Help with new lawn

Afternoon

I have a very small garden with a large 6 car drive. As I now have a 9month old, I am considering removing the drive area in front of the garage, and laying a lawn, which would measure roughly 15m x 4m. Not an experienced gardiner, but I am keen to take this project on.

Need some advice to start with, which I hope someone will be able to provide. At present, the drive is made up mostly of chips, with a grass verge surround. The drive also runs at an angle. I will need to level the whole area up, what is best to buy to do so? The grass verge which runs approx 5 metres along, dips approx 500mm down a hill, and the drive itelf, although not dipping to much, will require a fair bit to level off. As I dont want to build the majority of the area up any higher, would I be best removing a proportion of the drive that is level, to make good the existing drive, then purchasing what is required to bring the grass verge up to level? Then my plan would be to buy top soil and lay this over the whole area, followed by grass seed on completion. Am hoping to do this on a budget, so I believe the seed and top soil to be less expense than buying pre prepared lawn, would this be right?

So, in brief,

Whats the best product to buy to bring a grass verge up to same lvl as drive?

Best way to level the whole drive off?

Top soil followed by seed or lawn ready to go? on a budget remember.

Do I sound like I have any idea of what to do? or should I call in a pro?

Really hoping to do the whole lot for approx £400 max. Im hoping, 5 bags in which Rowlan charge approx £400 will be enough, and a local garden centre will beat that price, hopefully.

Many thanks :thumb:

 

Yeah ... a photo would help get the lie-of-the-land.

If you've got to get the existing drive up, and replace it with some soil that the grass will grow in, that's muck-away (skip or whatever) and either a lot of work with barrow and spade, or the hire of a mini-digger - which are amongst the greatest boys-toys to play with IMHO!

Grass needs a fair bit of soil to grow in, a couple of inches won't work ... so you can't just cover the drive with a little bit of soil and sow grass seed. I expect that the drive has some hardcore under it to support the weight of the cars? in which case that will have to come out too, or least to provide a depth of 9" of top soil. However, if you leave it in, even with 9" of soil on it, it may drain very freely and thus the grass may look very dead in the Summer.

I'm sure I'm painting it blacker than it will actually be though ...

 

Thanks for the response so far.

The reason for garden is for my young son to have a play area, and also more space for the dog. With the area in question being so narrow, not building up limits the area of use quite a bit. I have enclosed pictures which hopefully will make it clearer. The fence blocking the partial view of the garage will be removed, and the garden will run from in front of the garage along to the fence behind the car in the other picture. the third picture shows (poor angle I know) the small verge which I would like to build up, and obviously remove the tree and bush.

 

Good idea John, I've seen a plastic product like that; you hardly see the plastic, although the grass never looks "bowling green", and it provides sufficient strength to drive over.

http://www.pavingexpert.com/cellpav1.htm

 

The car you see if the sister in laws whose away at present. The garage is used as a gym so never a need for a car there, and taking away all the area you see, still leaves a three car drive to the front (angle from where I was takin the picture).

Think Ill get a professional in to provide a quotation, try get an insight in to the price and what exactly is involved (sounds possibly a wee bit to much for me).