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Experience of laying a lawn

Afternoon all,

After a bit of advice. Just bought a house with a garden full of hardcore / stones / crap. Anyone here laid a lawn over something similar?

Can't workout how much topsoil I need or if a lawn is even going to work?

I've already shifted more bags of stones than I can move so don't really want to clear it much more.

Cheers
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Comments

  • 3 to 4 inches should be fine
  • Lurker said:



    I've already shifted more bags of stones than I can move

    How does that work?
  • 3 to 4 inches should be fine

    really ?
  • Boom said:

    Lurker said:



    I've already shifted more bags of stones than I can move

    How does that work?
    I used a spade.
  • 3 to 4 inches should be fine

    Cheers, that should keep it to one bag. Can anyone recommend a supplier in the Dartford area?
  • Bexley Sand are nice guys.
  • Paddy Powell has a few hours to spare these days if you need any help........
  • edited March 2015
    Mate. If it is a newbuild you will surprised at all the crap left on the oversite by your friendly jobbing builder/developer, it certainly surprised me! Developers tend to just spread soil back over and leave it to seed itself. Might be different nowadays with all the competition to flog houses, they will probably landscape more for looks.

    With a bit of back breaking work to get the larger stuff left behind out and 3-4'' of top soil you should be ok to turf with decent quality stuff. Don't make the mistake I made in October 1998, with winter bearing down on you and get the local yokel to turf your back garden with any old shite...
  • seeding or turf ?
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  • Bexley Garden Centre mate
  • Mate. If it is a newbuild you will surprised at all the crap left on the oversite by your friendly jobbing builder/developer, it certainly surprised me! Developers tend to just spread soil back over and leave it to seed itself. Might be different nowadays with all the competition to flog houses, they will probably landscape more for looks.

    With a bit of back breaking work to get the larger stuff left behind out and 3-4'' of top soil you should be ok to turf with decent quality stuff. Don't make the mistake I made in October 1998, with winter bearing down on you and get the local yokel to turf your back garden with any old shite...

    It's not new built but previous owner laid paving slabs over half of it.

    Should I pay more attention to the quality of the topsoil than the turf?

    You know the kinda job you wish you never started..
  • You have got to break those slabs up, if you have not already. Medium priced top soil will do but do get decent turf. Always surprised with the quality of B&Q stuff but you must get to it as soon as turf starts appearing in garden centres everywhere, about nowish...
  • You have got to break those slabs up, if you have not already. Medium priced top soil will do but do get decent turf. Always surprised with the quality of B&Q stuff but you must get to it as soon as turf starts appearing in garden centres everywhere, about nowish...

    Surprised by B&Q in a good way?
  • Lurker said:

    You have got to break those slabs up, if you have not already. Medium priced top soil will do but do get decent turf. Always surprised with the quality of B&Q stuff but you must get to it as soon as turf starts appearing in garden centres everywhere, about nowish...

    Surprised by B&Q in a good way?
    Yes, sorry should of been more specific. Last year was good quality washed turf, well down here in Kent it was!
  • Preparing the ground is more important than the quality of turf.
    One of the 2012 Olympic legacies is that the reinstatement of woolwich common area has been a shambles. It may look as it was before but the reason the Kings troop are exercising their horses in charlton park is that the area they were meant to be using is still, (after numerous attempts to clear), full of brick and rubble which was getting stuck in the horses hooves.
  • If it's a quick fix you want then use turf - if it's a quality lawn you want to end up with use seed. It's a good time of the year to be sowing a lawn as well.
  • Clear as much large rubble as possible. Use a minimum of 4" of soil, 6" would be better. Then lay an inch of sharp sand on top. This allows the roots to travel through quickly, levels the top nicely and will help drainage.
    Buy good turf, not the stuff lifted from a field full of sheep. Fill any gaps/joints with a 50/50 mix of soil and sharp sand.
    Do it properly, do it once.
  • Also, check for old air raid shelter buried in garden.
  • Also, check for old air raid shelter buried in garden.

    If you're going to do that, you might as well check for unexploded WW2 bombs, at the same time :smiley:
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  • Be sure to check for buried treasure.
  • Spend as much time as possible on the preparation of the site, getting it cleared of rubble, leveled and even.

    The finished lawn will then give years of pleasure without you having to constantly topdress and level uneven areas.
  • If you turf it, it goes greenside up.
  • Been lucky enough to lay a woman on the odd occasion. Never a lawn though.

    How was it for you?
  • Go for astroturf instead. Can use it all year round then.
  • Make sure the ground is completely weed free otherwise weeds will grow through the turf , ( you can buy weed killers that are inactivated once dry).Go for a good quality turf like a rye sport which is hard wearing , good if you've got kids,steer clear of meadow turf, which although cheaper is pretty naff.

    Also make sure the ground is level, pelleted poultry manure evenly spread underneath will help root growth.

    Personally although the right time of year, I think it's too wet at the moment for laying turf, wait for some dry weather, to let the ground dry out,although saying that you don't want to be laying turf in the summer when it's too hot, or you'll end up watering it with a sprinkler, which if done too much, you'll end up with toadstools in your lawn.

    There's probably a ton of videos on the web of how to lay a lawn that you could go google.

    If you do need to buy topsoil , make sure it's heat treated and weed free, if you've got a large area to do laying turf is a backbreaking job if you've not done it before and personally I'd get someone good in to do it rather than having a week off work unpaid with a bad back.

    Would leave it till next March before using a lawn feed, Evergreen complete triple action 3 in 1 by Scott's is pretty decent, has a feed. Weed and moss killer in it.
  • Just to add, when you've got your lawn you really have to work at it to get it in good condition. Regular careful cutting, at least quarterly application of weedkiller, moss killer, fertiliser and wetting agent, annual aeration and scarification, top dressing, over-seeding. Worth it if you like a nice lawn but if not, think about hard landscaping.
  • Go for astroturf instead. Can use it all year round then.

    I'm doing this, partly because the garden has minimal sunlight. The ones I've seen are great and definitely worth the cost and lack of freshly-cut grass smell.
  • Davo55 said:

    Just to add, when you've got your lawn you really have to work at it to get it in good condition. Regular careful cutting, at least quarterly application of weedkiller, moss killer, fertiliser and wetting agent, annual aeration and scarification, top dressing, over-seeding. Worth it if you like a nice lawn but if not, think about hard landscaping.

    Every year, I mean regular as clockwork my youngest daughters favorite cat "Nala" would wait for me to re-seed or dig out and re-seed or turf or re-seed and turf or replace topsoil and turf or reseed or both, one patch of my beloved lawn. Regular as clockwork I'd look out of the back wndow of the family room on a pleasant April morning to see the fucking thing squatting on my newly repaired piece of lawn. If I got two maybe three weeks every year where my whole lawn was pristine I gave thanks to every God or Bhudda I could think of. That fucking thing tortured me and it fucking knew it was doing it. I wasn't allowed to kill it, I would of tried on more than one occaision but outnumbered in a house full of women that would of meant suicide for me.

    Well the house is gone, the lawn is gone but that fucking animal is still alive trying to get in the Guiness Book of Records as the longest living domestic cat on the planet. You should see the thing, its like a bag of bolts and shit wrapped up in a fur bag... grrr!

    Me? I still thnk of that lawn and my garden, I have tried to put it all behind me but even stumbling upon this thread has caused the return of that familiar April twitch and an uncomfortable urge to punt the nearest cat I find halfway down the road.
    Ha ha. I know exactly what you mean mate. We had our flower beds mulched and the local moggies were queuing up with their Daily Express' rolled up under their arms to use them as a khazi - at least it took the focus off the grass. We let the dog go at them a few times but she celebrated each thrilling chase with a celebratory piss so it didn't do much good overall.
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