Please help!! Patio to grass

[ss91]

Hello. Looking for advice as first time doing this…please be kind! We had a concrete garden but wish to turn some of it into a grassed area. It was a mixture of crazy paving, block paving and slabs. They’ve been pulled up and underneath was a mixture of sand/mud in some places and otherwise concrete and rubble. Have used a kango to get through it and removed around 4 inches worth of what’s come up (as you can see some still needs to go from the middle)

The plan then was to add in top soil, level it over and lay turf. But is that the right way to be doing this? Do I need to dig up more? Will it be suitable for drainage?

Any help appreciated

 

[Koolpc]

If it were me i would be digging all of it over. Loosening it all up. A rotavator would be handy for that...

 

[Munroast]

yep, remove it all until you are down to the subsoil, or at least 6 inches, and then try to loosen up what is left, run a hose on it to check that it drains away freely. (this bits important it needs to be able to drain / you don't want puddles forming on it)

then buy some decent top soil, and if you have deep pockets buy turf, if not seed it. (up until middle of oct is a very good time to seed, weed seeds are a bit more dormant this time of year)

 

[jj4091]

Get rid of the dandelions before you do anything else.

 

[Odds]

Hello. Looking for advice as first time doing this…please be kind! We had a concrete garden but wish to turn some of it into a grassed area. It was a mixture of crazy paving, block paving and slabs. They’ve been pulled up and underneath was a mixture of sand/mud in some places and otherwise concrete and rubble. Have used a kango to get through it and removed around 4 inches worth of what’s come up (as you can see some still needs to go from the middle)

The plan then was to add in top soil, level it over and lay turf. But is that the right way to be doing this? Do I need to dig up more? Will it be suitable for drainage?

Any help appreciated

Is that the extent of your garden or is there more to see?

 

[ss91]

There’s more to it which is all patio-this is the only part I want to turf

 

[Odds]

There’s more to it which is all patio-this is the only part I want to turf

Then you need to dig deeper, about a foot, then lay a sub-strata of rock n' rubble to help the top soil drain rain water away easily. Are you laying turf or sowing seed?

 

[ss91]

Ok thanks for your reply. Apart from parts of concrete which you can still see raised in the picture, when I’m digging it out it’s a mixture of like hardcore, sand, and clay like mud- so this won’t do if I just dug a little more to loosen it up as the sub strata? It’s all got to come out? Was hoping to lay turf rather than sow seed

 

[Odds]

Ok thanks for your reply. Apart from parts of concrete which you can still see raised in the picture, when I’m digging it out it’s a mixture of like hardcore, sand, and clay like mud- so this won’t do if I just dug a little more to loosen it up as the sub strata? It’s all got to come out? Was hoping to lay turf rather than sow seed

A rotavator would do the job as suggested but would be too destructive causing damage along the edge with the vibration of the blades, so i'd prefer to adopt a more precise method using a pick n' shovel approach to get through the top layer, break up the sub-surface, then shovel along the base for a smooth-ish surface. It won't have to be perfectly level, just deep enough to lay the gravel before applying a topsoil. Make sure you tamp the soil down evenly or your turf will look bumpy.