several tons of topsoil and plonk it down near where they are building ....

then, once the foundations are laid, and the walls are about 3 foot high, they dump all the rubble from the previous houses they have built (this saves them thousands of pounds, as they dont have to pay to have it disposed)

once the roof goes on, they lay 4 inches of topsoil over the rubble, and then lay turf

try planting a shrub or tree .... get 4 inches down and you hit a foot and a half of rubble and stone (I even found empty beer cans 2 foot down in one garden)

I have photos somewhere that I took as they were building

 

What do you suggest I do then, Dim? I told them about the poor walk-ability of the soil when I moved in and they said they would log it with the builder who may look at it at the defects period a year after completion. This is in June or July this year I think. Do I have a case for complain? I don't think they turfed the grass. I, and a neighbour think they have just seeded it and along with that got some seeds miced up. As I said above, some parts grow rapidly, others hardly at all. Also, before I put lawn feed down,vthe grass was a greeny yellow colour.

 

lawn needs about 6 inches of topsoil .... dig a few holes in a few places and see how deep the soil is before you hit rubble

once you know what you have, you can plan accordingly

if you only have 4 inches of topsoil, you could lift the grass, add 2 inches of topsoil mixed with a bit of soil conditioner or compost, then lay the turf back

In autumn, you could hire a hollow tine aerator, and run it over in 2 passes (crisscrossing at 90 degrees to each other) ....

that's my suggestion, but am sure that you will get many other suggestions

 

If you can already see bricks and rubbish in it, then I'd be onto the builders to say its not done.

Or if you can't be bothered with the hassle (and that depends on how much energy you have, how big your lawn is, and many other factors) then I'd just tackle it myself, but it will be a lot of work, even for a small lawn.

I look forward to seeing the pics so we can all get a better understanding of the situation

 

Some thoughts:

If you just want lawn, and can sort out the top 6" (remove all bricks and/or add more topsoil) then that's a solution.

If you want flower borders, or to plan the odd tree or two, you're going to have to sort it out. That includes if you decide you want them in the future, or when you come to sell the house the buyers want to and ask to make some holes to check before completion :(

I have no idea whether the builders can be held to rights on this, its certainly common practice (but both shoddy and shocking). If they can be held to rights then get them to sort the whole thing out - all the soil out, remove all the bricks, put the soil back or (they may decide its easier to) replace with fresh topsoil. And you don't just some topsoil on top of bricks and other rubbish, you want 12" - 18", or more, of topsoil on top of subsoil. That's what you would find in a field.

If you would be happy with paving / decking then that's another solution (and the builders might pay some/all of that if it is less hassle for them than actually sorting the problem out).

Maybe get a landscape ground-worker in to give you a quote for sorting it out - assuming you get advice that says builder is responsible, and builder won't sort it out / pay, then you can do Small Claims Court online without leaving your chair - if you feel so inclined - for the amount that the groundworker has quoted you to sort it out properly.

But do consider: the mess the builders have left is permanent, for you and all future occupants, until the bricks and rubbish have been removed.

 

Hi, thanks for all the responses. Amazing, thank you! I was playing with my boy out the back today and i noticed some moss and started picking as you do. 10 minutes later, it was just a brown patch. So i got my hand fork and stabbed the ground. I could only get half an inch, if that before i hit a large stone. I tried this all over and it's the same. I dug out the patch with the moss and sure enough, it's all large stones about half the size of my fist.

Also, could anyone tell me what this is? This is what most of the 'grass' is. I'm not sure it's grass. It has a red/purple stem and it's almost as if it has a root. I ripped this up at a park across the road. This is a more grown 'blade' than in my garden, but it's the same what ever it is.

 

That's ok then. Got the little one running about most of the time, so i'm looking for tough rather than lush.