HELP fixing lawn

Hi guys,

I live in Northern Ireland and my house is at the base of a hill. Due to this I get a lot of water run off from the hill.

I’ve previously checked and my soil is roughly 90% clay. This has resulted in my garden becoming very waterlogged over the years.

Last year I had drainage channels installed in my garden. The drainage connects into a concrete drain and drains clears across the road to a soakaway.

This drainage has helped the waterlogging however there is still some water retention. I am putting this down to the fact my soil is mostly clay.

I had considered removing my topsoil and replacing with new topsoil however I have 0.5 acre of land so I conservatively estimate I would need 150 tonne of topsoil. Locally this is priced around £35-50 a tonne for screened topsoil. This totals to around £5000-7500 so unless I win the lotto this is not a feasible option. As this cost is without labour and removing existing soil etc.

My idea is to raise my soil level by 1-2” by putting compost and sand through the soil. Is this a feasible idea?

My lawn at present is filled with moss, rushes and weeds. I am thinking my first step is to kill all the grass and weeds etc; what is the best way to do this? I’ve some shrubs, hedging and trees that I wouldn’t want to kill.

Then I’m planning to rotavate the garden, then add 20 ton of sand and 20 ton of compost. Then rotavate again. Then add 20 ton of sand and 20 ton of compost and rotavate. Then level the garden. This will prepare the garden and then plant a lawn in autumn. I have been told agricultural lawn seed is best to use.

I plan to check the ph of the soil and if necessary attempt to alter the ph.

With the rotavator I am wondering which is best; I can hire a rotavator for £145 for a week or I was in Homebase and I can buy a smaller one for £170. I know from digging my garden that there is some stones etc in it and I’d worry the smaller rotavator may become damaged. I’m not too sure if the blades would be covered or not. However if I hire one I’d need to ensure the weather allows the work to be completed and my time would be limited by the rental. What would people suggest?

Is there anything else I should be considering to do with my lawn.

Cheers Keith

 

Hello @Keith Thomas sorry to hear about how your soil is...this link below mentions the best way of treating it

Clay soils/RHS Gardening

Other members will step forward soon with good advice ...our garden is done with gravel but with loads of Multi purpose soil mixed in, so the soil is always kept moist and fresh.

I'd ask about the hired rotavator first and see what the price actually covers regarding blades etc

 

Thanks @Gail_68 for the reply and for the link. I’ll have a read through it and see what it suggests.

 

Keith your welcome i'm trying to find a members discussion regarding Moss in her lawn

 

@Keith Thomas this video is about coping with moss and weeds

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Thanks Gail; I’ve had a read through the RHS link and it does suggest adding grit but it does caution this may cause stability issues in the soil .

Going by their recommendation of 250kg of grit per sq.m when I look at the grass areas only I probably need around 250 tonne of sand and compost.

Thanks for the video I’ll have a watch at it and see what it recommends.

 

@Keith Thomas ...this was added on the Dandelion discussion by @kazzawazza tools to actually remove them...as all info possible helps





I also added this video besides on a tool

 

We've never put grit in our dirt ...sorry I can't help on that matter and regarding measurements of stuff...that's left to my hubby mate

Members will come on though and help you

 

Thinking of trying to use a chemical to kill the weeds etc as I’m wanting to remove the grass also.

 

I work with someone who had contractors in to sort his garden out. This included them lifting his clay soil and adding grit etc to it and then putting this back again. My problem with this is the size I’d have to work with

 

Well it sounds like it would cost you a bit with the amount of ground you have...our garden was a disgrace when we had the property besides being over grown plus lumbers of bricks etc...my hubby asked a woman we know about her hubby as he does rotavating gardens for a living...he came and looked at our back garden £500...my hubby said no way and got stuck in himself and built a wall around 3 tree's and in that space he layed out some of the bricks to move them and we then added gravel...he soon got stuck in and worked hard at it.

If you don't want you lawn best to just kill it then

 

Yeah my garden is in a similar state to what you say yours was like. Except I don’t have bricks in the garden.

Think I will have to kill the whole lawn. Just not too sure what chemicals to use.

 

Our back lawn was a mess and it was dug up and when the garden was finished being designed we put down a new lawn...then my staffy wrecked it in time so it was gravelled but in larger ones besides being lined, then the front lawn got to much...it was doubled lined on top of it and 5 tone of gravel put on top and it as been better.

 

Good evening @Keith Thomas.
The first ingredient you will need with your garden is patience
The ingredients you probably won`t need are chemicals.

Edit .... Woops, that went without my permission.......hang on a minute and I`ll try again

 

@Tetters nice to see you on board ...as Keith needs some good sound advice