Preparing for new lawn

[Bobbya82]

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice, I have recently moved into a new build house and in the garden there was no lawn. It was just landscaped with stones, bark etc.

Wanting a new lawn I have almost finished clearing the stones and was hoping someone could give me some advice on how to prepare the soil.

At the moment I am down to hard cracked soil, I assume this is clay?

I know I will need to order a couple of tons of top soil but should I be digging out the dry cracked soil to a particular depth or digging it over?. At the moment there is probably about a 5cm gap from the height of the patio, can I just dig over and put the top soil on this?

Any advice would be appreicted, let me know if you need more details.

Thanks in advance.

 

[crazycanuck]

If you have clay you can put down 3 inch of topsoil and add turf, water well for 2 weeks.
If the ground is too high, you will have to shave off to about half the depth of clay ,less in the center.
The topsoil and turf will settle in time reducing the overall height.

 

[Thermo]

if you do nothing with the clay it will cause drainage problems and can lead to panning of the soil. Break it up and add lots of soil conditioner to it to help open up the pores. Try not to compact it after youve worked it.

You need at least 4 inches of sandy loam/topsoil to get a decent lawn.

 

[BirdDesign]

Rotavate it with a couple of T of washed sand to add a bit of drainage and then add 4-6 inches of loamy topsoil. Tread it in (heel and toe) or use a roller and rake it. I usually 'screed' the topsoil too to find out the high/low spots and then really give it a good soak prior to laying turf.

 

[Bobbya82]

Thanks for the replies.

So as long as I break up the clay and have about 3-4 inches of top soil I should be ok?

Any other views would be welcomed.

At the moment the ground looks like a desert, cracked up and rock hard.

Looks like it is going to take some breaking up, mabe a pick axe will have to be used.

When you say soil conditioner to improve the soil, would compost be ok to use?

Thanks again.

 

[Bobbya82]

Sorry, another thing I wanted to check is what kind of gap should I leave between the top soil and the level of the patio?

Should I be bringing the top soil up level with the patio and then putting the tuf on top or leaving some kind of gap?

How thick is the turf normally?

Thanks.

 

[Bobbya82]

Sorry to hassle but does anyone have anymore views on my last post.

I am looking to start the work soon.

Thanks again.

 

[Thermo]

compost will be fine. a rotovator or a fork will do the job.

as for the levl of the turf, its up to you how high you want it in relation to the patio.

 

[Trazor]

Your soil needs to be no lower than about 25 m/m from your patio edge, before laying your turf.
You will then be able to mow your lawn to what height you want.
To low, and your patio will stop you mowing your grass low enough.

 

[Bobbya82]

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Bobbya82]

Hi,

Looking to hire a rotavator as per suggestion.
Is it ok to use a Rotavator if there are stones in the soil, as I have removed large amounts of decorative stone, however there are still some stones remaining.

Thanks.

 

[Thermo]

yes

 

[WabbitPoo]

Assuming you want the lawn level with the patio I would always lay the turf a little higher than the paving to start with - it will settle over the coming weeks if you keep it watered. Do so by bringing top soil to just about the level of the paving.

 

[Bobbya82]

I have been looking into the rotovators and there seem to be a few different versions, what seem like the heavy duty ones are quite expensive to hire out. I have seen this one at HSS:

http://www.hss.com/g/62516/Power-Digger-Petrol.html

Or this one (no picture though)

http://www.speedyhire.co.uk/technical_catalogue.aspx?id=1467&fSize=smaller&fImages=1&nav=


Could someone please tell me if they think this would do the job, would to be able to break up the hard clay?

If not Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you.